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Looking at Digital Marketing as a new career (I'm 45 this year).
A friend suggested a 3 year course doing Web design but the problem I see is that soon everyone will be able to do this without much, if any help. (1 click install, 1 to 1 etc)
Css and java programming is looking like a choice but to me rather than building a decent website I think a good interpretation of where and how people find your website is a better option.
Any recommendations of college or university courses that may be of any use?
Either full or part time.
The Open University does a course but I'm not sure how good it is.
Don't think it's something that can be taught really. You may be better off just dedicating some time to it and finding out yourself.
It depends what you want to specialise in but usually you would use freelancers for specifics - building a website, designing logo, writing content etc. So it's more about coordinating those things.
Do you mean digital marketing or web development?
The courses you mention seem more appropriate to the latter.
I share an office with a digital agency, the staff have a real mix of backgrounds, but it seems that programming and web design knowledge are useful.
I'm not sure on what specific studying they've done, but they seem keen on courses that allow them to be Google certified. If you'd like to know more I can ask tomorrow.
Before Christmas a few of them were doing a free course called The Internet of Stuff through Future Learn.
Many digital agencies will have people from a lot of varied backgrounds, and only a relatively small proportion of them are technical/programming. Account management will generally take graduates from almost any field, and those with more traditional print/tv ad backgrounds. Creatives will be photography/film/graphics/art backgrounds, maybe some copy writers. A lot of the tech stuff is freelance/contractor, but there are normally a few in house. As you say though it's becoming a more common skill, and it's not really where the value is added, so agencies are sometimes less interested in retaining/developing tech people.
Ideally I'm more interested in the digital marketing side. The course my friend mentioned is Web design based (learning java etc).
If there was a 3 year course (2 x Web, 1 x marketing) that would be ideal. Mark that would be nice if you would please. I'm currently 2/3rdsrds through Googles analytics academy.
I'm also interested in part time courses in this field
Jools it may be worth looking at full time. The course near me is full time but the reality is you are in all day Monday and up till lunch Tuesday. The rest is at home.
Mark88 did you manage to find anything out?
No need for a course, you can teach yourself. And experience will always trump a qualification.
My recommendation would be to get into Affiliate/performance marketing. Hard these days, but will teach you the basics and let you earn some cash whilst you do it. A good incentive to learn but also to think creatively about how to generate traffic. A course can teach principles but won't give you the knack. You could do both if you were really inclined.
If you are quite set on getting a qualification, I would definitely do programming over marketing. Freelance rates for developers are crazy these days and you can quite easily get £3/400 a day in most UK cities (obviously when you have some experience). You can also choose when to work (e.g. take summer off and go biking), which a regular DM job won't get you.
Whatever you do, good luck! It's an exciting industry to work in.
Web design/development is a very specific career route. The design side has become increasingly technical in recent years, to the point where designers just became a different type of developer. But then it got so technical you couldn't possibly call it design any more (not in the way that it used to be), and doors opened back up for more traditional arty types again. It goes way beyond designers and developers these days, with people working in very focused roles.
If you're more of an ideas/sales person, then picking up some basic technical knowledge would certainly help to understand what you're dealing with. To get into the actual design/build process would be a bit more intensive.