I didn't but I've managed designers who have. On some of the teams I've managed the designers who went to school for it did so to learn the software but it seems like there were a lot of tricks they weren't taught. What has put me in leadership roles on these teams is my project management, prioritization, and problem solving skills that were acquired through a lot of on the job experience in very fast paced environments. As well as my ability to inspire other designers to want to challenge themselves rather than just be a "dickhead manager/senior designer".

If you plan on going to school for it that will definitely help you with all the idiot employers out there who will hire someone with a degree and 1 year experience over someone with no degree but 10 years experience. But I always say it's more valuable to hire people who know how to learn rather than need to be taught.

And don't be afraid to design a disaster. You learn more from a failure than from a success, so go make as many disasters as you can.

I got a certificate in website design from my community college and did nothing with it- because I slacked my way through school passing with Cs and Ds and no good quality portfolio work. went back for commercial arts and am currently working on my associates and started building up a decent portfolio. next semester will be my last semester at this school and by then I'll have my website up, as well as a printed portfolio but then I plan on going for my bachelors in visual communications.

For me personally, it has helped. school gives me structure and a lot of my professors have a lot of experience in the field so having in person critiques, even critiques from my classmates, is helpful in me improving.

plus between all the years of school I'm going to have a pretty big portfolio and a lot of pieces I can present when I apply for jobs. once I finish this degree I'm going to start applying to jobs despite still planning on going for my bachelors because why not right?