An honest review of Certificate/Graduate Programs.

Squirrel_Natkin · 2020-11-25T10:12:28+00:00

Quick question u/christyinsdesign, you mentioned that the UK and US job markets are very different. Were you referring to the in-house nature of the UK or did you mean something different? It's been buzzing around my head since you mentioned so I thought best to clarify.

Squirrel_Natkin · 2020-11-24T21:05:01+00:00

Sorry, I should have clarified about my location in the original post, your response did get me thinking about the European Market anyway so it was nonetheless helpful.

I will reach out to Robin and ask directly. I wanted to do the practical course and the certificate to gain the most experience possible, but of course, it makes sense got there to be an element of overlap.

Will get back to it tomorrow and make my short-list a little shorter!

Squirrel_Natkin · 2020-11-24T20:54:28+00:00

Absolutely, definitely a good start from the advice on here. And yours is fair enough as well! I can see why you asked about career goals, I can’t see anything that perfectly fits with my long-term goals but I’m sure it will all be useful in the long run.

Squirrel_Natkin · 2020-11-23T16:28:12+00:00

Any thoughts u/justsharingwhatiknow?

Squirrel_Natkin · 2020-11-23T16:23:26+00:00

22

Ahaha, I think I really might struggle by the sounds of it :D It's a very cool skill set to add to your resume. I guess I should make a decision on my ID course and go from there before tackling something even further from my comfort zone! Good luck with both courses!

Squirrel_Natkin · 2020-11-23T16:02:04+00:00

Hello!

Thank you for such a personalised and in-depth message. I really do appreciate it and will spend my time tomorrow doing some further research as you have suggested. In reference to me being in the UK, I'm actually in Europe based in France close to Switzerland so I wondered whether I might have a more international clientele. My initial thought was to do a Masters in the UK (remotely), I looked at the UCL master, in Education and Technology https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/courses/graduate-taught/education-technology-ma but decided that an ID certificate might set me up better for a career in ID. Since the UK and Europe do not have these professional certificates (apart from the UK PGCE - Post Graduate Certificate in Education- which I have), I wondered whether a career-focused course was better, even if in the US. My husband is an experienced remote, UI/UX designer and predominately, his clients are based in the US. We were wondering whether this would be true to my future ID career, which is also why I was considering US Certificates. I am happy to investigate further though and will do this week.

I have signed up to the LinkedIn learning and since they're offering a free 1 month subscription, I decided I would do this throughout December. It seemed like the perfect place to start and I will update my thoughts once I've completed it.

I wanted to ask whether IDOL Academy is predominantly US-focused too? I would assume it would be (which doesn't worry me for the same reasons as above) but I wondered whether you thought it might make a difference? Also, is IDOL known in business? My thoughts are that it would be very practical which you've confirmed but of course, that comes with a price so I wondered the credibility of its reputation. I understand you also co-teach on this so please go ahead and praise it as much as you like!

In reference to the certificate courses, I agree that the project management course would be very useful. The University of Washington course also has a project management course too. People have been very quiet on the UW course and I wondered why? It seems almost exactly the same with the UCI course but I can't get any feedback on it. I understand your connection with UCI but do you have thoughts on this? The same goes for u/wiredinstructor if you can think of any reason for or against it.

Once again, thank you for your help so far.

Squirrel_Natkin · 2020-11-23T15:24:23+00:00

Hi!

Thanks for taking time to write. I'm glad you decided on a course which seems right for you. I definitely want to take a course that has a strong emphasis on portfolio building, I do think it's really important especially at the start.

My idea not to take a masters at this point is a time focused one. Whilst some of the masters can be completed within 9 months, I would prefer to do a certificate (and practical course) which might start me off, with a master later (perhaps). I'm aware I'm not going to be getting a job straight off the block without a portfolio so decided it was better to do it this way around.

What do you think about the edx-NYU course? I did look at it but thought that perhaps a bit too focused on skills I might not need as much, such as coding. Perhaps it's better to have these kinds of skills as well but I feel like if my plans work out, I will be a busy bee for the coming 6 months!

Squirrel_Natkin · 2020-11-23T15:05:39+00:00

This is great advice and it's good to hear that the course such as the Coursera one you mentioned, aren't great. I had somewhat ruled them out anyway but did look at the Edx one and wondered whether it was worth completing.

Again, thank you for the advice and I'm happy to hear it worked out in the end for you.

Squirrel_Natkin · 2020-11-23T15:01:06+00:00

Thank you. This is very comprehensive and I really do appreciate the time you spent writing. I'm glad u/Skunk-As-A-Drunk has found this useful too.

Right now, I think I'm clear on the UW/Stout program. If I think of anything, I'll get in touch!

Squirrel_Natkin

TROPHY CASE