Are free courses etc a waste of time?

[WelcomeToTheNorth]

Long story short - I hate my job. I’m planning my exit. However it’s quite niche and it’s difficult to find vacancies which I have suitable experience for.

Example - management experience. I don’t have it, nor am I likely to get it in my current role. But lots of vacancies coming up require it.

Today I saw an offer for a distance learning management course. Also found a free project management course which I quite fancy to boost my cv a bit. I have been looking as well at some of the free OU courses.

Tell me honestly - is this a way out or is this a waste of time?

I would be very wary of online courses, check they are offered by someone reputable and you get a qualification at the end of it.

The OU are of course reputable but I think their free courses are just taster courses to see if you want to sign up for more study.

Some are very good, like Coursera.

Do you know what kind of work you want to move into?

Not really. I’d love to work for the NHS

What do you do? What would you like to do specifically?

i.e. what transferrable skills do you already have, and which ones do you need to understand and demonstrate?

I think the key issue is whether a course leads to a qualification, certification or similar. Free courses don’t tend to be examined (although there are some exceptions).

Personally I’d only spend time on a non-certificated course, if I was taking them as a “taster” before moving on to a qualification course.

Adult Learner Loans have higher limits and cover a wider range of courses than they used to. Look into those.