Until 2 years ago, I remember I used to be crazy about getting new certifications every other day or 2. My LinkedIn was getting an update every other time with posts such as “I am excited to complete another course on…” ,and while I’m not saying courses are a stupid thing to do ,I’ll give you a real life analogy to get my point home- the purpose of this article.
fig.1 Some of the popular online course providers
See, there’s a difference between ‘completing’ online courses, and actually completing them. The former is totally illegal in my book-or at least that’s what I’ve come to realize after getting schooled by life.
—-Like I said earlier, around the same time back- I got a few offers to work on a couple of projects-and as I came to realize later; it came as a result of my seemingly rich profile, mostly filled with course completion certificates and accomplishments. And I remember one such offer tested one (and almost recent skill) but I somehow couldn’t reflect the papers(at least online papers) I had .Worse still, upon deep reflection; I realized I was 20% as good as what my qualifications claimed.—-
Since then, my approach has changed. For those wondering what happened after-of course I had to re-learn and brush my skillsets (which as you expect took a lot of my precious time)—lessons learnt!
Resolutions therefore had to be made on how well I would approach any type of certification in future-because let’s face it: At one point of two, we have to do such quick courses for one reason or another.
This also applies to my real life analogy I briefly touched on earlier-school,yes -your degree. Little is said on how many graduates are rather ‘clueless’ when faced with real life situations that they’re supposed to handle comfortably -or at least that’s what their certificates state.
Some of my resolutions are as follows:
Avoid Passive: This applies to most technical courses like programming and engineering, but come to think of it; everything requires practice & self testing -which is the only sure way to perfection and thus confidence.
A chunk at a time: I would have just said consistency, but that’s what I did earlier- the secret here is the right amount of consistent work. One mistake is to rush to complete a whole course that would normally take weeks or months in the real world--just because you’ve been told to go at your pace LOL.
Chase projects, not Certifications: Yes, I said it .This is the most important point that really should have come atop. But not just any project; do this instead- Learn a course, identify a project, complete it using the new-found skill, and that’s it!
Publicity last: The brain has this effect ,such that after letting the world know what you’ve achieved, a sense of satisfaction is gained-and that’s why posting on social media should come as the final act !
I believe the points above are just enough to shift someone’s mindset towards a more productive approach towards taking online courses. Till next time.