A Bit of Context
Context is Queen! Personally, I can never have too much context. In the last year, I’ve signed up for quite a few online courses, not to mention email courses and webinars. In this little corner of the web, I will be discussing the online courses that I completed.
Over the last several years, I’ve registered for all types of free online learning like Khan Academy, Coursera and Udemy. Even a couple of paid ones like this Udemy Korean course by Jeremy Brinkerhoff. Unfortunately, I never completed any of these courses. The courses were all interesting but I just wasn’t consistent enough. I fell into a pattern of signing up for classes and not completing them.
What changed last year? Well, I began to think about life post-Korea and realized that I wanted to learn new skills that would lead to me making more money. Most significantly, I wanted my new skill set to be able to travel with me. My Korean language skills aren’t strong enough for in person classes so that left online learning.
My Review of the Coursera Google IT Tech Support Course
Last summer, I came across this Penny Hoarder article introducing the Coursera Google IT Tech Support course. At the time, I was learning how to code via Treehouse after hearing Ryan Carson on the ChooseFI podcast. I fell in love with Ryan’s idea of learning an IT skill/trade. This idea was first introduced to me by my driving instructor back in the day. He believed that his kids should become skilled at a trade so that they would never be broke. That man was way ahead of his time. Back then I was a Freshman in college. I never forgot that conversation and yet proceeded to get myself into debt between college and grad school. Totally incapable of walking out with my degree and earning money near instantaneously.
Is it really that easy to make money when you have a skill or trade? In my opinion, it’s easier than looking for a job post-college that will pay more than your student loan debt. So ,yes!!
When I say trade I mean anything from a hairdresser, woodworker, elevator mechanic, plumber to a web developer. Once trained and/or certified any number of trade jobs will have you paid in the shade. At the very least, it’s one more tool on your multi-stream income tool belt.
So with all of the aforementioned on my mind, I signed up for the course! Thinking that I could secure an entry-level IT job at the end of it. I’ve dabbled in learning to code on and off for about seven years. Mostly off. I read intriguing stories about women coders, Silicon Valley and diversity in tech and wanted to be a part of it. But every time I looked at the material or did challenges on free sites…It seemed so foreign to me. Ultimately, I took this course because it was affordable and I knew I would get a certificate that I could add to my resume.
Oh! If you’re into frugal wins might I suggest you pay for your course via ebates? After taking the course for a couple of months, I realized that I should have checked ebates first. Sure enough, there was a 10% cash back offer so I cancelled my enrollment and enrolled again at a discount. There is a monthly charge of $49.00 US (57,000 Korean won) so I just got the discount once as opposed to every month. Bummer. Ha ha.
PROS & CONS
PROS
- Affordable at $49.00 per month – scholarships are also available
- Study online from anywhere and at your own pace.
- Can also study in person at some local colleges in the United States
- Forums to interact with other students
- Labs to practice what you’re learning
- Coursera App – you can stream or download classes
CONS
- The labs! This was a pro and con. The labs often had tech difficulties or at times the instructions weren’t clear (to me)
- It felt as if different people wrote the course.
- No textbook. I would have gladly paid extra for one book with all of the information. I have several notebooks, quiz print outs, screenshots and loose papers with notes. It would have been better to have a text or workbook that I could easily refer to. Towards the end of my time taking the course they implemented bookmarks on the videos which helped some.
- There were a variety of instructors some better than others.
It took me about six months to complete the course. That being said, it’s self-paced so you could finish a lot faster. There was a whole month where I think I only logged on once. And other times, where I would dedicate every Saturday and Sunday to working on the course.
At the end of the course, I completed a survey and elected to be contacted for jobs. So far, 3 or 4 recruiters have contacted me since I completed the course two months ago. The emails contained links to jobs that I ended up not applying to due to location or my level of experience.
In sum, I’m glad that I took the course but it’s really just the beginning. They tell you throughout the course to seek out information on the web, books, etc. Also, for me being self-paced was more a curse than a blessing. I just didn’t make it a priority unlike a physical classroom where I would have to show up at a certain time and place. The forums were great but making friends with real live classmates could have led to working on projects together outside of class. I’m not sure if the tech industry is for but I’m excited to keep learning and find out! (As Jen Sincero says, “clues are all around me”.) Ultimately, I’m learning a new skill and I’m proud of myself.
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