I don’t know if it’s just me, but picking what to study (or what extra courses to do) feels way more random than it probably should be.

A couple weeks ago I went down one of those late-night rabbit holes trying to figure out if what I’m doing is actually worth it long-term. You know the kind—Reddit threads, conflicting advice, people saying “follow your passion” vs “pick something stable,” etc.

Didn’t really get a clear answer, just more confused.

one thing I realised

I hadn’t actually looked into what different careers pay in any serious way.

Like properly. Not just “I think this job pays well” or “I’ve heard this is a good field,” but actual numbers based on where you live.

Which seems obvious now, but I’d mostly been going off general opinions.

I ended up using this site (FindMyCourse.ai) that shows salary ranges depending on the job and location. Again, nothing super fancy, just data pulled together in one place.

It didn’t magically make decisions for me, but it did help rule a few things in/out. Some options looked a lot less appealing once I saw the typical pay, and others made more sense.

the search part was actually decent too

Another thing it does is let you search for courses by just typing normally instead of messing around with filters.

So instead of clicking through categories, you can say something like:

“beginner level, short course, something practical, evenings/weekends”

and it gives you a list you can adjust from there.

It’s not perfect, but it’s quicker than going through multiple course sites manually.

why it helped (for me at least)

The main difference was just having things in one place.

Normally I’d:

• check one platform
• open another tab to compare
• forget what I saw earlier
• repeat

This at least cut down some of that back-and-forth.

Also ended up seeing courses from providers I hadn’t come across before, which was interesting.

quick reality check

• salary numbers are still estimates.
• course quality varies a lot (definitely still need to check reviews)
• recommendations aren’t always always spot on, but very helpful

So yeah, still need to use your own judgement.

anyway

Not saying this is the answer to everything, just thought I’d share since it made the whole process slightly less painful.

If anyone else has figured out a better way to choose courses without going in circles, please share because I’m still not 100% sure what I’m doing either 😅