Introduction
BTEC is an examination board. They are an organisation that specialises in learning and qualifications. Skillset is an organisation that is run by both people within the industry and the government. The range of skills between these 2 documents is quite huge. I should look at these more carefully and more often, as they hold information on skills I should be acquiring and what skills I should need in the future to undertake a job.

Personally, the way things are represented and formatted within the 2 documents are different from each other. I feel that this is because BTEC are a company that works with education standards, so naturally their document would be aimed at students. Whereas Skillset are a company that is already in the industry, so they would be expecting more developed skills.

Another main difference is that the BTEC document also shows guidelines and goals for students to follow throughout college. This is something I should do more regularly to make sure I am learning what I should be. They also provide references, websites and useful books that could be used to achieve that particular goal.

The Skillset list to me seems like a list of skills that should have been learned for when we finish the course. These skills are also primary skills that are needed to be employed. Its layout is more professionally orientated, as though created by people that are actually in the industry. The BTEC skills are written in a more academic format. They also seem broader.

The BTEC skills, in general, are out of date. Although this is hard to see as I have not seen any previous versions. However, there hasn’t been an update for almost 2 and a half years, and in an industry that’s forever changing. In most cases, BTEC seem to direct more towards the design of things rather than half design and half techn

I noticed that there were areas in the Skillset document about 3D modelling and games programming. This to me was irrelevant and didn’t need to be within the document. I did realise after that each set of skills was assigned to different roles within Interactive Media. It showed the skills required to go into game design and 2D modelling, however they only had a few sections each whereas web design had several chapters.

BTEC links directly to the assignments that are ongoing throughout the HND Interactive Media course, which is why they have a timescale, unlike Skillset.

The BTEC document gives a lot more information and demonstrates various methods and learning outcomes. It isn’t structured very well though, and you can find yourself endlessly searching for what you want to find.

The Skillset document is a lot shorter, although it doesn’t have as much information. It is easier to find statements and a lot more enjoyable to read. Skillset also tells you what personal and technical skills you should have.

Some of the similarities between the two are both aimed at skills within the industry you should know or need to know by the time you finish the course and get a job.

Conclusion
Reading through the Skillset document will give motivation as it reminds people of what is in store for them when they finish. I also think that reading through the Skillsets document will create more awareness of what industry you would be working in. Reading the BTEC one will make people more aware of what they are actually learning, and receive guidelines on how to achieve them.

On a whole, they both seem very useful. I would recommend sticking to the BTEC one for the reason that it was made for us, even though it’s not as enjoyable to read or up to date.

The Skillset should be referred to every now and again, but not as much as the BTEC one. It will help with choosing the role you want to participate in a job; therefore it is essential that it is read at some point.