Our Enquiries Officer Toslima shares her advice on staying busy while spending time at home. Find out what two exciting current opportunities are available to you now, from free courses on coding and writing competition – and also, what you can do today to adjust to changes in your researcher career journey. And now, over to you, Toslima!
Whilst some of us are super stressed, annoyed or just bored at home, the best way for a lot of us to get through the current situation is to pursue something new. Whilst adding more to you to-do list isn’t for everyone – and by no means should you add more at such a time if you don’t feel up to it – the internet is a great portal into all of the opportunities open to us from the insides of our homes! There are online courses open for all that are also free for students and alumni alike to take part in.
1) CodeAcademy – free online coding course!
A few weeks ago, we posted on the Careers and Employability blog about anyone being able to enter the technology field as long as they showed a genuine interest in the field and a willingness to learn. To this end, there are free courses to learn coding online for absolute free on CodeAcademy using the following link https://www.codecademy.com/learn. You can learn anything from HTML to CSS coding, to even learning how to create your own website – and all at your own pace. All you need to do is decided how often or not you are able to take part and go from there. Given that coding is now a very sought-after skill in the job market. Events from hackathons, to gaming nights to just being able to participate in web designing, are all becoming a major part of the digital world we all take part in. Gaining that experience for free on an open-access platform is ideal if you need help finding your feet – even as a complete beginner.
2) FabPrize – writing competition open for submissions!
However, not all of us are technology-minded. For those of you who are more artistically minded, had an idea you want to explore for a story, or even just secretly wanted to try your hand in becoming a writer one day, there are other things available to you this spring. For BAME students in particular, the publisher Faber has a competition for young early-career writers or aspiring authors and even illustrators, and you can get more information on that as well as how to enter through here: https://www.fabprize.org/ .
3) Prep your research career while conferences are postponed
Finally, for our early career researchers, it’s understandable that you would be anxious to be entering the research circuit in the summer as this is when a lot of the big conferences happen. For postgraduate students, it is always stressed that this is an important part of your development. However, given the circumstances all of the conferences have been delayed until the autumn so there is no missing out for any of us – funding has also been moved so those of you who are applying again still have a fighting chance in the majority of cases. What is important to hone now if you feel up to is your proposals and speeches. Now is a good time to decide what you want to say, and have it proofread by your supervisor, friends, family or anyone else you know who could help.
The King’s Careers’ Take: If you are feeling confused or anxious about changes in your career journey and wondering what you can do to help take action, book a virtual appointment with us. Our Careers Consultants and Application Advisers are happy to help you, wherever you are on your journey.
These are only a few of the examples that are available to you whilst we all stay indoors. Having said all of this, the most important thing is making sure you take care of your mental as well as your physical health first. Everything else is a bonus, and it is also important to remember that all of the wellbeing services are doing their best to support all of our students online too. So do reach out if you need to!
Written by Toslima Khatun