I have now been focusing on the draft to my second novel which I’m close to completing. The story is the sequel to my debut novel The Tribulations of Kharman. So far I’m doing well with the development and the course the whole series is taking. I’ve received plenty of positive feedback on the first one, some questions too and if I intend to do a second one, which I’ve already confirmed is in the works. If the first one is read most people will gather that it doesn’t necessarily end as expected. I don’t necessarily want to use the word “cliffhanger” but there is something the main character, Kharman, must do, and that will be explored in the second novel along with the Kyliean culture. With the comic I’m currently in the concept art stages however progress is very slow.
Now I wanna warn about the myriad of courses out there, some promising jobs after completion. This is something that has been on my mind for a while now and I believe it’s a subject that I should express in this blog. I will also be naming these companies, some which no longer exist but can still be found online via a Google search.
The Higher Education/Job Guarantee Myth
As someone who has gone into higher education and done courses in different subjects I am more than qualified to discuss this and warn people of the pitfalls. I can only speak from a UK perspective as this is the country I’m based in.
As I’m a graduate who gained a 2.1 BA in VCD (Visual Communication Design) in Illustration. This was years ago when I was in my early twenties. I never in my life dreamed I would ever get into university as, at the time, I assumed and was told, wrongly, like many others, that once you get a degree it “opens doors for you”. Whilst that may be true for some I can honestly say the only door it may open for you is the interview stage and that is it. I learned that like many others having a degree doesn’t guarantee you’ll automatically get a good job or for that matter any job these days. Perhaps in the distant past this was the case but nowadays a degree is just a piece of paper and your success in gaining a “decent job” with a decent salary has more to do with who you know. Yes there is truth in that adage, it is the connections you know and if you don’t have those connections then it can be impossible for you to progress with a career.
There are people in high positions today who don’t have a degree. Others who aren’t even fit for those positions are placed there due to nepotisim. Racism and prejudice also has a part in this. You send off your CV and if you have an “unusual foreign sounding name” then the chancers are you will be overlooked. This is another truth. Yes we have the naysayers and there will always be exceptions to the rules however this has been proven and this is not just my experience.
Of course it depends on the type of degree you chose as some degrees are a complete waste of time and money so I can’t rule out university completely. Certain jobs require you to have a degree, but there others that don’t and if you select the wrong degree than you may not get the job you desire in that field and all you’ll acquire is a ton of debt. This is the sad truth that some people are awakening to.
Once I’d completed my degree I went on to do my job search, applying only to careers that were relevalent to what I wanted to do as I thought this made sense. I got a rude awakening from this, and since all the companies wanted to play the experience game I was stuck. Critical question here, how can you gain experience if none of the companies are even willing to give a job? Now I did get a few interviews here and there, and some from even broadening my job search which included other companies. A few of the interviewing processing was lazy from their part with group interviews, a method I’m against.
When I wasn’t getting anywhere I sought career advice, advice from ‘experts’ I followed. Changed and paid to improve my CV many times. Yes, it made a difference somewhat but the other real problem is when you have hundreds of graduates chasing the same job. Your CV won’t even be read thoroughly and they now have machines to do this.
The other solution was to update my skills or change careers. I recall enquiring about IT from one company where the person who took my call was rude. I looked at other companies. The first being a company called Redwood Futures, which was a “training company”. I had some consultation and a test with them which, they said, I “passed” then was drafted onto some IT course. Such a long time ago but can’t remember exact details, only that I was very naive back then and in some cases desperate to ever trust these companies. This is my mistake so I’m holding myself accountable in that regard. With Redwood Futures I was required to pay something like over £400 each month for 3 months and I would gain access to their facilities in Croydon, London. So I was travelling there. What they taught and the way it was taught was very mediocre. Once I went there and was told by a receptionist I couldn’t study there as they were waiting for my cheque to clear. I was very angry with this and left. I stopped off at a friend’s house where we discussed this. He said you wanna do something where the teacher is actually present. Granted it was a computer room, where you had to watch videos and read with headphones. No teacher at all. This was distant learning. I made the decision that I didn’t want to do this course and wanted nothing to do with them, but the problem I had with Redwood didn’t end there. They pursued me for payment even though I was no longer doing the course. My biggest mistake was signing the contract, this is how these crooked corrupt “education” companies get you. I once got a threatening phone call from them stating that if I didn’t pay up,
“then things could get nasty.”
This is the threat the caller made, he even accused me of avoiding the call, hardly professional. I was receiving threatening letters demanding payment, and showed it to my step-sister. She scoffed at it saying their grammar and spelling was poor and that I didn’t owe them a thing. I sought advice from my Citizens Advice Bureau. I spoke to receptionist at Redwood where she was then trying to persuade me to continue my “study” with them then she attempted to upsell me on other things. I was firm and made it clear I was no longer interested in them. She then advised me to write a formal letter to the “directors” stating this. I did this and it stopped. A few years later they were liquified and I had a debt collector calling me. I had to do the same process over again. Overall they’d been harassing me, on and off, for some years, threatening to take me to court, then when I’d done my research I discovered some troubling facts about the company and other students who’d made the same mistake as me. One claiming he was taken to court by them and that he had to pay. The directors who were shady businessmen and had started other companies, and robbed other students. This was dreadful.
The So Called “Careers Advisor”
Another strategy that these companies use is the “careers advisor”. These are people who will go to your home once an appointment has been made. I have dealt with a couple, one who worked in IT, came to my home and conducted an “interview” and a “test”. The meeting then turned sour very quickly when he asked a judgemental question about my efforts in finding a career. Afterwards I decided this wasn’t for me then his attitude worsened, becoming bullish and making psychological attacks all because I wouldn’t take his “offer”. I can’t remember the company but I remember it was in IT. The second one worked for a company called Train2Game. I got wind of them when they were posting postcards in letterboxes down my street and one reached mine. They claimed to be a training body who can guarantee anybody a career in the video games industry. As an occasional gamer back then I was interested and eventually called them to arrange an interview with their advisor. The advisor came one evening and right away her manner was rather critical, condescending and judgemental when she accused me taking long to open the door. She was making remarks about my accommodation, even judgements. Despite her micro-aggressive method I stayed calm but I was naive still and desperate for a change of career, depressed too. I listened as she was selling me the courses that Train2Game provide and that I can do this on my Macbook, as that was the machine I owned back then. I said I needed till morning to decide, she was however pushy and the following day, after checking their website, I decided to go with this company as a student. Admittedly this was another costly mistake I made. I later learned that these so called careers advisors are actually sales people whose job is to push you to buy into the courses they are selling, this is called a hard sell, also they are sometimes a third party employed by the course providers. Naturally video games is something that interested me and making and designing characters was a dream job and closer to my career.
I had been given the wrong information by the sales woman. I learned I had to buy another laptop then later on a desktop as the programs, that was loaned to me, were too advanced for my machines to handle. Now when I told a cousin I had just signed up to do a course with them he was telling me to be careful, in fact when we were talking on the phone he was doing his research, stating from what he was reading, Train2Game do some use some very shady tactics. But I was already paying so continued with the course despite his misgivings as we all know loved ones can also give you the wrong info and discourage you from taking a direction in life that could potentially be a benefit. Train2Game sent me cheap books that fall apart very easily and a CD with mute video tutorials that didn’t always play well. I had an account on their Student World community site where you email them of any issues you can also call them directly within the opening times of their business. They had a video resource library which was limited and again most of the videos didn’t play well or at all. I complained about this and my tutor – Scott – was very dismissive. The tests were also done online and assignments are sent where they take their time to mark them. They certainly took long to mark my work and I had to wait before progressing onto the next assignment. They spoke about TIGA, a reputable trade organisation in the UK video games industry, who’d associated with Train2Game. After course completion you are promised to be given a work placement within a video games company. You are trained only with Autodesk’s 3DX Max along with Adobe Photoshop, which I knew well. The problem there is that 3DS Max isn’t the only software games’ companies uses. There is Maya, Mudbox and Zbrush and possibly others that are overlooked by this so-called training company. Also my tutor, I had, was blatantly unhelpful, condescending and unprofessional. I remember having to chase him up over a problem and he didn’t bother to get back to me. After about four years of doing this course the company in the end screwed me over. I was denied the option for an extension even though I was close to finishing the last assignment and was advised to contact them beforehand for an extension. Without any correspondence or the professional courtesy of even an email they deleted my account from the Student World website. I had to call in where my tutor claimed to not know what was happening. I’d spent a considerable amount of money on this company. Later on I learned that the company ceased trading and no longer existed. I dug deeper and theorized this happened right after they’d deleted my account. Also the awarding body TIGA, had decided to end a contract they had with them. Naturally I was angry that I had wasted time and money on them only for them to do this to me and gain nothing in return.
Internet Marketing Hussle
People need to be weary of this also. Sure you can make money online but bare in mind you can also lose money and get into more debt. There are bad marketeers out there, most notably is one called Chris Cobb. I recall going to his seminars and him showing off his houses and cars during the presentation and the weekend trainings where he persuaded you to get onto a course he was promoting and taking out credit cards to fund all these pyramid schemes. So far he’s disappeared under the radar, probably to hide from people he’s ripped off over the years. He was promoting MOBE, another company by an Australian CEO Matt Lloyd. Which had been closed by the FCA and lots of people, particularly the elderly had lost a lot of capital because they’d invested in what they thought was good.
“Colleges” That Get Your Money and Decide to go into Administration
360 GSP was a “college” or at least proclaimed to be in specializing in IT and other professional media fields. Unlike everyone else, this time I actually did my research on them beforehand. They’d been around for many years, which was a good sign and testimonials too. They had old videos on Youtube and adverts on Facebook. In 2018 I procrastinated on going to them and then a year later I arranged for appointment where I was informed about their courses and the best one for me. The course which was in Microsoft IT was run on specialized days which meant I would have to juggle between the days of my employment. The consultant was very frank with me stating I would never be able to get out of that job if I couldn’t do the weekends, the course was ran on. He also ran a finance check on me to see about funding, which I failed. Naturally I went home disappointed but that’s life. Several weeks later they contacted me again and said I maybe able to do the course anyway. Again I went for another appointment, this time it was someone else where I was asked to contact a finance company. Thus I would pay this company 360 GSP for three months £300 and the other loan company a separate cost for 12 months. The course itself was £3000. On the induction day I was reminded again about the work placements and job guarantee program, where they help you with your CV and place you in a company once exams are passed. I questioned the job placement program, asked if I would be required to give up my employment with my current employer to where the woman leading the induction was quite curt with me. Of course if a work placement came about I’m sure I would have to give up my full-time job as it’s very likely they would clash. A person, whom is unemployed has nothing to lose. I however have work commitments and wouldn’t want to be in a position where if I give up employment to do the work placement only to find myself in a situation where it’s terminated after a couple of months and I’m unemployed, so my question was reasonable and valid. Her response was quite rude and unprofessional.
I did the the course for four weekends of one month, then had four weeks off, then continued the next month over going towards the end of 2019. I had to book the weekends off as holiday from my employer. The tutor advised people to take the exams within the four weeks off. This didn’t seem practical as not everything can be taught in one weekend let alone four weekends. IT for that matter is broad and thus the subject I was studying. The exams were both practical and multiple choice. I’d joined a Whatsapp study group, set up by students I’d befriended. Everything seemed to be going okay and then in December this happened…
Yep, you guessed it, they did the dirty on not just me, but hundreds of other students too. Let me explain what happened. December 2019 was the last period for the first module then we would break in January of 2020 and continue in February on a different module. But after the last Sunday we’d finished the last module on that day I’d received a group message from the Whatsapp group on Monday morning. The news was that 360 GSP had gone into administration and ceased trading. Everyone was naturally up in arms and I checked on their website and it was true. They didn’t even have the common decency to email us. We had to find out like this, and this was obviously planned in advance and in secret. The months preceding this I’d heard they’d closed down some campuses. They were still enrolling students and taking their money despite knowing that those students wouldn’t be able to complete their courses. The tutors had been looking for a job whilst teaching us, this was chatter I’d picked up within the Whatsapp group. A student was already doing a placement and that was terminated due to what 360 GSP had just done. I was then receiving letters from another company detailing me what was going on with the liquidation. I contacted them, asked if I would be getting my money back and was told yes, but I never received a penny.
So after a couple of months of being in limbo I and other students were transferred, by our loan company, to another training provider called, E-Careers. I had to go to different colleges and then the course had to be taught online as that was the year of the pandemic. I completed the course through them, passed an exam but have no way progressed despite their promises to take up the mantle and position me into that industry. All they did was rush us through the course and their structure of how they ran it was a mess. They too have been a let down.
How To Avoid Falling Into This Trap
The solutions are quite simple. A lot of these companies and unscrupulous individuals will try to take advantage of your desperation. You are someone who desires to progress in life and not be stuck in a dead-end job not going anywhere. You want a rewarding career or a way to build wealth that doesn’t involve robbing and hurting others. you invest in yourself, which is essentially what I did so anyone saying I didn’t invest in myself can’t use that argument against me. Rightly you need to invest in yourself if you expect to get anywhere in life. The trouble is I invested in the wrong entities. I didn’t perform my due diligence and I can hold myself accountable for involving myself, wasting my time and money on things and people who never had my best interests at heart. Honestly speaking, people would be better doing courses on Udemy, they’re not that expensive and you can pick up good skills. It is distant learning still but at least they don’t lie to you with promise of a job guarantee. I had an interview for an IT training firm once and even the interviewer said to me that the job guarantee was a lie. The solution is to do research in these companies. Check the reviews. Have a long think as to whether this course or this company, maybe good for you in the long run.