Are expensive GenAI courses with salary promises worth it for my child?
Pricey "become an AI engineer" courses promising big salaries are everywhere, and anxious parents are tempted. Before you spend, here's an honest look at what these courses can and can't do — and what actually helps your child.
Key takeaways
- Expensive GenAI courses promising salaries prey on parents' anxiety — be sceptical, not swept up
- A course can teach a skill
- it can't supply the direction that makes the skill valuable
- The salary promises are usually the reddest flag, not the main selling point
- What your child needs first is direction, not another expensive certificate
Your feed and your WhatsApp groups are full of them: expensive courses promising to turn your child into an "AI engineer" in a few months, with big salaries all but guaranteed. When your child is struggling and you're anxious to help, these are genuinely tempting — they offer exactly what you want to hear. Before you spend a large sum, it's worth an honest look at what these courses can actually deliver, because the gap between the promise and the reality is where a lot of worried parents lose money.
What a course can and can't do
A good course can genuinely teach a skill — and that has value. What no course can do is supply the thing that makes a skill actually pay off: direction. A skill learned without a clear sense of where your child is headed, why this skill fits, and how it connects to real opportunity often sits unused, adding a line to a CV but not changing outcomes. This is why so many young people (and their parents) are puzzled that course after course hasn't led anywhere: they bought skills without direction, and skills without direction don't compound into a career. The course wasn't necessarily bad; it was aimed at nothing.
So the honest question isn't "is this course good?" but "does my child have the direction that would make any course worth taking?" Without that, the most expensive course in the world is a skill in search of a purpose.
The salary promise is the warning
Now, the specific red flag. When a course leads with salary promises — "average package of X," "guaranteed high-paying job" — treat that as a reason for more scepticism, not less. No honest educator can promise a salary, because your child's outcome depends on the market, timing, their effort, and a dozen factors no course controls. A provider confident enough to promise a number is either misleading you or hiding how those numbers are actually calculated (often from a tiny, cherry-picked subset). The louder the salary promise, the harder you should look. Honest programmes talk about what they teach; dubious ones sell you an outcome they can't control.
What actually helps your child
None of this means skills don't matter — they do. It means the order matters. Your child needs direction first: a clear read of the current market, which kind of work fits them, and what's genuinely worth learning for that — and then the right skill-building serves a purpose. Spending lakhs on a skill before settling the direction is doing it backwards, and it's the most common expensive mistake I see families make.
Getting that direction right — before the money is spent — is exactly what the ProThink Parents & Mentors workshop helps you and your child do: understand the landscape and the fit first, so any course you do invest in is aimed at something real. Direction is cheaper than a course and worth far more.
FAQ
Are expensive GenAI courses with salary guarantees worth it?
Be sceptical. A good course can teach a skill, but no course supplies the direction that makes a skill pay off — and skills learned without direction often sit unused. The salary guarantees are the reddest flag: no honest provider can promise a salary, since outcomes depend on the market, timing, and effort. The louder the promise, the harder you should look.
Why do so many courses not lead to a job?
Usually because they teach skills without direction. A skill learned with no clear sense of where your child is headed, why it fits, or how it connects to real opportunity adds a CV line but rarely changes outcomes. Skills without direction don't compound into a career. The course may be fine; it was aimed at nothing, which is a direction problem, not a course problem.
Should I trust a course that promises a specific salary or package?
Treat it as a warning, not a reassurance. No honest educator can promise a salary — your child's outcome depends on the market, timing, effort, and factors no course controls. Providers confident enough to promise a number are usually misleading you or hiding how those figures are calculated, often from a tiny, cherry-picked subset. Honest programmes describe what they teach, not outcomes they can't control.
What should my child do before spending on an expensive course?
Get direction first — a clear read of the current market, which work fits them, and what's genuinely worth learning for that. Then a course serves a real purpose. Spending lakhs on a skill before settling direction is backwards and the most common expensive mistake families make. Direction is far cheaper than a course and worth much more.