Are retraining courses worth it?

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Major

Major

These people are wogs!
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Oct 16, 2023
I see alot of ads for web development etc part time courses & bootcamps. I do know one person who did a univeristy level one of those that walked in to a job immediately after finishing, so they must be worth it sometimes.

I work in a stem industry which is dying rapidly - as in zero jobs in my area and not improving and I am prepared to take a salary hit initially. I see alot of talk on plebbit etc about how these things are useless, but for someone with no experience at all I can't see how it could hurt.

Does anyone have any advice because I am totally lost and seriously worried about losing my job and having to move away
 
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Major said:
I still see loads of entry level software jobs where I live, and haven't people been saying that for years?
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Opus 4.5 has only been out of few months. Opus 4.5 is better than the majority of professionally employed programmers. People of course will cope and post about how it's their job to fix AI slop but that doesn't change the fact that Opus 4.5 obsoletes junior developers.

Once upon a time you could get a job literally just by knowing how to shit out React components. Not anymore.
 
Most of those certificate mills are not worth your time but if you feel you need to go to one, ask them what their job placement rate and salary is. If they can’t or won’t produce those statistics for you with sources, then it’s a red flag. I call them mills because the certifications these places provide often aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on, although most of these places don’t even bother to print them, you just get a useless digital certificate that means fuck all.

If I sound down on certifications, I’ve just seen a lot of useless lumps with 30 Udemy and Coursera certificates. Or useless certifications with UC Berkeley slapped on it but it’s actually some other company that uses their name. Those programs are filled with Jeets and Africans for a reason.
 
I've caution you away from any university certificates. If you don't see job openings demanding it, you don't need it or want it.
 
Audit said:
I've caution you away from any university certificates. If you don't see job openings demanding it, you don't need it or want it.
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Well the one I was talking about was a masters degree requiring only a stem related bachelors in any field and they seem to have pipeline supplying graduates to companies. It's too far away for me and I cannot afford to not work for a year, but I'd consider it if a part time version was available.
 
Major said:
I'd consider it if a part time version was available.
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My brother in Christ, there are so many graduate-level distance education programs available out there from renowned institutions that you shouldn't need to quit or move anywhere.

Just like in-person courses, what you get out of it depends on you, so don't let the notion of not having to sit in a lecture hall dissuade you from checking one out.
 
Major said:
Well the one I was talking about was a masters degree requiring only a stem related bachelors in any field and they seem to have pipeline supplying graduates to companies. It's too far away for me and I cannot afford to not work for a year, but I'd consider it if a part time version was available.
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Ok, so just be aware that masters' programs and especially distance ed are money makers for the university. Get hard numbers on their ability to find you a job before you drop money. I generally caution students away from getting masters' degrees these days unless there is a specific job that needs it. As always, the real path to getting and staying employed is networking. Do not under any circumstance just get a degree thinking that it will obligate a job for you.

@Major , what I want you to do step back and reflect upon your current skill set. What is the next logical jump for you to make if your current line of work is dying. You probably don't need to start back at zero. A masters' degree to refocus your skillset into a relevant direction might be the right choice if you already have a bachelor's degree and good work experience. Getting the first job is always the hardest. You're past that step. An online masters' is an option for you, and you can do it part time. However, you might also be able to simply apply for a related but different job right now. You might be surprised at who gets hired with what background. You'll need to be willing to move though. Most important thing for you right now is to stay employed and not end up on the uber menu. Stay away from entry level jobs and try to look for mid-career jobs that you qualify for.

ChompChomp said:
My brother in Christ, there are so many graduate-level distance education programs available out there from renowned institutions that you shouldn't need to quit or move anywhere.
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If education is all you want, MIT Opencourseware is brilliant. We're living in an age of unprecedented access to education. World renowned professors upload their lectures regularly to youtube or academic hosts.
 
The Hardest R said:
Most of those certificate mills are not worth your time but if you feel you need to go to one, ask them what their job placement rate and salary is. If they can’t or won’t produce those statistics for you with sources, then it’s a red flag. I call them mills because the certifications these places provide often aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on, although most of these places don’t even bother to print them, you just get a useless digital certificate that means fuck all.

If I sound down on certifications, I’ve just seen a lot of useless lumps with 30 Udemy and Coursera certificates. Or useless certifications with UC Berkeley slapped on it but it’s actually some other company that uses their name. Those programs are filled with Jeets and Africans for a reason.
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The ones usually worth it are the COMPTIA ones, AI isn't replacing the physical aspect of having to maintain itself. The other thing is low level programming.

CrunkLord420 said:
People of course will cope and post about how it's their job to fix AI slop but that doesn't change the fact that Opus 4.5 obsoletes junior developers.
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There are companies spending a tremendous amount of time trying to get a home grown AI to programming assembler and cobol. The results are pretty awful, and it still makes up most of the programming done. Considering the state of H1B visas, you might be able to slide in. I think there is certain programming that is being massacred but some of the old school stuff is being spared.

Major said:
Does anyone have any advice because I am totally lost and seriously worried about losing my job and having to move away
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The thing I would avoid is management, the recent stats that came out is that 95% of the company pilots of AI failed, and a sizable amount of the ones that appeared promising to companies are replacing HR and managers. At the company I work at they cut out most of HR and replaced it with a bot. So one HR lady handles nearly a 1000 employees.

Example of a manager getting replaced is there was this guy that would try to optimize the scrum masters at our company. So think about a guy that effective reports out how well a team is doing. They found out that a program can replace him, and others like him. So they added the web hooks and implement the AI learner that would spit out reports then he went away.

Considering it did about as well as he did, which was mediocre, they never looked back. I think management jobs are really on the chopping block going forward.

Amazon in there last round of layoffs, killed a chunk of HR, Marketing, Sales, and oddly enough and AI services.

Sources:
 
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biznbuy said:
Amazon in there last round of layoffs, killed a chunk of HR, Marketing, Sales, and oddly enough and AI services.
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I thought a lot of that was the closure of their grocery stores which would have a lot of those positions.
 
If the course has employer connections or helps you get leads to get the job, they're okay.
 
fleacollerindustry said:
Learn IT. AI still can't clone hard drives and install RAM into office computers full of cute girls
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IT-support is both a popular education and short-term certificate here, but I hear both ends of the spectrum about it. "Oh yeah I got into IT and now I'm programming", or "unless you do the 2 years you won't be taken serious". Obviously being a bit tech savy and doing the short-term one may benefit you, but like everything else in life, you'll get the short end of the stick while some airhead is hired on as senior advisor first thing.
 
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