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Free Short Courses in Construction, Data Analytics, AI / Machine Learning, Cybersecurity & Cloud Computing @ TAFE NSW

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Got this sent from an email from TAFENSW. Not to be confused with the Fee-free TAFE courses, these courses are called "micro credentials" or microskills and they are extremely short and focused subjects that are tech-oriented.

  • The free courses are entirely online and there are no face-to-face components
  • Anyone can enrol, even if you are overseas or not in NSW.
  • You don't need provide any documentation to enrol (e.g photo card, drivers license or citizenship certificates)
  • It doesn't ask for your payment info.
  • You can enrol in all of them, if you like.

Only the first 8 courses you see at the top of the page are fully discounted.

  • Introduction to Contract Administration in Construction
  • Introduction to Digital Skills in Construction
  • Introduction to Project Management in Construction
  • Introduction to Artificial Intelligence
  • Introduction to Cloud Computing
  • Introduction to Cyber Security
  • Introduction to Data Analytics
  • Responsible AI

Get ahead with 25+ industry designed courses from TAFE NSW, Macquarie University, UTS, and Microsoft.

Develop job-ready digital skills in just 8 weeks, when and where it's convenient for you.

Classes start 31 July (Paid-for classes), places are limited so enrol today to upskill or reskill. (Freebie classes can be started immediately after you have enrolled)

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closed Comments

  • +13

    I don't know how impressive an "introduction to" short course would be for a CV.

    • +30

      I feel like my four year university degree was an "introduction to" my career…

      • +8

        I feel they have some validity. Got on the bus this morning to TAFE and by the time I got there I found out I had graduated.

        • is "graduated" a euphemism for "become single again"?

      • +1

        I also feel like that, they kept telling me i wouldn't know what I was doing until I actually started working and hoo boy they were correct

    • +2

      An "introduction to" short course on a CV puts you significantly ahead of somebody that doesn't have that same "introduction to" short course on their CV…

      • +5

        you use the word significantly loosely

      • +2

        /s ?

    • You will be surprised, it will put you ahead of someone that doesn't have an introductory are any more advanced qualification or experience.

      Especially because the first cut of potentially hires comes down to a word/tag search.

  • +1

    Anybody have experience with these? How many can you do at one time? How much of a time commitment does it require?

    • Each states the hours required. The free ones are 5 hours.

  • +11

    Do we get uni email? Every Oz bargain er knows why 😏

    • +4

      you don't get uni or tafe email. These are also not your standard full length TAFE courses & for those, there are also stricter eligibility requirements (i.e. you need to live and work in NSW, be a citizen or perm resident, be over 15 years old)

      • Thanks

      • be over 15 years old

        So, the other courses are available for under 15 year olds ?!

    • Why!?

  • +5

    Signed up to 5 courses cause it's free :)

    • +7

      Jack of all trades; master of none

      • +2

        I'll bet sandun9 signed up for the same 5 courses I did. Jack of all things IT and master of 1 is the way I go.

      • +1

        But often times better than a master of one.

      • Full quote "A jack of all trades is a master of none, but often times better than a master of one."

        • So… who said the “full” quote? Nobody knows who said what, when. The origin is a subject of some debate

  • Do you get an edu email address?

    • Answered above by someone - you don't.

      • +2

        Does anybody know a good lowest effort way to get a .edu address at the moment?

        • Would like to know this too.

        • UTas has a few diplomas with a 100% HECS waiver. I started the Diploma of Sustainable Living a couple of weeks ago and so far the course content isn't that hard and it's something I was interested in anyway.

          https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/788663

          • @CatGrandma: Can you start and indefinitely defer it?

            • @denserham: I'm not sure whether you can. The deal has been ongoing for a few years now and there are people in prior threads saying they were able to drop before the census date but keep the student email. I don't know if that's still possible. I'm guessing they've cracked down on it because there were several warnings when enrolling that I'd be booted from the course if I didn't submit work, etc.

      • Yeah I saw that, thanks!

  • Sure is asking for a lot of information to sign up..

  • +12

    don't waste time on construction course … industry is full of cow boys and most requirement is based on where you come from rather what you know… (i.e. are you migrant or not)… all low paying job goes to migrant but the good one reserve for special class (I suffered this for last decade and now stuck as i can't change my career to something else … !

    • +4

      may be create a company that supplies man power to these low paying jobs and get out of the low paying tier.

    • -1

      Which type of migrants? Skilled migrants who come as PR don't have to settle for less as they have full work rights (assuming their profession is in demand). In fact, most of them come in high paying professions anyway (e.g. accounting, IT, engineering). I believe you are referring to some other visa holders.. maybe students, or holiday working visa or work visa holders?

        • Interesting.. as a colleague and friend of many new immigrants (most from India and the others from UK and some Asian countries), I can confirm that most of them earn significantly more in their first job here compared to myself who is in his nth job in this country. haha.. A thing to note though that they are 'skilled immigrants' who arrive 'with' PR. We are definitely referring to two different types of groups.

          • +2

            @virhlpool: I am talking about the same group as what I said above in my original post i.e. migrant in construction industry so that doesn't include students or any other industry individual at all but you probably keep mixing them up… !

            if you are Caucasian and English is your first language and still if you are getting paid lower then migrant with English second language in construction industry then you must be working in south east asia or asia in general …… lol 😂 …. come to australia and you will see difference .. !

            Let me tell you that i worked in one of the company where the secretary of that company talks about diversity which includes women, disable, aboriginal, old people and it includes people from different country … … I personally send comment as anonymous in the forum to him that he himself talks about diversity but every single person reporting to him (male & female) are Caucasian not a single person with English as second language … not a single person who may have English first language but not Caucasian .. lol 😂….. ! this company had total 10,000 + employee just in Sydney … ! …..

    • +1

      I wonder how they treat the people who are already established in a different industry here but want to career change into Building and Construction - would they be in the same boat as these migrants you refer to??

    • -3

      What a load of BS
      My experience in the construction industry is that it is one of the most merit based industries around.

      • +3

        Merit
        Construction

        You're definitely not talking about any construction companies involved in the housing industry I assume. The word merit is non-existent in their world with the amount of non-compliant projects they pump out.

        • -1

          What is your experience with the construction industry?

          Do you think the majority of houses are non-compliant or is it the minority?

          I’ve been working in the industry for 17 years and I have NEVER seen work remotely as bad as what gets posted on tik tok etc

          You can paint the entire industry with the one brush or you can see it from the point of view that from construction management down to tradesman and then general labour, the work output is tangible and whether someone knows what they’re doing or not can be figured out very quickly.

      • +1

        lol …. the real BS is to even say that "Construction industry is that it is one of the most merit based industries around" … 😂

  • +3

    You can train yourself on any topic for free these days on YouTube. These "discounted" courses just spend our tax dollars.

    • -2

      Bad advice, unless you are following tutorials to use software. Some YouTubers do not fact check what they teach.

      • +10

        Yep, I'm sure Standford Online, Harvard Business School, Google, Microsoft, & OpenAI etc. have no idea, and TAFE NSW are the authority on AI and Cybersecurity training.

        • -3

          Australian institutions promote more social values vs US selfish approach.

          • +7

            @taki: Step 1: Cobble together some basic content to make a 3hr course, that everywhere else is freely available online or you can unlock along with hundreds of other courses for a $20/month subscription.
            Step 2: Make up a RRP for the course - $140.
            Step 3: "Discount" it to $0.
            Step 4: Sucker 10,000 people to sign up, most who will never do the course.
            Step 5: Get the taxpayer funding of $1.4 million.

            • +2

              @Geryatric:

              Step 5: Get the taxpayer funding of $1.4 million.

              VERY unfortunate if this is true. Govt should follow some other strategy of this is happening. I am sure it's not a news to them in that case.

            • +1

              @Geryatric: you forgot some steps..

              Step 3.2: Post discounted course link on OzBargain so 127+ people enroll with no intention of completing (ad revenue).

              Step 3.3: Shameless Facebook marketing and link referral programs.

              Step 5.2: Get tax payer funding of $3.5 million to increase the course completion rate of the 10000+ "underprivileged" students that failed to complete course.

          • +1

            @taki: Back when I was at uni I worked part time promoting these sort of government subsidised courses to businesses. Few years later another workplace even made me go through one of these courses as a requirement. Knowing what I know now I'd trust independent youtuber/udemy(or even professional certification) courses over these ones. Most of the time Australian tax subsidised courses are sup-par, filled with useless fluff to add padding and are made by people just trying to suck up easy tax money.

            At least most independent creators with decent reviews are passionate about what they're teaching and don't make you want to jam a lead pencil in your ears after 2 hours unlike the au courses. People on ozbargain like to complain about wasted tax money…. subsidised courses are way up there in this department and should borderline be abolished or at least regulated better.

    • +2

      I received First Class Honours in Medicine from Hollywood Upstairs Medical College.

      • University of American Samoa?

        • Hi Jimmy McGill.

      • Hi Dr Nick!

      • And remember, if you're not sure about something.. rub it against a piece of paper. If the paper turns clear, it's your window to weight gain!

  • Thank you, registered on 2. Used to work in the back office of a company in construction industry, and was always a bit curious of things. These courses might be good for that purpose.

  • +4

    Just to nitpick but Data Science, in the heading, is different to Data Analytics on offer, which is also different to Data Engineering!

      • +7

        lol, I work in the industry and the only title that's dubious is Data Scientist. It can mean anything across the gamut of descriptive reporting to deep learning / neural networks.

        We actively recruit for Data Analysts and Data Engineers and I assure you they are distinct roles and skillsets.

        • Can data analyst reach 150k without becoming a manager? And is it common for data analysts to have fully remote jobs?

          • @hoangdekiem: I would say Data Analysts in my industry cap out at about $150k package.

            Depends on your reason for not wanting to be a manager. If it's that you don't love interacting with people, you're unlikely to hit $150k anyways as what purpose is an analyst without the ability to confidently interpret requests and deliver advice with a smile?

            Same theme re remote jobs. It's possible but you'll need to find a way of people knowing who you are. My team is 90% remote but we would all go to the office for 4-6 weeks if we have a new starter.

    • +2

      If you can't describe your job in 3 words

  • +1

    Is it worth signing up just to get student discounts?

  • +2

    Ive been thinking of getting into data analytics and learning it myself for a new career path. Any DAs in the house?

  • +1

    I need to start with -"where do I register" ? :-)

    • Try again. Website is working properly now

  • Micro credentials… (profanity) me…

  • +1

    The freebie ones (up to 5 hours) are very introductory. Don't expect too much depth with them. The quality of the online materials are decent enough though, enough to have me seriously considering paying for one of their up to 100 hours courses (argh, how dare the marketing work!). I do wish that they would put that much time/money/effort into their normal online Cert/Dip offerings though.

    • Thanks mate

    • OP - which of the freebies have classes starting 31 July? As far as I can see, all the short microskills ones listed (as opposed to their longer microcredentials) are all add-to-cart, then you go do them, no waiting for classes to start.

      • The freebies can be started right away. The other paid-for courses that I didn't list hasn't started yet, I think, and you will need to be online once a week for those for live classes (either online or face to face at the Meadowbank TAFE campus)

  • Do you have to live in nsw?

    • +1

      For the 8 courses I listed

      Introduction to Contract Administration in Construction
      Introduction to Digital Skills in Construction
      Introduction to Project Management in Construction
      Introduction to Artificial Intelligence
      Introduction to Cloud Computing
      Introduction to Cyber Security
      Introduction to Data Analytics
      Responsible AI

      You do not need to live in NSW. They don't ask for your documents since after completing these you don't get a certificate.

      For the other courses that are labelled as MICROCREDENTIAL, you can still enrol even outside of NSW, but these incur a fee, anywhere from $180 to $380 per credential.

      • Thank you

        Do you think the microcredentials are worth that cost?

  • Really interested in learning data analytics after reading this article. I really want that 235k salary

    https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/news-life/how-wo…

    • Meanwhile existing data analysts are sweating as their jobs are on the top of the list of careers estimated to be easily replaceable/downscaled due to ai.

      • really? that's bad

        • It's based of recently published papers, but in reality it mostly makes things difficult for junior devs and people trying to get into the industry (for now)

  • This isn’t TAFE. They are Institutes of Applied Technlogy jointly offered by:
    IAT-Digital - TAFE, Macquarie Uni, UTS
    IAT-Construction - TAFE, WSU, CPB ( yep - the big construction company, so they know what they are talking about!!)

    Much of the teaching is done by TAFE, Uni staff and industry professionals. TAFE just host the LMS and the campus.

    No email, and no qualification are granted - only Microskills (the free tasters) and the Microcredentials ($). Note that TAFE higher Ed, MQ, UTS and WSU will give academic credit for these microcredentials ( normally 3 related microcredentials = 1 uni subject)

  • How is it free?

    When I click on any of listed free courses, it comes with a cost.

    • Did you see any that say “Fully Discounted”? It may not necessarily be the first 8 ones listed on their website as the ordering can change.

  • Thanks OP!

  • Gee this looks good value…. 3 hours?

    https://store.training.tafensw.edu.au/product/introduction-t…

    Key topics include:

    What is cyber security?
    Careers in cyber security
    Common cyber security threats
    Vulnerabilities and risks
    Adversaries and their motivations
    Staying cyber safe
    
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