Useful online courses to improve job prospects

Asal Mor · March 24, 2014, 10:00:52 AM

I know there's quite a few members here who work in IT and I'm wondering if you could give me any advice about some online courses I could take which would improve my job prospects when I come back to Ireland. I've been teaching English as a foreign language in Asia and I plan to return early next year so I'm looking at online courses I could take that would improve my job prospects on my return. I have a Commerce degree from years back, though I'd struggle to tell you more than 3 things I learned from it. I've had about enough of the teaching and I wouldn't be qualified to teach at home in any case. Obviously it's not the greatest time to be going back, but I'm excited and optimistic about it. I have pretty basic IT skills - Word and Powerpoint, but I'd say I'm a fast learner. At least, I used to be years ago. Any pointers?

Rois · March 24, 2014, 10:56:25 AM

Sage Accounts.

AZOffaly · March 24, 2014, 10:57:04 AM

For IT?

Asal Mor · March 24, 2014, 11:15:51 AM

Quote from: AZOffaly on March 24, 2014, 10:57:04 AM
For IT?

Mainly yeah AZ, but will try anything if it's within my capabilitites.

Asal Mor · March 24, 2014, 11:17:42 AM

Quote from: Rois on March 24, 2014, 10:56:25 AM
Sage Accounts.

Cheers Rois. Would that be do-able for someone whose accountancy skills would be so rusty that he'd be pretty much starting from scratch?

awideisneverasgood · March 24, 2014, 11:26:46 AM

What specific area of IT are you interested in?
e.g. Networking / hardware / software development / DBA / web design?

There are a huge number of courses you could take depending on which pat you wish to follow.

Asal Mor · March 24, 2014, 11:36:44 AM

Quote from: awideisneverasgood on March 24, 2014, 11:26:46 AM
What specific area of IT are you interested in?
e.g. Networking / hardware / software development / DBA / web design?

There are a huge number of courses you could take depending on which pat you wish to follow.

Wherever there's work. I'm pretty much starting from scratch and initially at least, I'll have to be able to learn it all by myself, all online. I'm looking for a course that will give me a decent chance of getting a job, and that I'll have the intelligence/ability to finish. If it's a basic enough IT job at the bottom of the ladder, that's ok for now.

Rois · March 24, 2014, 02:53:54 PM

Quote from: Asal Mor on March 24, 2014, 11:17:42 AM
Quote from: Rois on March 24, 2014, 10:56:25 AM
Sage Accounts.

Cheers Rois. Would that be do-able for someone whose accountancy skills would be so rusty that he'd be pretty much starting from scratch?

I'd have thought so - though it is also on my to-do list as I only work with the outputs - haven't used it since uni. I think it would be very useful if you were trying to get in the door to a finance job and with your background in Commerce, seems that it would fit.
Useless for IT careers though as pointed out!

muppet · March 24, 2014, 02:59:55 PM

Loads here: https://www.udemy.com (Mainly a paid site - but sign up first and wait for offers with huge discounts)

And free resources here: http://www.w3schools.com (free I think)

Asal Mor · March 24, 2014, 03:19:20 PM

Much appreciated Rois and muppet, cheers. Have even made a small start with some of the excel tutorials on youtube. I can feel the old IT wizardry coming back already. I'll certainly check those out and I'm sure they'll be very useful.

muppet · March 24, 2014, 03:28:31 PM

Quote from: Asal Mor on March 24, 2014, 03:19:20 PM
Much appreciated Rois and muppet, cheers. Have even made a small start with some of the excel tutorials on youtube. I can feel the old IT wizardry coming back already. I'll certainly check those out and I'm sure they'll be very useful.

Ulick started a thread a while ago on this, I think he had some interest in setting up online courses.

Edit - found the link: http://gaaboard.com/board/index.php?topic=23758.0

Syferus · March 24, 2014, 09:25:02 PM

Quote from: Asal Mor on March 24, 2014, 11:36:44 AM
Quote from: awideisneverasgood on March 24, 2014, 11:26:46 AM
What specific area of IT are you interested in?
e.g. Networking / hardware / software development / DBA / web design?

There are a huge number of courses you could take depending on which pat you wish to follow.

Wherever there's work. I'm pretty much starting from scratch and initially at least, I'll have to be able to learn it all by myself, all online. I'm looking for a course that will give me a decent chance of getting a job, and that I'll have the intelligence/ability to finish. If it's a basic enough IT job at the bottom of the ladder, that's ok for now.

You'll need figure out what you have a passion for. Huge gap between what a network technician does and a software developer does. There was a lot of people on my BSc that were clearly there because they heard there was jobs in the sector but they neither had the aptitude or passion to even competently get over the first hurdles, nevermind finish the course.

IolarCoisCuain · March 24, 2014, 09:49:51 PM

Best of luck to you Asal, I hope it works out.

As regards the courses, Coursera is the market leader. There's another one called Udacity - I have one of theirs bookmarked, but I haven't got around to it yet.

As people have been saying, there are a lot of courses out there, on a lot of different topics. The courses vary (a lot) in quality but you can be lucky and hit a good one.

This is a good jumping-off point, about Internet History, Technology and Security: https://www.coursera.org/course/insidetheinternet. Highly relevant to today's world, and presented in a very digestible fashion.

If you want to take a look at programming, Python is a good language to pick. This is a good beginner course in Python: https://www.coursera.org/course/programming1

This is a course on computer networks, a Leaving Cert compared to the Internet History, Technology's Junior Cert: https://www.coursera.org/course/comnetworks

I don't think any of those are currently open, but I presume they will be. They've proven popular in the past, so Coursera are likely to keep them going.

That's the good news. The bad news is that these courses alone won't get you a job in Ireland. They are not recognised as qualifications, and recruiters, in my experience, are not good at thinking outside the box.

So, if you're serious about going into IT, you might want to look at a one-year conversion course in a university or IT, that will do a few modules of different things. Ideally, pick one that does job placements after the year. It'll be a bitch of a year, to be honest with you, but it might be best shot. The best of luck to you with it, whichever way you chose to go.

muppet · March 24, 2014, 09:54:05 PM

Quote from: IolarCoisCuain on March 24, 2014, 09:49:51 PM
Best of luck to you Asal, I hope it works out.

As regards the courses, Coursera is the market leader. There's another one called Udacity - I have one of theirs bookmarked, but I haven't got around to it yet.

As people have been saying, there are a lot of courses out there, on a lot of different topics. The courses vary (a lot) in quality but you can be lucky and hit a good one.

This is a good jumping-off point, about Internet History, Technology and Security: https://www.coursera.org/course/insidetheinternet. Highly relevant to today's world, and presented in a very digestible fashion.

If you want to take a look at programming, Python is a good language to pick. This is a good beginner course in Python: https://www.coursera.org/course/programming1

This is a course on computer networks, a Leaving Cert compared to the Internet History, Technology's Junior Cert: https://www.coursera.org/course/comnetworks

I don't think any of those are currently open, but I presume they will be. They've proven popular in the past, so Coursera are likely to keep them going.

That's the good news. The bad news is that these courses alone won't get you a job in Ireland. They are not recognised as qualifications, and recruiters, in my experience, are not good at thinking outside the box.

So, if you're serious about going into IT, you might want to look at a one-year conversion course in a university or IT, that will do a few modules of different things. Ideally, pick one that does job placements after the year. It'll be a bitch of a year, to be honest with you, but it might be best shot. The best of luck to you with it, whichever way you chose to go.

Thanks for those Iolar, I will have a look myself.

I did this one last year and can recommend it for people with a limited knowledge of IT but an interest in getting in to it: https://www.udemy.com/programming-for-non-programmers/#/

The Iceman · March 24, 2014, 10:58:54 PM

I think it would require more than a few IT courses online to land a job in Ireland today. Unfortunately there are 1000s of younger folks out there with more qualifications looking for the same jobs..... I would try and focus on what you are more qualified at doing.....
What about Asian translation services for Invest NI or helping with localization advice for Irish companies trying to create an export business in Asia?
Your language and cultural knowledge has to be worth something to somebody. I would invest more time and energy in exploiting that if I was you. IDA or Invest NI would be two good starting points to at least get conversations started. If they don't have roles at HQ perhaps the companies they are helping get set up overseas could use your skills.
Best of luck to you whatever path you choose!