Free places on offer for the UCD Innovation Academy

Dav

Hello all,

I was contacted by Dr Johnny Ryan who's a director of the UCD Innovation Academy. They're currently seeking candidates for their Springboard Course. The course is free for any candidates that meet their criteria.

The mail I got said looking for applicants of all ages and ranges of experience, but to avail of a free place they must be between jobs, or looking to start their next venture.

I hope it's of interest to some of you.

Amazingfun

Bump, this is a really great course

K.C

I graduated from this course last September. I would highly recommend it. Thoroughly enjoyable and a great approach to education.

limo_100

bump anyone do this coarse be able to tell me anything about it im thinking of doing it but i have no business experience or ideas for future ventures all i have is an engineering degree

K.C

limo_100 wrote: »

bump anyone do this coarse be able to tell me anything about it im thinking of doing it but i have no business experience or ideas for future ventures all i have is an engineering degree

I have done this course and my degree is in Science. You don't need any business experience in order to do it. Highly Recommend it, any questions,llet me know

limo_100

K.C wrote: »

I have done this course and my degree is in Science. You don't need any business experience in order to do it. Highly Recommend it, any questions,llet me know

just a few actually what kind of work is involved in it as in is it lecture lectures all day and i take notes all day?? what kind of skills did you pick up from it and did it further your career??

Dave!

I finished it a month ago. Great course, highly recommend it. The course website gives a bit of detail about the 'curriculum'. There are no lectures/notes, it's not a very academic course, it's quite interactive and practical. You're mostly working on small daily projects/challenges with teams. Hard to point to specific skills that you pick up – it doesn't dig deep into topics, so you get out of it what you put in. I wanted to get experience with presenting/public speaking, so volunteered to do lots of that. You meet lots of good people, and you hear from entrepreneurs of varying amounts of experience, so it's quite inspiring. It took me out of my comfort zone for sure.

You don't really have to have an 'idea' starting, but you will have to come up with one for the second module, but I'm sure you'll think of something, and they'll help you anyway. It doesn't have to be the next Facebook or anything – people in my class were starting a coffee shop, elderly care facility, and other kind of mundane businesses. It's more the process of testing the idea that is important, rather than the idea itself. You don't need to have any business experience or knowledge, just an interest.

It's early yet, but it's helping my career I think. I'm certainly talking about it a lot in interviews.

K.C

Dave! wrote: »

I finished it a month ago. Great course, highly recommend it. The course website gives a bit of detail about the 'curriculum'. There are no lectures/notes, it's not a very academic course, it's quite interactive and practical. You're mostly working on small daily projects/challenges with teams. Hard to point to specific skills that you pick up – it doesn't dig deep into topics, so you get out of it what you put in. I wanted to get experience with presenting/public speaking, so volunteered to do lots of that. You meet lots of good people, and you hear from entrepreneurs of varying amounts of experience, so it's quite inspiring. It took me out of my comfort zone for sure.

You don't really have to have an 'idea' starting, but you will have to come up with one for the second module, but I'm sure you'll think of something, and they'll help you anyway. It doesn't have to be the next Facebook or anything – people in my class were starting a coffee shop, elderly care facility, and other kind of mundane businesses. It's more the process of testing the idea that is important, rather than the idea itself. You don't need to have any business experience or knowledge, just an interest.


It's early yet, but it's helping my career I think. I'm certainly talking about it a lot in interviews.

Great to hear you enjoyed it Dave, I remember you asking for advice before you took it on just like the above post. I think anyone would enjoy this course, such a positive learning environment.

limo_100

Dave! wrote: »

I finished it a month ago. Great course, highly recommend it. The course website gives a bit of detail about the 'curriculum'. There are no lectures/notes, it's not a very academic course, it's quite interactive and practical. You're mostly working on small daily projects/challenges with teams. Hard to point to specific skills that you pick up – it doesn't dig deep into topics, so you get out of it what you put in. I wanted to get experience with presenting/public speaking, so volunteered to do lots of that. You meet lots of good people, and you hear from entrepreneurs of varying amounts of experience, so it's quite inspiring. It took me out of my comfort zone for sure.

You don't really have to have an 'idea' starting, but you will have to come up with one for the second module, but I'm sure you'll think of something, and they'll help you anyway. It doesn't have to be the next Facebook or anything – people in my class were starting a coffee shop, elderly care facility, and other kind of mundane businesses. It's more the process of testing the idea that is important, rather than the idea itself. You don't need to have any business experience or knowledge, just an interest.

It's early yet, but it's helping my career I think. I'm certainly talking about it a lot in interviews.

Is it generating much interest in your interviews have you had many job offers?? how many do the coarse bout 50 or so is it??

Dave!

Yeah getting good interest alright. Had 2 offers, starting at one of them tomorrow. It helped me get far in the process with another company too, but that fell apart at the very end.

Less than 50, maybe 35 I'd guess.

limo_100

Dave! wrote: »

Yeah getting good interest alright. Had 2 offers, starting at one of them tomorrow. It helped me get far in the process with another company too, but that fell apart at the very end.

Less than 50, maybe 35 I'd guess.

O well done congrats on the new position, Is it a very relaxed environment as apposed to an intense approach as in an honors degree were your always running out of time

Dave!

limo_100 wrote: »

O well done congrats on the new position, Is it a very relaxed environment as apposed to an intense approach as in an honors degree were your always running out of time

Yes very casual, no stress, the facilitators are more friends than lecturers.

PF28

Dave! wrote: »

Yeah getting good interest alright. Had 2 offers, starting at one of them tomorrow. It helped me get far in the process with another company too, but that fell apart at the very end.

Less than 50, maybe 35 I'd guess.

Hey Guys. I'm also just started this course. Agree with all the above already said. Just one thing I'd like to know though, did anyone in your course get jobs directly or indirectly through the guest speakers/companies you work with during the course or does this not happen?
Thanks
Paul

Dave!

PF28 wrote: »

Hey Guys. I'm also just started this course. Agree with all the above already said. Just one thing I'd like to know though, did anyone in your course get jobs directly or indirectly through the guest speakers/companies you work with during the course or does this not happen?
Thanks
Paul

No, that didn't happen in my experience

djunmark

Hi guys,

Anyone that completed this course - Postgrad Cert in Innovation, Entrepreunership and Enterprise.

Can you please give some feedback in terms of the intensity of the course, the content, and how helpful it is for personal development? And did it help you in your career? Are there a lot of project/group work outside the study hours?

I am thinking of applying directly since I am not eligible for Springboard.

It really interests me try a completely different education environment where innovation is key part of it.

Thanks

Dave!

Briefly, from having done it about 3 years ago:

Not very intense - most of the work is done in the classroom, nothing too strenuous outside of it. Towards the end there is more autonomous and group projects that require a bit more investment.

The content was interesting and useful - generally lectures about some high level topics related to the lean approach to starting a business/developing an idea. Most interesting for me was the speakers that they invited in periodically to tell their stories.

I found it great for personal development; it's the main thing I got out of it (not a huge amount skills-wise). There are a lot of opportunities to give presentations/pitches, for interacting with potential customers (strangers), and some good focussed group projects which really forces you to examine how you work within a group.

It's hard to quantify how much it helped my career - depending on the job you're applying for, it might be a good thing or a bad thing to have buzz words like "innovation" on your CV. I cringe a bit when I read it to be honest. But, it's a rich topic of conversation in an interview, and I find it's good to be able to say that I had a big fear of public speaking, and so I took the course knowing I would have to address it, and now I'm very comfortable with that.

There's not a lot of extra work outside of the classroom. The later modules involved solo and group projects which require a bit of time investment, but I think the lectures stop, so you can still do most of your work in the classroom.

I actually kept a bit of a blog during it if you want to have a read:
http://blog.davemcginn.ie/category/college/

In short you'll get out of it what you put in - I threw myself into it, and found it quite valuable. Won the award for 'Most Entrepreneurial Student' in it too! Now I had better go do something entrepreneurial!

djunmark

Hi Dave,

Thank you for comprehensive feedback.

It is very helpful. Are the most people from the sprinboard initiative or there are also some that are in employment? What's the class size like and age?

As I am not elgible for springboard, and investing myself, it is important to get as much information. If you werent elgible through springboard and taking into account what you got it from it, would you have invested 3000?

Thanks Dave

Dave! wrote: »

Briefly, from having done it about 3 years ago:

Not very intense - most of the work is done in the classroom, nothing too strenuous outside of it. Towards the end there is more autonomous and group projects that require a bit more investment.

The content was interesting and useful - generally lectures about some high level topics related to the lean approach to starting a business/developing an idea. Most interesting for me was the speakers that they invited in periodically to tell their stories.

I found it great for personal development; it's the main thing I got out of it (not a huge amount skills-wise). There are a lot of opportunities to give presentations/pitches, for interacting with potential customers (strangers), and some good focussed group projects which really forces you to examine how you work within a group.

It's hard to quantify how much it helped my career - depending on the job you're applying for, it might be a good thing or a bad thing to have buzz words like "innovation" on your CV. I cringe a bit when I read it to be honest. But, it's a rich topic of conversation in an interview, and I find it's good to be able to say that I had a big fear of public speaking, and so I took the course knowing I would have to address it, and now I'm very comfortable with that.

There's not a lot of extra work outside of the classroom. The later modules involved solo and group projects which require a bit of time investment, but I think the lectures stop, so you can still do most of your work in the classroom.

I actually kept a bit of a blog during it if you want to have a read:
http://blog.davemcginn.ie/category/college/

In short you'll get out of it what you put in - I threw myself into it, and found it quite valuable. Won the award for 'Most Entrepreneurial Student' in it too! Now I had better go do something entrepreneurial!

Dave!

I think everyone was Springboard when I was doing it. Probably about 45 in my class, and they were older than me by and large. Probably mid- to late-40s average.

Hmm I think if I were investing my own money I would probably either do something directly related to my career/industry, or else do something that specifically interests me and try to bundle some of the personal development stuff into that course. It was good but possibly a bit too general with no specific learning outcomes. 3k is a lot for it really. I did a part time journalism course in DBS for about €1,600 which I thought was great value.

djunmark wrote: »

Hi Dave,

Thank you for comprehensive feedback.

It is very helpful. Are the most people from the sprinboard initiative or there are also some that are in employment? What's the class size like and age?

As I am not elgible for springboard, and investing myself, it is important to get as much information. If you werent elgible through springboard and taking into account what you got it from it, would you have invested 3000?

Thanks Dave

djunmark

Dave,

Thank you very much! That is my main issue, the company I work for may cover the costs, but I am only interested if it this will really help me in the future, especially towards the new venture development or creative thinking towards the problems within organization.

Do you know if many people go on to do their ventures after this course and what's the employment success rate once completed?

If I go to do this course, I would need to manage it with full time work, so I am trying to decide whether to go for something more specific or go towards this.

Does it go in depth step by step regarding involves to create successful venture in practical approach?

Thanks,
Marius

Dave! wrote: »

I think everyone was Springboard when I was doing it. Probably about 45 in my class, and they were older than me by and large. Probably mid- to late-40s average.

Hmm I think if I were investing my own money I would probably either do something directly related to my career/industry, or else do something that specifically interests me and try to bundle some of the personal development stuff into that course. It was good but possibly a bit too general with no specific learning outcomes. 3k is a lot for it really. I did a part time journalism course in DBS for about €1,600 which I thought was great value.

Dave!

djunmark wrote: »

Dave,

Thank you very much! That is my main issue, the company I work for may cover the costs, but I am only interested if it this will really help me in the future, especially towards the new venture development or creative thinking towards the problems within organization.

Do you know if many people go on to do their ventures after this course and what's the employment success rate once completed?

If I go to do this course, I would need to manage it with full time work, so I am trying to decide whether to go for something more specific or go towards this.

Does it go in depth step by step regarding involves to create successful venture in practical approach?

Thanks,
Marius

I don't know how many launched their own ventures, not many I would expect. I think the employment rate would be pretty good though.

It doesn't go step by step really, it's a bit more abstract than that and kind of fosters a 'creative' mindset and an empathetic approach to approaching problems - i.e. start with the problem and the person experiencing it, and kind of let them design the solution with you. And test your solutions with the simplest MVP you can come up with initially, building on that.

To be honest by the sounds of it it might not be the best use of your time. You would probably be better off getting a copy of 'the Lean Startup' by Eric Ries and going from there - the course is basically an application of that approach, with a bit of personal development thrown in the mix. You could probably find a different course that is a bit less 'holistic', for lack of a better word, and a bit more focussed, if you were specifically looking to start a business. If there are any courses associated with accelerator programmes then they would be far more valuable.

djunmark

Hi Dave,

Thank you very much!! You have been very helpful!

Dave! wrote: »

I don't know how many launched their own ventures, not many I would expect. I think the employment rate would be pretty good though.

It doesn't go step by step really, it's a bit more abstract than that and kind of fosters a 'creative' mindset and an empathetic approach to approaching problems - i.e. start with the problem and the person experiencing it, and kind of let them design the solution with you. And test your solutions with the simplest MVP you can come up with initially, building on that.

To be honest by the sounds of it it might not be the best use of your time. You would probably be better off getting a copy of 'the Lean Startup' by Eric Ries and going from there - the course is basically an application of that approach, with a bit of personal development thrown in the mix. You could probably find a different course that is a bit less 'holistic', for lack of a better word, and a bit more focussed, if you were specifically looking to start a business. If there are any courses associated with accelerator programmes then they would be far more valuable.

djunmark

djunmark wrote: »

Hi guys,

Anyone that completed this course - Postgrad Cert in Innovation, Entrepreunership and Enterprise.

Can you please give some feedback in terms of the intensity of the course, the content, and how helpful it is for personal development? And did it help you in your career? Are there a lot of project/group work outside the study hours?

I am thinking of applying directly since I am not eligible for Springboard.

It really interests me try a completely different education environment where innovation is key part of it.

Thanks

One of the best decisions i have ever made was to enrol in this course. Its absolutely brilliant. Mind blowing in many ways and creates so much awareness