For anyone who might be interested in learning a bit about IT Support, UX Design, Project Management, or Data Analytics, Google have sponsored some free courses through Coursera. CDETB is running the programme, and you can apply directly through their website
FREE Google Certified Training | City of Dublin Education & Training Board (etb.ie)
Started the UX Designer one. Got through weeks 1, 2 & 3 yesterday. The alloted time is very generous. The videos are great though. It's just the foundation at the moment but already learnt loads.
Planning to give this a shot too, it says it's an expected 10 hour a wk over 6 months!
Does that seem accurate?
It looked like access to material under this scheme is only granted until dec 19th!
Weird how peoples sign up process is different. I requested the data analytics one a few days ago, got the email and this morning clicked into it and seemingly I could select any of the 4 courses. I had to pick which one to enroll in and I chose the data analytics one and I'm in it now.
Quick query with this. I registered for the PM course and have started it. About 20mins in and I can see this on one of the pages....do we have to pay to get the cert at the end:
Obtaining the Google Project Management Certificate
You can review videos, readings, discussion forums, in-video questions, and practice quizzes in the program for free. However, to access graded assignments and be eligible to receive your official Google Project Management Certificate, you must:
Pay the Course Certificate fee, or apply and be approved for a scholarship.
AND
Pass all graded assignments in all six courses or meet the course-passing threshold. Each graded assignment is part of a cumulative graded score for the course, and the passing grade for each course is 80%.
I will PM you - it is an individuals address rather than a generic one
EDIT - can't PM you
You should not need to pay a fee -it is free. Did you sign up through the link?
Yep - signed up yesterday, got the link today and just started about an hour ago. FYI it's on the page "Helpful resources to get started" for the Week 1 category - about half way down the page.
OK - you won't need to pay a fee. All you will need to do to get the certificate is upload proof of identity
Cheers jethro, I'll go through the course anyway and see what happens with the cert at the end....thanks again.
Just in the interests of transparency, although I was not going to initially mention it, I am involved directly in this programme. Ill do my best to help anyone who has any questions or is having any issues, so feel free to message me or ask a question in this forum. You may not get a response straight away, but I'll do my best.
For anyone who is concerned about the 15th Dec date, I can confirm that this has been extended into next year so no pressure. The advertisements/website etc still needs to be updated but that will be done in the next couple of days.
There is a lot in it, the videos are usually 3-6 mins long. But they have included lots of reading sections that go back over the video content. They allocate 10mins to each of them. And the 10 question quiz at the end you have an hour to do.
Content is really good, you will need to set aside a reasonable amount of time but it is far from a full time 8 hours a day scenario. I had a day off and got through 3 weeks worth in the day.
what do you actually do on the UX course? do you have to go bother people to do 'research' https://www.coursera.org/professional-certificates/google-ux-design#howItWorks
Someone who has done or is doing that specific course may be better equipped to reply on this, but in general although the courses might suggest that you engage with others it is not usually a requirement. The descriptors in the link you attached are a good summary of the requirements
I've finished 2 weeks of the IT support cert in 2 days, each taking about 2 hours to do.
Actually I've looked more into it and this course is 1 part out of 5. Not sure if the other parts are free. I'd say all 5 courses would take a good few months
All parts are free
Hi Jethro, I'm late to the party here and have just applied to do the Data Analytics one. Do you know if it's full at this stage and if so will it be offered again in the future? Cheers
There are still some spots left. You should get an invite tomorrow morning. If you want to PM me your name I will chase it through with admin
I am doing the Data Analytics Course and enjoying it (I'm in construction so this is all completely new to me) but I was wondering is it possible to do another course as project management also interests me also?
Got an email to say that the end date for these has been extended from December 15th 2021 to December 2022 which is far better for those of us with full time jobs.
Just applied for the PM one thanks, started managing in work and feel it would be useful Hopefully not full up!
Good to hear you are enjoying it.
Yes, you can sign up to do more than one course. The only ask is that the commitment is there to complete them as there are a limited number of licenses and take-up is strong.
If you want to PM me your name I will see an invite is sent
EDIT - you probably have an invite there already
Seeing as you seem to be in the know do you know if we are limited to doing one course, or can you finish one and start another out of the 4 available if you have time?
It's a brilliant opportunity, thanks for posting :)
Very welcome.
You can do more than one course. As mentioned earlier though, in the interests of fairness, commitment to finishing them is important as there are only a limited number of licenses. It would be a shame for people to miss out because people are tying up licenses and not using them. (Absolutely no insinuation that you would do that, just a general point)
Point taken, I understand, it's a great opportunity so I hope everyone who gets a chance will greet it with that spirit. I just thought when it's extended until 2022 it might be possible to get two done in the time frame if it was allowed.
Thanks again :)
Finished the first part of the IT fundamentals, enjoyed it although pretty basic. The Qwiklabs were good especially the Linux stuff. The app is really nice, it's possible to download the videos but I'd recommend you use the computer for the more technical lessons. Can't wait to start the next course.
Finally starting the Data Analytics tonight. Been mad busy!
Thanks to the OP for sharing, was looking for something on Data Analysis anyway and am on a tight budget and in need of stuff for CPD! :D Two birds one free certified stone! :)
Lads I've been out of tech game for a few years but have been thinking of returning to finish my final college year as I had depression and did bad in my final exams :(
I really want get back into IT, but just wondering how do these stack up compared to CompTIA and CCNA as far as the CV? The degree was Computer Networks & Systems Administration so I'm trying to see which one (s) would compliment it
Wondering this too
