The Pros and Cons of doing short courses

short courses

Learning new skills or getting new degrees or certifications are the only way to progress as a professional. However, you don’t always have the time and resources to go for proper degrees or courses that require months, if not years to complete.

In case, you are trying to learn a new skill in a short period of time, you should consider one of those short courses. These courses cannot help you compete with college or university degree holders but they will surely help you expand your abilities for the business you run or the job you are looking for.

These short courses can be good launching pads for young boys and girls.

Here are some pros and cons of doing short courses.

The Pros:

There are various benefits of taking short courses, some of which are listed below:

Time efficient way of learning new skills:

In order to keep up with the fast pacing world of technology, it’s important to keep your skill set and knowledge up-to-date. You need to learn more within a short period of time. That’s where a short course can help. When you need to learn a new skill but your busy schedule doesn’t allow for a proper degree, you can register for a short course as the first step towards learning a new skill. These courses will also give you an idea whether the career you want to pursue is right for you.

Convenience:

The greatest benefit short courses offer is the convenience of learning. Short courses are practical and they give you the freedom to decide whether you want to opt for campus learning or remote learning. You can continue your routine activities while learning new skills and add valuable credentials to your resume.

These courses are ideal for working people as well. They don’t have to compromise their time at work in order to acquire a new skill.

A cost-efficient way of learning new skills:

Doing short courses is one of the cheapest ways to acquire a new skill. Various entry-level online courses are available for free or very low prices. Various institutes offer different types of discounts on these courses. Plus, the fee is not high since these are beginner courses.

Give you competitive advantages over the candidates:

Short courses or certifications are a great addition to your resume. They give you a competitive advantage over other candidates applying for the same job. Majority of the companies mention specific certifications in their job criteria. You can do short courses to be eligible for these jobs.

Short courses help you choose a line:

Short courses offer you an insight into the career you are planning to pursue. You get an idea of the type of knowledge or efforts you need to survive in a specific field. These courses help you save the time and money you would rather spend on getting a full-time degree in the subjects that were not the right fit.

Cons of doing short courses:

Short courses often give you a false sense of accomplishment. There are some disadvantages of taking short courses, some of which are listed below.

Short courses are not enough to get you high level job:

Short courses alone are not enough to land you a managerial level job. These courses can be taken to add more credential to your resume. But a full-time degree or professional certification like PMP is often a requisite for top level jobs.

Having one full-time degree is better than doing several short courses:

While registering for a short course it is important to see if it will help you in the longer run. It’s better to get a full-time degree or specialize in one field rather than doing many short courses in designing, networking, and developing. If you have the time and money, it is better to become a specialist instead of a generalist.

Short courses can get outdated:

Majority of the short courses are either product specific or company specific. The greatest disadvantage of the product-specific courses is that they get outdated once the product outdates.

Many companies require their employees to take in-house company specific short courses to meet their specific business needs. Such short courses will only help you while you are working for that organization. Majority of the times, these courses are not considered credible by other organizations.

Your career depends upon the decisions you make. It is important to choose the right type of education or training based on your short term and long term goals.

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