Udemy gives me heart-eye-face

Well hello there lovely readers!

Today I wanted to share with you my latest discovery: Udemy free courses.

As career-planners, updating our skills is perpetually useful, and luckily for us - learning cool new stuff can only be a good thing. There are lots of sites out there for free online courses, or MOOCs as they're known, but I found Udemy the most accessible.

On Udemy you can take bazillions of online courses for just about anything, and many of them are free. Even the paid ones frequently have deals on them, and after I bought 2 courses I was given a lifetime discount code - I'll never pay more than £12 for knowledge again!

FREE BRAINS!

The free courses are genuinely free and there's a good number and range of them. Signing up is easy and the site is user friendly. There's also a guide to course level (beginner, all, advanced, etc) which is actually accurate, and some, though unfortunately not all, courses give an indication of how long they should take to complete. For me, it was a winner.

This is probably sounding like I'm on commission or something - I'm not!

[Although, Udemy, if you're listening.... ;) ]

I just like free stuff, and if it gets me places - so much the better!

So far I've done courses on Social Entrepreneurship, Resume Writing, and LinkedIn, and I have several marketing and management courses in my wishlist. There's also courses on languages, health, IT, software, photography - whatever I decide to learn, for the rest of my life, Udemy has my back ;)

Since doing the LinkedIn course I've made my profile skimmable, discovered how to increase my views, joined loads of useful groups, and learned how to follow relevant people. I'm already seeing ways to use it to my advantage, and I've spent the last two days stalking people with job-titles I like the sound of, and comparing their skills to mine as well as learning their career paths. I had already thought I was quite good at LinkedIn, but I was missing several tricks!

So, fellow job-seekers, career developers and learning lovers, get yourself to Udemy and feed your brain.

DON'T FORGET to chat with me below!

Do you MOOC?
Where?
What do you MOOC?

What are you doing to find a job that excites you?
Or am I stark raving mad?

Let me know down there ↓

Love love love
Naomi

RELAUNCH!!!

Well hello there lovely readers!

As you can probably see, I'm back from the dead (I wasn't dead)!

Truth be told I was busy DOING lots of stuff, and writing about it (and getting internet connection!) was a tad difficult. However, I'm now back on Scottish soil and STILL TRYING TO WORK OUT WHAT TO DO WITH MY LIFE, so here I am, writing for you all again. Scroll below for a recap of the last six months (okaaay, eight) and to find out where I am now.

A) I spent seven months living in France

Mulled wine from the Paris christmas market

As a person who could speak no French and was terrified to even try during all those high school lessons, and also as someone who has spent eight years denying I'm ever going to be a teacher, moving to Beauvais to teach English was definitely my brightest idea...

Truth be told I found this incredibly difficult, and am eternally grateful to all the other Beauvais assistants for their support and help! I may not have achieved everything I (naively, no doubt) had imagined I would, but I ate raclette and navigated supermarkets, asked for directions in French and went to the Moulin Rouge, I saw an ice hockey match and got 17 extra turns on a Ferris Wheel, and can truthfully tell stories that begin 'I was once at a party in Paris...'

B) I ran a half marathon, and a full marathon.

Me (left) and Clare at the finish line of the marathon de Paris 2015

 Don't believe the hype - it CAN be done. You don't have to be stick thin or a gym bunny to check this off your bucket list, all it takes is a few months' prep, a lot of chafing, and one similarly knackered woman to provide moral support for the last 3k (without which my whole experience would have been far more miserable).

C) I went inter-railing

Bus top tour in Berlin

I decided to go the long way home from Beauvais, and employed Kerri to accompany me. We visited Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, and the Netherlands, drank too much beer, had our heads COMPLETELY DESTROYED at a Dali exhibition, spent an amazing day with Marketa, and, excitingly for me only, visited the convent of St Agnes of Prague in Prague (obviously) and saw an old Beguine courtyard in Amsterdam!! 

D) I moved back home.

My hometown Thurso

Yay for minimal housing costs!

Now this was never, ever on the cards previously, but on returning from France I realised I'd no desire to go back to Aberdeen, so it made sense to come home for a while and figure out my next steps. I briefly entertained the thought of moving home permanently, but was swiftly reminded that Thurso life is just too small for me, so now I'm working on a few things that should see me moving city-wards within a year. For now, I'm working back at the little shop I used to work in at school and enjoying seeing so much of my family - which I haven't done since I moved to Aberdeen in 2009.

So, as usual things are up in the air, however some decisions have been made. For example, I now know what I want to do with my life. I'm going to be a comedianpresenterauthorjournalist(actordancer). If you don't believe me, check my linkedin. 

I'd love to hear your comments on my career plans - eccentric, I know, unlikely, I know, but toeing the line has never really worked for me. 

Next Youtube superstar - think I can do it?

And so farewell my favourites, as usual much love and biscuits,

Naomi x