A Course In Digital Digital Applications For It Users (Dida) - Edexcel Level 1

[Henrietta]

Which careers choices can this course lead to and is this worth doing Level 2 and 3 and which doors would they open?

[Henrietta]

Also how long would it take you to learn all 3 if you're a real fast learner and do a lot of homework on level 2 and 3 at home whilst doing level 1 at college?

Just to add i have no i.t experience at the moment so will be learning from scratch.

[Henrietta]

Please and thank you in advance.

[Buenchico]

I know liitle about this field but I've taken a look at what the course covers and my feeling is that, while it might be a great course for personal interest, it's unlikely to open up any career paths.

The 'Course Content' tab here
http://www.lambethcollege.ac.uk/courses/digital-applications-for-it-users-dida-edexcel-level-1-diploma/
suggests that the course is primarily aimed at people wanting to create and develop new computer games. While such a course might help learners to create games of a sufficient quality to offer them for free to fellow gamers, I can't really see it leading to a caree within the field (unless, of course, the games created are so outstanding that a major games company actively seeks out the services of the programmer - possible, but unlikely!).

For every 100 people seeking a career in games development there might be only a single vacancy within the industry. (There's massive competition for such jobs). In general, you're likely to need a relevant university degree to get a job. See here
https://nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk/advice/planning/jobprofiles/Pages/computergamesdeveloper.aspx
and here
http://creativeskillset.org/creative_industries/games/ways_into_the_industry

My feeling is that it might be a great course if you simply want to learn about developing computer games (and to be able to offer programs free of charge, or on a 'shareware' basis, to fellow enthusiasts) but a poor choice if the main purpose of doing the course is to find a new career.

As I stated above, this is most definitely not my specialist field of knowledge but I have got plenty of experience in giving careers advice (from my days in secondary teaching). So you can either regard this post as a total waste of time from someone who knows f___ all about what he's writing about or a careful assessment from someone with experience of balancing course content against career objectives. (If I'm honest, I'm not actually sure myself which of those really applies!).


Oh well, I tried!
;-)