Lloyd Wood - earned - Charles Sturt IT Masters certificates

The courses can be taken live or later via recordings. There are intermediate tests. There is a final, longer, multiple-choice test that you can attempt once only to show that you have an understanding of the material, and a certificate is awarded when you pass.

After I moved into a security-related rôle, I took a number of IT Masters courses related to network security, just to show that I had some expertise in that area. I took one course live, but found skipping through recordings to be more useful. My certificates are here.

IT Masters is a loss leader and sales funnel for Charles Sturt's paid offerings, of course. Earning three or more of these certificates can take a module off their graduate certificate. Earning their graduate certificate relaxes the requirement for their masters degree. I know a number of people who have taken this pathway and earned their Masters in network security from Sturt.

Because it's a sales funnel, they'll track you in SalesForce and phone you about selling you further study. That was an interesting conversation; I'm a little outside their target demographic.

Because these online courses are free and (in my experience) relatively easy, they're actually of little value -- if you want to really learn something and show real value, you probably want to earn a far more difficult, expensive, and timeconsuming master's degree. But courses and certificates such as these can be used to demonstrate interest, aptitude, and a level of competence before going on to further, more rigorous, study.

It's worth noting that IT Masters revamped their website, backend and design, at the end of 2023, which is why the 2024-era certificates of completion look different to the certificates of achievement that I earned in 2022. The revamp has not been that successful; the website still seems a lot less responsive or full-featured than previously. I much preferred the old website.