I'm an assistant manager at a grocery store and I hate my job. The problem is I'm making decent money, I'm not rich by any means but I can't afford to just up and quit my job to find one I'd be interested in. I have rent, utility bills, phone, cable, and soon a car payment (I really need another car), etc. And even if I could just leave I don't have the skill set to do anything else other than retail management.

So lately I've been thinking of online courses and wondering if they really work in the job market. Ideally I'd like to go to college or a trade school of some sort but I don't have the time. And yes I know that sounds like an excuse (even to myself), but I work 10 hour shifts, 5 days a week and they are not the same every week. Some weeks I have several 7am - 5pm shifts, other weeks it's 2pm to midnight. And that's just on the "normal" weeks, on some weeks we have corporate fly in from California (I live and work in Maryland) and their one and only job when they come in is to find something wrong. On those weeks I can work 60 - 80 hours depending on store conditions. So any school schedule just wouldn't work. Not only that but with my job, since I'm not union anymore and have no protection, corporate could just as easily decide to fire me if I don't keep an open availability as far as hours go. So online courses seem to be my only option.

Does anyone know of someone (or perhaps your one yourself) who has actually been hired because of courses they've taken online? In the past I've always thought of those courses as a joke
(almost like getting a fake degree), I'm wondering if companies feel the same way. I don't mind taking the time or spending the money .. I just don't want to spend a year or more doing this just to find out it was a waste of time and money. Of course I've read a few of the "success" stories on some websites, but then again they are only going to show the successes.

Right now I'm leaning towards some type of internet security job or my dream job would include learning enough programming to work in the game industry even if it was just a few indie games I've created myself. But honestly it's wide open right now .. still debating ... but something to do with computers, basically computers are the one thing I've never lost interest in.

Depends on the institution. If it's a proper university or college with proper coursework, then it would certainly be recognised (as with any other distance education). if it's a degree from Dr McMuffin's School of Magical Learning then you're essentially paying for expensive toilet paper in the end.

True. Once again a bit more research after I post a question comes up with a few answers http://www.umuc.edu/academic-programs/cybersecurity.cfm?marketcode=WB000866&gclid=CKDL_p_ZlbkCFRGi4AodrREApQ lol

I'll have to give them a call and talk to an advisor about the course, I know some online courses still have a certain time of day when you have to be in front of your computer for a "virtual classroom" discussion.

I'm just wondering about the online courses because even though I know a lot of people who have gone to college or a trade school and are now working I don't know anyone who has done it online.

The keyword here is "recognition". Recognition is the "value" of the course that you are taking, and it doesn't make a difference if the course is online or face-to-face. The website of the course that you are intending to take should have details of its accreditation - the overseeing body that ensures that the qualification is fit for purpose (e.g. Ofqual in the UK) and its recognition (a list of universities, businesses and government departments that accept the qualification as proof of ability).

http://www.ihlondon.com/courses/celta-online/'s an example of a "legitimate" course - it's an online training course to teach English as a foreign language. At the bottom of the page, you can see the logos of English UK and the British Council. Clicking onto the English UK page, you get this: "Accreditation UK is the quality assurance scheme for the English language teaching industry in the UK and is managed by the British Council with English UK. Accreditation under the scheme demonstrates that a centre has achieved professional standards in its internal management, teaching, resources, environment and student care. The scheme's requirements are among the most rigorous in the world. Members of English UK MUST be accredited under this scheme". That tells you the course is legit. As for the assessment, the course information page says "The Cambridge ESOL CELTA is highly regarded internationally and has been accredited at level 5 on the National Qualifications Framework." It's got a bit more information http://www.cambridgeenglish.org/exams-and-qualifications/celta/why-take-celta/, and if you just google the name of the certificate, you can immediately find adverts like http://www.gumtree.com/p/jobs/celta-qualified-efl-teacher-to-work-in-turkey-ankara-or-istanbul-no-experienced-needed/1024476389 that demonstrate how it is used "in the real world".

So, using that process, you should be able to work out the "value" of your online course. For example, the MOOCs (Massive Open Online Course) offered by Coursera come from prestigious institutions, but they don't normally give recognised certification, so you couldn't for example use one for immigration purposes. You might be able to persuade a university admissions officer to accept it as partial credit to let you skip a component of a degree course, but that very much depends on the individual institution and the course in question. Some of the MOOC providers accept their own course certificates for credit against their own courses, but others don't (because they'd be losing money against their paid-for provisions). An employer would probably regard it as evidence of continuing professional development - just like when they hire a consultant to deliver Excel training to all their staff. It's proof of a commitment to learning, of tenacity, of self-motivation and if you successfully pass a free online course it can persuade an employer to invest in a paid-for course resulting in a recognised qualification, because they know you'll stick to it.

Really, the only way that you can know is to ask. From the provider, ask for their recognition list: who accepts it and how? From the employer, just ask if they'd accept the certificate as proof of your ability.

Good luck!

Of course, if you dont care about recognition, online degrees can be quite http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJq8rqr4IcQ

Wow, thank you! That was a lot more in depth than I expected You're right I need to ask and look at who accepts what. I suppose part of my hesitation is that I'm a bit gun shy .. I went to to a school in the past to learn computer programming and even though I thought I did a lot of research I ended up having to pay $15,500 (in US currency) for a course that was impossible to complete as advertised ( long story short this company was actually successfully sued in a class action law suit for their practices, unfortunately I didn't know about it till it was long over). So this time I'm doing a lot more research before jumping into anything.