Why to take university short courses (perhaps on City, University of London)

The last evening of my short course on City, University of London is tomorrow and it makes me contemplate - did it help my career? Was it nicely spent time? Was it worth the money?

At City, there are over 120 courses, normally 10-week long. There's writing, law, business, languages and much more. Considering my blog focus, I should definitely mention, there's a couple of computing courses as well, to teach you programming even from scratch.

I have started the Freelance Writing: How to Get Published in Print and Online eight weeks ago. I was very excited because I was thinking about taking any kind of university course in the UK for quite some time. I'd decided I wasn't ready to take an undergraduate or postgraduate now (will I ever be?), but being so jealous of my boyfriend going to classes I needed to take at least a kick in my dream career direction.

I was craving for information from the journalism field and this course was taught by Susan Grossman, former BBC broadcaster, magazine editor and longtime freelancer. I was quite sure it will be worth three hundred quid and I was right.

Once a week, I was getting a two and a half hour full of tips all around the freelancing. All seemed very practical and it really did kick me into doing something. I have started a couple of opinion pieces, I have even finished one and send a pitch to newspapers. No, it wasn't published, but it was much closer to that point than ever.

I've also got a bunch of great contacts to people who would love to do the same as I would and only to feel I am not alone in this helped a lot. And honestly, just the fact that you do something regularly for yourself gives you space to be inspired and get the energy to do things you wanted to do for so long.

So if you're afraid you won't get that right piece of information you need, or you picture yourself sitting in the classroom bored and not participating - don't. Even if you'll start that one new project you didn't have the time for, or you just spent those couple of hours differently than checking on your social media. It's worth it, even if it's just gonna be a line in your CV.