Springboard courses. Free college courses sponsored by the Irish Government

Jambonjunior wrote: »

Could you do one of these every year?

I think it's 3 courses in 5 years, might even be 4 courses but I definitely remember reading you had to take a break at some stage

If you accept a course is there a possibility of any other courses you applied for offering you one or is it the case of what you accept is it and try something new next time round?

Hi everyone. I’ve just been offered a place in the NCI Data Analytics Hdip. I did my degree in Maynooth so I am thinking of possibly applying there too and if I don’t get an offer within the 5 days I’ll accept NCI. I feel like I’ve read a few bad posts on here about the NCI one hence my reluctance to accept straight away

Can anyone offer some positive feedback? Also I’m assuming that most of it will be online now or are NCI students back in the actual college this year and not doing online lectures?

Cheers!!

I'm thinking of applying for either of the following:

HDip in Data Analytics

HDip in Software Development

For someone who has a numerate (engineering) but non-programming background I'd appreciate any feedback or personal experiences in terms of difficulty or employability?

onrail wrote: »

I'm thinking of applying for either of the following:

HDip in Data Analytics

HDip in Software Development

For someone who has a numerate (engineering) but non-programming background I'd appreciate any feedback or personal experiences in terms of difficulty or employability?

Don’t know your exact circumstances but with the level of math and programming you’ve likely been exposed to on an engineering degree wouldn’t their level 9 (postgrad dip) be a better fit for you than their level 8 hdip?

onrail wrote: »

I guess you’re referring to a Elec/Software engineering degree? Civil engineering grad nearly a decade ago! Plenty of advanced maths and stats involved but only maybe a couple of modules of basic programming early on. My concern that all would be quite rusty a decade on!

If I was to take a chance on a level 9, would it offer significant benefits in terms of employment prospects?

I’d imagine so given it’s at (effectively) masters vs honours degree level. I went for it on that basis this year. They do seem to focus on how much coding experience you have when assessing though (unsurprisingly). There’s an online sample class available in early September (I think -details are on the NCI website And I’ll try to dig them up later) that might give you a steer

delishdoughnut wrote: »

I got an email from NUIG to say they should be in contact later in the week, I know there were others waiting.

Has anyone heard anything from UCC. Emailed them and just got an out of office. No answer on the phone either.

I'm sure UCC will reply to your email. I know they are working out of office.

Errashareesh wrote: »

Got my offer from UCC today. Keep trying them!

Ok they are probably busy today. If I don't hear by the end of the day I'll probably have my answer anyway.

I'm coming from a GIS background and they (NCI) were pretty forceful trying to ascertain my level of programming for the PGDip in Data Analytics. My programming skills are minimal and based on mapbasic and python.

I ended up withdrawing that application and continuing with just the HDip with them.

As mentioned before the lack of clarity in dealing with anything to do with the NCI was pretty frustrating.

In the end I'm gonna do the HDip in Data analytics in Maynooth.

The difference here is that they are straight up about assuming zero knowledge in java from day one. And rather than chip away at it over the course of the programme, they are running a solid 3 week course of java before starting on anything else.

I'm pretty glad of this as I'm one for learning really well in immersive environments. I can't stand doing things bit by bit.

BonnieSituation wrote: »

I'm coming from a GIS background and they were pretty forceful trying to ascertain my level of programming for the PGDip in Data Analytics. My programming skills are minimal and based on mapbasic and python.

I ended up withdrawing that application and continuing with just the HDip with them.

As mentioned before the lack of clarity in dealing with anything to do with the NCI was pretty frustrating.

In the end I'm gonna do the HDip in Data analytics in Maynooth.

The difference here is that they are straight up about assuming zero knowledge in java from day one. And rather than chip away at it over the course of the programme, they are running a solid 3 week course of java before starting on anything else.

I'm pretty glad of this as I'm one for learning really well in immersive environments. I can't stand doing things bit by bit.

Also weighing up the Data Analytics in Maynooth Vs NUI.

Any idea of the timetable specifics for the Maynooth course? I see that 15-30 hours per week is mentioned, but is this likely to be during evenings/Weekends?

delishdoughnut wrote: »

I got an email from NUIG to say they should be in contact later in the week, I know there were others waiting.

Thanks, did you chase them or was it a random email?

Toashty91 wrote: »

No I don't think that's right. If you apply to multiple courses in multiple colleges and you accept an offer from one, the other colleges don't know that, so they will still send you an offer. As far as i'm aware the last thing they would do is make people commit to one course, it's in their best interest to get you into the right course and free up a space that could go to someone more suited.

Maybe i'm wrong but I don't think it would be logical to let you apply for loads of different courses of different levels when they know that different course providers have different timelines for decision making.....

Here's the status of my Springboard applications right now. The first course, I was not offered prior to accepting the course which is down as "Accepted". The "UserCancelled" status is what occurred to the other outstanding applications on my profile, regardless of their status, when I clicked accept on the course I wanted. I'm assuming this withdraws my applications on the backend and thus notifies the other courses I have withdrawn. Given it is the course administrators which can update the status of your application, I've no reason to believe this is incorrect.

Just wondering, are people getting offers before the closing date or do they all go out after the closing date?

py wrote: »

Here's the status of my Springboard applications right now. The first course, I was not offered prior to accepting the course which is down as "Accepted". The "UserCancelled" status is what occurred to the other outstanding applications on my profile, regardless of their status, when I clicked accept on the course I wanted. I'm assuming this withdraws my applications on the backend and thus notifies the other courses I have withdrawn. Given it is the course administrators which can update the status of your application, I've no reason to believe this is incorrect.

Oh Wow ok I honestly didn't know that! I'm glad you brought this to my attention, I would never have guessed that was the case! It seems so crazy to me that that would be their process!! Thanks for explaining!