Professional retraining

The need to learn something new, in principle, is inherent in most sapiens. The only difference is what methods they choose for this. Someone runs in different educational institutions, "collecting" diplomas and certificates, someone basically refuses from any kind of educational institutions.
I am not going to agitate for something or discourage. I just want to share with dear habrovchanami some thoughts that have appeared in my head on my own experience.


Having spent several long years at home with children, matured again to go to work. Fearfully. But suddenly I can’t cope, and suddenly this is not what is needed, and suddenly ... and suddenly ... and suddenly ... And some of the "suddenly" are completely justified - well, the brain was covered with a light layer of dust or mold :).

It was thought that shake and how to vacuum the brain is the easiest way, going to learn. I must say, was not mistaken - shook well. But let's not get ahead.
')
What to choose?
Second higher? Seductively, but for a long time.
Training? Ha, so what's there to raise something after all these years, actually? The institute specialty is good, but for so many years too much has been lost. There is no need to raise, and re-learn.
Courses-anything-highly specialized? Nothing looked somehow ...
Chose retraining. Unlearning. There is something to share.

Tip number one - clearly understand what is being offered to you under this name ...

I must say that the word "retraining" directly shouts that in fact you will be offered a new specialty. Yes, this is not a higher education. But the retraining "falls" on the existing higher. And, if you choose the right course for yourself, then you can get some quite acceptable specialty not at all from scratch ... (I was so naive to think so).

The illusion was fueled by the media - due to the crisis there was a mass of reports that during refresher courses people would be helped to master a new, sought-after specialty. However, this approach does not work everywhere.

I'll tell you about what I personally encountered. Perhaps this will help someone more mature approach to this issue :).
I chose a certain management course. (I will leave the reasons for choosing behind the scenes so as not to be sprayed)

So, at the first meeting of the re-prepared, I was stunned by the following statement: all the work that the students should do should be based on actual data from their place of work. The same applies, of course, and final certification work.

And here it came to me: retraining in this particular case does not mean getting a new specialty. Retraining is only advanced training, although somewhat more serious than what is usually meant by the term “advanced training”.

So, first, when choosing a course, make sure that you understand correctly what meaning is invested in this concept in this particular case. What kind of knowledge you actually need.

I learned not badly, I learned a lot of clever things, but I can definitely say: those who came to the courses with the base that was needed there received as a result an order of magnitude more. Directly no one will explain to you that you must have an idea about this and that volume. So ask about the program as much as possible.

Tip number two - try to find a way to save at the expense of budget funds.

Personally, I managed to unlearn for a third of the cost. How?

I tell on the example of Moscow. I really hope that there are similar programs in other regions of Russia and in other countries. Currently, a Moscow government program to support small and medium-sized businesses operates in Moscow. In practice, for those who want to learn it works as follows.
The government of Moscow pays a certain part of the tuition fee for certain programs. You can get acquainted with the courses offered on the sites of the prefectures. For example, in the western district it is here - zao.mbm.ru/default.aspx?s=0&p=262 . In order to study under this program, it is necessary, as far as I understand, that the legal address of the company from which it is sent to study is in Moscow. Courses are offered to both managers and specialists. Sometimes there are very decent courses in very decent universities. As far as I understand, the county does not matter. You can live in the west, work in the east, and follow the direction of training to come to the southern district.

This, by the way, concerns not only retraining, but also refresher courses of various lengths.

Tip number three - start your graduation work immediately at the beginning of your studies.

Yes Yes :). This does not mean that we must immediately begin to write the work in the form in which it will be at the final work. But we must very quickly decide on the topic and collect in a pile all the material.
Ideally, it would be nice to go to such courses, knowing well, and how exactly do you intend to implement the knowledge gained? The best option would be when you have a fully grounded project ready for implementation. On good courses, knowing what exactly you want to get, it’s quite realistic to have quite professional material at the exit, which will be applied straight from the training bench.

We have many in practical classes here and there practiced one piece of work, another piece. Approached teachers with questions. And very successfully solved their problems. (I must say that we had teachers from well-known consulting firms.)

However, if you choose the right course, then there will be a sense even with absolute zero and the complete absence of a vector :).

Just a note on the go.
One observation that hardly applies to all educational institutions. But perhaps this is a trend.
In parallel with our group, those who went to the MBA programs started the same program. Until a certain point, we just studied at the same time. Then less and less were together.

So, the courses in some subjects that were taught to us separately were not designed for us, but for the MBA. On the one hand, this was partly pleasing. There is considerably less money, but the same items are the same ... On the other hand, the courses were “crumpled up” to shrink in much less hours. So much has been learned at a gallop.

I do not know what advice to give in this regard :). In addition, keep in mind that if there are different courses on the same subject in the school, in terms of length and complexity, it is likely that teachers will read something that was not intended for this program.