When choosing courses, you should be interested in two numbers — the percentage of participants who completed the course and the percentage of graduates who found a job within three months after graduation.
For example, if 50% of those who started the course finish it and 20% of the graduates get a job within three months, your chances of entering the profession through these courses are 10%.
(The formula is not entirely accurate, as some find jobs while still in the course and do not need to complete it, but such individuals are generally few.)
If the website of the course you are interested in does not provide these numbers, do not hesitate to ask the organizers for them.
Russian-speaking in-person and online training has been on the rise for many years, and the creators of schools and courses were mainly focused on participant feedback and their satisfaction.
However, satisfaction with the process may be poorly correlated with the conversion to course completion or employment. For instance, many participants who drop out during the course tend to blame themselves and do not provide public feedback.
An unfinished course is, above all, a failure of the school/course; it is their job to attract the right students, screen out unsuitable ones at the entry point, engage those remaining during the course, help them complete it, and prepare them for employment.
Why both numbers are important
Currently, the situation is changing; schools have started to work on graduate employment, but they often mislead, claiming to employ all graduates by imposing severe conditions for passing the final exam or expelling 95% of participants during the course.
A 100% conversion rate should raise suspicion, as it cannot all depend solely on the school; even the American General Assembly has a job placement conversion rate of 90-95%.
Depending on the theme and duration of the course, good values for course completion conversion will be 50-80%; good values for graduate employment conversion will be the same 50-80%, leading to an overall probability of success of 25-64%, which is generally quite good.
If the course organizers do not provide information about these conversions or do not even measure them, this is a serious reason to consider whether it is worth connecting with them.
Source: habr.com
