A while back I had some coaching and my mentor reckoned that "GCSE and A Level Computer Science" was a viable niche to build a business in. Now this was a guy I respect, but it must be said that he was charging a high rate and didn't seem interested in putting any time or effort beyond the actual contact between us. So he may have been very wrong about the viability of the niche, not actually having done any research into it himself. He was more about the optimism and positivity, which is great and all, but sometimes wearing the "black hat" has a lot of value too.
I had some reservations about the niche and I still do. Part of me thinks it is terrible, for a number of reasons. For example:
- It is very hard to define a target audience. It potentially includes teachers, parents, school kids, head of departments and several others.
- Almost all funding for computing education in schools comes through a body called NCCE who provide free resources and training for teachers.
- My mailing list after 9 mounts of blogging consists of about 100 teachers and 30 students.
- The customer and the consumer may well be different, making marketing difficult. For example, parents aren't interested in subject content, but teachers and students are.
- Most students have their education paid for by he government.
- Available funding for teaching resources in UK schools is very low, with teachers often spending their own money on resources, which are generally low cost.
- There are loads of free resources for teaching computing and teachers often share resources.
- Kids sitting computing exams are unlikely to be motivated to read blog posts, sign up for mailing lists etc. (they're teenagers, right?)
- Computing exams in the UK are of questionable quality and don't necessarily provide a good foundation for careers in software development.
- The content is also quite boring and limited.
There's probably a few more potential downsides, but that gives an idea.
As a potential upside, there is a real shortage of access to Computer Science teaching, as nearly half of UK schools are not offering Computer Science GCSE. This means there is a fairly high demand for tuition, and potentially self-guided learning resources.
Also, the boringness of the exams means there could well be a need for more fun and engaging activities and approaches.
What I bring to the table in terms of value is a wealth of educational experience along with an ability to make computing (and particularly programming) clear and enjoyable to learn. My blog is full of fun activities for enthusiastic Python learners.
So any suggestions please?
Is this niche a good one?
Is it a terrible one?
Should I keep digging this well and find a well-defined target audience I can serve and make products for (probably including video courses)?
Should I break out of the world of school exams with all it's restrictions and complications and just focus on providing fun, engaging and educationally excellent resources for aspiring coders in general?
Or what...?
Any feedback much appreciated.
I had some reservations about the niche and I still do. Part of me thinks it is terrible, for a number of reasons. For example:
- It is very hard to define a target audience. It potentially includes teachers, parents, school kids, head of departments and several others.
- Almost all funding for computing education in schools comes through a body called NCCE who provide free resources and training for teachers.
- My mailing list after 9 mounts of blogging consists of about 100 teachers and 30 students.
- The customer and the consumer may well be different, making marketing difficult. For example, parents aren't interested in subject content, but teachers and students are.
- Most students have their education paid for by he government.
- Available funding for teaching resources in UK schools is very low, with teachers often spending their own money on resources, which are generally low cost.
- There are loads of free resources for teaching computing and teachers often share resources.
- Kids sitting computing exams are unlikely to be motivated to read blog posts, sign up for mailing lists etc. (they're teenagers, right?)
- Computing exams in the UK are of questionable quality and don't necessarily provide a good foundation for careers in software development.
- The content is also quite boring and limited.
There's probably a few more potential downsides, but that gives an idea.
As a potential upside, there is a real shortage of access to Computer Science teaching, as nearly half of UK schools are not offering Computer Science GCSE. This means there is a fairly high demand for tuition, and potentially self-guided learning resources.
Also, the boringness of the exams means there could well be a need for more fun and engaging activities and approaches.
What I bring to the table in terms of value is a wealth of educational experience along with an ability to make computing (and particularly programming) clear and enjoyable to learn. My blog is full of fun activities for enthusiastic Python learners.
So any suggestions please?
Is this niche a good one?
Is it a terrible one?
Should I keep digging this well and find a well-defined target audience I can serve and make products for (probably including video courses)?
Should I break out of the world of school exams with all it's restrictions and complications and just focus on providing fun, engaging and educationally excellent resources for aspiring coders in general?
Or what...?
Any feedback much appreciated.
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