The first round of CAO offers lands today.

And while many youngsters will be celebrating, having nabbed a place in their chosen course, many more will be feeling downcast and unsure about the road ahead.

Now a successful SEO expert is urging students who are disappointed with their grades not to worry amid the CAO results day panic.

Mícheál Brennan, who is Head of SEO at Legacy Communications, has created a totally free online course for any students who may be stressing about what to do if they didn’t get the results they wanted this morning and want to learn a skill that doesn’t need a degree but “offers a ton of job opportunities”.

‘I missed the points by a mile’

The Cork native, who didn’t get the points for the course he wanted and eventually dropped out of college, says he “hated” school:

“It just wasn’t for me. I hated homework so just didn’t bother, I didn’t get on with my teachers and they didn’t care for me much either, resulting in getting kicked out of class a lot as well as a few suspensions,” he said.

“With that said I always liked English and writing, so ironically I was hoping to go on to become an English teacher, but I missed the points by a mile.”

“I ended up going to college at Cork IT (Now MTU)  to study business and marketing, but dropped out after two years without a degree because I just wanted to go work and make money.”

Tech is one of the fastest growing industries at the moment, with the SEO (search engine optimisation) industry estimated to be worth over 80 billion worldwide. According to Micheal, it’s just one of many jobs this year’s students can make a start on without any degree or experience.

“I got a website built and started figuring out how to rank it. I also started to figure out Google Ads and luckily, digital marketing just came naturally.

“I now work with multi-million dollar companies, with clients across the world and I’m head of a department at an award-winning marketing agency, but it could have been very different if I had focused on my average Leaving Cert and not getting the points that I needed.”

“If you really want something, there is always another way to go about it. Between PLC courses, the ability to return as a mature student, internships, and all the other routes, you won’t be stuck for options even if it feels like it now,” he added.

Anxious students can take a look at Mícheál’s SEO free course here. Mícheál’s top tips for getting started in any field without a degree are also attached at the end.