Courses/qualifications to boost CV in the meantime

[SiSenor]

Hello,

After posting this thread here: https://www.overclockers.co.uk/forums/threads/feeling-a-bit-lost-and-underwhelmed.18929180/

I've decided a good way to help improve my CV would be to take some qualifications in my spare time that my help my chances of employment.

I'm currently employed but would like a career change. As I mentioned in my previous thread, I am saving for my lorry license. In truth, I'm still researching more into this as it's a fair chunk of cash to spend, and want to be certain it's a career I want to pursue.

I've been applying for lots of jobs recently but haven't heard much back other than the usual "vacancy has been filled" email.

Just looking for a bit of advice really. Has anybody changed careers in the past and how did they find it? I don't have a degree and quite frankly, not too sure what career I would want to pursue. Something in IT may interest me but it's likely I'd need a degree and due to other reasons, going to university isn't possible at the moment - maybe in the next five years or so.

Any cheap courses or qualifications that would really help improve my CV? It's been lackluster for the past six months whereas previous to that it was pretty decent.

Some general all-round advice would suffice as well, ha! Thanks all.

 

[mid_gen]

I just posted the same on another thread....but have a look on Coursera. There's loads of courses covering a huge range of subjects, you basically have access to university education for nothing.

I've done one of the Stanford courses. It's not a trivial undertaking, it was about 6-8 hours a week, on top of my full time job....but the quality of content available is great.

 

[SiSenor]

I just posted the same on another thread....but have a look on Coursera. There's loads of courses covering a huge range of subjects, you basically have access to university education for nothing.

I've done one of the Stanford courses. It's not a trivial undertaking, it was about 6-8 hours a week, on top of my full time job....but the quality of content available is great.

Thanks - just taken a look, it's exactly the type of thing I was looking for.

Quick question though, would any of the courses from a university outside the UK be recognised in the UK?

 

[dowie]

you could look at the Open University or University of London or other online options for a degree.

Thanks - just taken a look, it's exactly the type of thing I was looking for.

Quick question though, would any of the courses from a university outside the UK be recognised in the UK?

Depends if they give academic credit or not - if you're just taking the regular coursera courses then they're not credit-bearing so won't be able to count towards a degree here, they're still useful and you can still put down the fact you took them on your CV etc... employers are aware of them though they won't necessarily be valued as much as taking a formal qualification.

 

[alexakasloth]

I'm currently doing a Webmaster JavaScript (Level 4 Open Awards) course through NCC, the contents is quite good and its very flexible as you have 12 months to access the material and submit assignments. Could be worth a look if that area interests you.