Who can say what the IT market will look like in 10 years? Will the need for qualified personnel explode or shrink to nothing? In this context, it is useful to undertake everything possible to maintain effective and recognised continuous training throughout one's career.
If I had to remember just one thing from everything I was taught during my education, it would be that training does not end with the last diploma obtained, and this is even more true in the IT world: technologies evolve or emerge, as do working methods and needs. IT professionals must therefore constantly adapt.
If we add to this certain uncertainties about how the profession might evolve in the medium to long term, the need for training becomes all the more important.
In any case, this reinforces the idea that you cannot simply rest on your laurels.
MOOCs have proven their effectiveness. But if training is essential, having your skills recognised is equally important. This is the great challenge mobilising many online learning players this autumn. The phenomenon exploded in the US at the start of the 2012 academic year and should do the same in France in September 2013.
What better way to have your skills recognised than to pass an online course given by a prestigious institution and obtain a certificate?
Personally, I look forward to seeing how things evolve this first quarter. I will probably participate in some MOOCs and am already actively monitoring the subject. Perhaps I could even see whether it would be possible for me to design something about Python.