Studying after 30s

Hi everyone, I’m thinking about doing a few online courses and was wondering what people's experiences have been with them, especially as adults
Is there an age where online learning becomes less effective? I’m not talking about children really, but more people in their 30s and 40s and beyond. I’m in my 30s myself and sometimes wonder whether I’d actually learn as much from an online course as I would in a classroom
For those of you who have done online courses later in life! Did you actually finish them and remember what you learned? More importantly, were you able to use the knowledge in your job or business? I can imagine it’s quite easy to lose motivation when there’s no set schedule or teacher keeping you on track
I’m mainly looking at practical courses around things like ecommerce, marketing, product research and running an online shop. I’ve come across things like Shopify Academy, Google Skillshop, Sellvia Academy, HubSpot Academy, Meta Blueprint. A lot of these are free or fairly affordable, which is tempting, but I’m not sure how useful they really are in practic
I’d also be interested in any actual research or studies on online learning for adults, especially comparisons between online and offline prosess
If you started learning something new in your 30s, 40s or even later, I’d really like to hear how it went. Was it worth it, or did you find traditional classes worked better for you??

i learned and went to uni to study programming in my 40's. I was shit though, and had to hire people from fiverr to help me with each assignment! After I quit, i went back to studying on udemy to keep learning, and learn at my own pace, instead of a 3 month only window. Once AI came along, i switched my focus. I seen how easy it was to program with it, so i raised my goals and expectations, and pushed with discipline on working solely on one project that would be my earner.

Programming isn't so much a minority skill anymore if you are making heavy use of ai. Clarity, discipline and planning if you want to program something well is all thats needed, and you can learn everything that everyone learnt before you.

I was glad AI came along, as it gave me a second chance at what i wanted to do, and allowed me to be refine my goals and plans completely. I maybe if i had went to uni now, would have passed no problem, but i can't be arsed about uni now. I have my goals, and its all in!

I've decided to go back to university next year. The hours I work for BHW gives me daytime flexibility so I'm returning (somewhat belatedly) to do a Masters degree in Film Studies. Not with a view to work but just because it's something I want to do and have wanted for some time. There's a PhD option too, which would be wild, but I really hope I can make this all happen.

keep learning and initially may have kind of thoughts/doubts but we have to upgrade ourself. no hesitate. learning helps a lot.

It's really not easy learning as an adult. But it becomes even harder when one has responsibilities. Apart from that, there seem to be a decrease in the ability to learn and comprehend as one ages. Personally I can't count how many courses I have signed up for without completing. Sometimes there is a change in desire, sometimes another course seem to supercede another. But learning is something we must not neglect

medialounge said:

It's really not easy learning as an adult.

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medialounge said:

Apart from that, there seem to be a decrease in the ability to learn and comprehend as one ages

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Most mathematical discoveries are made by people over 50.

If you keep quitting, then that is a completely different thing from a scientific inability to learn.

It’s never too late to study after 30. With the right course and a realistic schedule, you can still learn new skills and open up better career opportunities.

Age isn't the issue imo. Courses stick much better when you use each lesson on a real project right away instead of just watching hours of videos

If your attention span is decent, I don't see a problem

I think having a clear goal matters more than age. I started learning new things in my 30s, and I definitely feel that I need more effort and repetition than I did when I was younger.
Younger people may pick up new information more quickly, while as adults we often have more responsibilities and less time to focus. That’s why I think having a specific goal is important. I’m still learning both technical and soft skills today, mainly to support my wedding invitation business. Some are directly related to design and production, while others are about marketing, communication, and running the business.
For me, online courses work best when I can immediately apply what I learn to my work. If I’m learning without a clear purpose, it’s much easier to lose motivation and forget what I learned

loo_looki said:

Hi everyone, I’m thinking about doing a few online courses and was wondering what people's experiences have been with them, especially as adults
Is there an age where online learning becomes less effective? I’m not talking about children really, but more people in their 30s and 40s and beyond. I’m in my 30s myself and sometimes wonder whether I’d actually learn as much from an online course as I would in a classroom
For those of you who have done online courses later in life! Did you actually finish them and remember what you learned? More importantly, were you able to use the knowledge in your job or business? I can imagine it’s quite easy to lose motivation when there’s no set schedule or teacher keeping you on track
I’m mainly looking at practical courses around things like ecommerce, marketing, product research and running an online shop. I’ve come across things like Shopify Academy, Google Skillshop, Sellvia Academy, HubSpot Academy, Meta Blueprint. A lot of these are free or fairly affordable, which is tempting, but I’m not sure how useful they really are in practic
I’d also be interested in any actual research or studies on online learning for adults, especially comparisons between online and offline prosess
If you started learning something new in your 30s, 40s or even later, I’d really like to hear how it went. Was it worth it, or did you find traditional classes worked better for you??

Click to expand...

I'd say it depends a lot on your market. Do you want to go back to studying to be more employable? Some cultures/markets/countries value these courses or self-learning in general more than others.
In my case, living in a saturated market (Spain) I opted to follow formal education past my 30s, and since I already knew how to code pretty well, I graduated with honors. I don't think it changed anything in my particular case.

If, on the other hand, you are planning on starting your own venture, then you are good to go. Being in your 30s, 40s or 50s is not necessarily going to be a disadvantage. I bet the brain still remains being super plastic at those ages, so if this is the case, just follow the route that suits you best: free or cheap courses, learning by doing (my thing)...

Why would you want to further your studies and what is your current background?

As a practical note on online courses, in order to make me more employable I also started a Google Cloud course on their Google Skills page. The courses are not bad, but to be honest, on the first test I had to complete a series of things which included using 24 or 25 Google-specific commands just to launch a load balancer and add 2 or 3 servers to it, some of which were cloned from the first one iirc. In my opinion, a total waste of time. I'm not willing to learn 25 commands for such a simple task unless my 9 to 5 job is literally using all of them, so choose what you learn wisely. It doesn't matter if it comes from your uni times or from what you learnt on your 30s, stuff you don't use you will tend to forget.

If it do not cost you much, what is the problem in going ahead & taking the course

Age is just a number. Time will still pass either you study or not. The problem I see is not age, but attention and direction. Too many distractions and too many things to learn and is easy to lose time trying to learn everything. If I'll study again, I'll pick a goal and stick to it.

Trust me learning will be easier for you at this age, You will have better understanding and grasping than your 20s.

The hint to being consistent is making sure it not a totally free course. When you remember the money, you pick up your pc and continue.

I am learning more now than ever before, being old is no excuse to stop improving yourself! Its also good for neural health

i mean
technology doesn't stop after university ends in your early to mid 20s.
how else have we kept up with the technology, new software and everything
study and learn.
It may not be as easy when you were younger but its definitely do-able

Online courses can work really well in your 30s and 40s especially when the topic is practical the biggest difference is usually discipline not age and applying what you learn right away helps a lot

In your 30s it will entirely depend on your motivation to learn something new.

There's no age to stop learning, imo.