WebElevate 4.1 Level 7

DenMan

WebElevate 4.1

Hi guys. Please move if this is in the incorrect place.

I want to move into software development, specifically website design. I would like to top up my level 6 with this online course that leads to a degree. Has anybody ever done it before or recommend it for me? Has anybody done it while not being based in Dublin as I am wondering would I have to move from Sligo? I have been in contact with admissions and forwarded my CV to them.

http://www.webelevate.ie/our-courses/webelevate/

DenMan

It's looking like a red herring to me. Thank you for getting back to me.

Silverbling

I am half way through the course, I thought a degree in a year was going to be easy, it's really tough going but very enjoyable it is filling in the gaps in my self taught knowledge

You have to be very disciplined and be prepared to give up a year of your life, online is great but if you fall behind by 1 lecture then you are in trouble, catching up is not easy as it is never ending assessments and you have to research the lectures if you are new to it

At the end of it your work is assessed by DIT to see if you have passed, I had to learn illustrator and photoshop in 6 weeks, I found that tough, I flew through digital marketing because I do it daily, others found that tough

You have individual and team assessments, you very quickly learn to listen to the info from your team member who is strong in that area, it is peer learning

I have to say I have learnt so much in 6 months, I would highly recommend this course but beware it is 12 hours lectures online, the homework and assessments are extra

The amount of skills and knowledge people have are mind blowing, but a lot of us left school when degrees were not an option

red_bairn

Silverbling wrote: »

I am half way through the course, I thought a degree in a year was going to be easy, it's really tough going but very enjoyable it is filling in the gaps in my self taught knowledge

You have to be very disciplined and be prepared to give up a year of your life, online is great but if you fall behind by 1 lecture then you are in trouble, catching up is not easy as it is never ending assessments and you have to research the lectures if you are new to it

At the end of it your work is assessed by DIT to see if you have passed, I had to learn illustrator and photoshop in 6 weeks, I found that tough, I flew through digital marketing because I do it daily, others found that tough

You have individual and team assessments, you very quickly learn to listen to the info from your team member who is strong in that area, it is peer learning

I have to say I have learnt so much in 6 months, I would highly recommend this course but beware it is 12 hours lectures online, the homework and assessments are extra

The amount of skills and knowledge people have are mind blowing, but a lot of us left school when degrees were not an option

• Communication was rubbish from the academy when it came to the project and assignment dates.
• Some lecturers weren't bad and I learnt a lot from new topics like AngularJS, jQuery Mobile and additional items in Server-Side technology.
• A designer on my team was learning a lot of new things even though he was a freelancer building loads of WordPress websites. Bootstrap wasn't new to him so he flew through that and some of the design based modules with Adobe Photoshop. So some people might find it quite challenging to be doing all these technical modules but work with your peers and ask plenty of questions! Even if it means using Stackoverflow for a good few!
• Prepare to work over the estimated 8-10 hours of study from teh course description (Working on a fulltime job and this at the same time was rough going for a year).

Silverbling

red_bairn wrote: »

• Communication was rubbish from the academy when it came to the project and assignment dates.
• Some lecturers weren't bad and I learnt a lot from new topics like AngularJS, jQuery Mobile and additional items in Server-Side technology.
• A designer on my team was learning a lot of new things even though he was a freelancer building loads of WordPress websites. Bootstrap wasn't new to him so he flew through that and some of the design based modules with Adobe Photoshop. So some people might find it quite challenging to be doing all these technical modules but work with your peers and ask plenty of questions! Even if it means using Stackoverflow for a good few!
• Prepare to work over the estimated 8-10 hours of study from teh course description (Working on a fulltime job and this at the same time was rough going for a year).

8 - 10 hours? I have a start up online business which needs constant attention plus social media, 2 kids etc, I have burnt more dinners since I started this degree but on the plus side the kids now eat anything put on a plate as the other option is go hungry as food shopping is not very high on my list

I have 10 weeks to go and to be honest there were weeks where I was spending 30 hours+ and wanted to quit, but my scores are looking like I should get a distinction because I did all of the workshops and if I got my coding wrong (design stream) kept doing it again and again until I got it right, you will get out what you put in

They do drip feed you everything initially but say its not compulsory to do the workshops, if you do them then its all mapped out, if you don't do them then its a mad scramble back looking for the info, re watching the videos and wasting loads of time

Its tough, really really tough going and the team assessments can be torture but I have learned so much it was worth it now I can see the light at the end

A degree in a year? simples we said, you will find most of us sat rocking in a corner but if you get the chance and are not looking for a degree to be handed to you for just turning up( because you will fail) its well worth it, but what they do not tell you is the minimum hours will be 8-10 on the lectures, you go learn the rest yourself

Be prepared to give up your life for a year I left school at 16, next year aged 51 I get a degree in St Patrick's Cathedral and probably a highly paid job, well worth doing if you have self taught skills and need the gaps filling in but lazy people need not apply

DenMan

Thanks for the replies everyone! I didn't accept WebElevate in the end as I really wanted hands on IT technical experience and physical placement for work experience.

I'm in Letterkenny now studying CompTIA and will be on a placement from April-October two days a week and classes the other days of the week. I have just finished my first week in what is almost a year long course. Very best of luck guys and I hope you graduate with your degree. All the best.

iosua2002

@DenMan

Worst decision ever.

With CompTia you will just have an idea about IT. You were scared about the comments here. But IT always means studies and hard work and studies again.
By the time you have finished Comptia(unless is Linux which weights really good in your CV;the other Comptia courses are almost useless ) a friend or someone you know who finished this degree have landed in a 26-30k/year job.

To make it simple: you go for an interview and you will be asked 200 IT questions about your experience/knowledge if the employer is thorough, while having the degree you will be asked maybe 5-10 questions as employers values a degree.

Next time, pick the hard way. That's how IT works.


PS. I'm talking from experience and not dreams or hypothetical situations.

Best of luck DenMan

DenMan

Hey guys

Bumping this thread for an update. I worked in Letterkenny University Hospital in the IT Department until November. I then got accepted on WebElevate 6 in November and have been at it since. I'm really enjoying it and hard to believe half way through it now. I'm enjoying both the group work and my individual work as a PM. I'm enjoying working with the team I'm with. Can anybody tell me do we stay together as a team after the UXCD assessments are submitted?

red_bairn

DenMan wrote: »

Hey guys

Bumping this thread for an update. I worked in Letterkenny University Hospital in the IT Department until November. I then got accepted on WebElevate 6 in November and have been at it since. I'm really enjoying it and hard to believe half way through it now. I'm enjoying both the group work and my individual work as a PM. I'm enjoying working with the team I'm with. Can anybody tell me do we stay together as a team after the UXCD assessments are submitted?

From what I can remember I believe you can stay together. There were teams where there were issues and they split the team members up into other groups.

tieng anh

anyone know if it is available through Springboard this year?

DenMan

tieng anh wrote: »

anyone know if it is available through Springboard this year?

It's not showing up in the search results on the Springboard website. Maybe there's a slight delay with the process.

tieng anh

Hey DENMAN .I've been checking springboard daily and I called Digital Skills Academy and they said they are waiting for the go ahead but I just think they are leaving it pretty late or are they waiting for last year's course to finish?Considering I know nothing about coding or HTML do you think a novice like me can complete the course?dece

DenMan

tieng anh wrote: »

Hey DENMAN .I've been checking springboard daily and I called Digital Skills Academy and they said they are waiting for the go ahead but I just think they are leaving it pretty late or are they waiting for last year's course to finish?Considering I know nothing about coding or HTML do you think a novice like me can complete the course?dece

Hey tieng anh

A combination of both I'd say. I had to do an online group meeting with a lot of other potential participants last year. You meet with one of the online lecturers and he explains the process. This was all done after I had applied through Springboard as I had to give them scanned certs, DSP letter and the application before that stage.

The course is structured for beginners and there are people in the coding stream who had no experience first and they had modules to do to bring them up to speed, especially when working on the Industry Partner Project towards the end of the course. Yes I believe if it is something you want to do you can indeed complete the course. Be prepared though as there is a lot of work to do during the year. You will have your individual units in your own stream to do and then you will have collaboration ones with the teams you get assigned to. Right now I have three modules to do towards the end of the course (2 collaborative, 1 individual) and they include the course material units, assessments, workshops, a report, a research paper and the unit quizzes. You will, like me enjoy it if you really want to do it. Good luck!

tieng anh

Great information .Cant thank you enough DENMAN.i have started a course on HTML5, and JavaScript so as not to arrive with nothing.The course is also online.although it just preparing you for the microsoft exam in four months.You're near the end now so congrats and any info you think wort sharing please pass on .Dece