Have you decided to change your life and become an IT specialist? Can you imagine yourself lying on the beaches of Bali with your laptop and earning thousands of dollars? Before you can realize this ideal picture, you will have to study a lot, including on specialized courses.
Decide on the programming language
The key criterion when choosing courses is programming languages. There are about 8000 of them, but to start in the IT sphere, start by learning one of them. Which one should you choose?
JavaScript is realistic to learn if you have never worked in IT, but you really want to. But with Java, with all desire, you need at least minimal experience in coding. JavaScript is a language that is more customized for creating websites and mobile applications.
Check the school’s history
The next step is to choose a specific school. Unfortunately, in the era of thriving infobusinesses, there is a risk of stumbling upon a one-day school. Its only goal is to hype a sought-after profession and make more money. The quality of education is out of the question. In order not to give money to scammers, ask about the history of the school and its teachers.
Compare the course program with real vacancies
You sign up for a course to get a good offer from a cool company, right? But for that you need to shine your knowledge and skills in front of the employer. Are you sure you’ll get them on your chosen course? In order not to waste money and time, study the vacancies for the Junior position. Now compare it with the course program. If the volume of requirements in the vacancies is a couple times more than the promised skills after training, look for another school.
Learn from practicing professionals
Always ask who exactly will be teaching the course, what kind of experience this person has and what he or she has achieved in the IT industry. Programming is a very dynamic field where knowledge without practice quickly becomes irrelevant. If the instructor is only engaged in teaching, this is a red flag. And one more piece of advice: choose a teacher you like. Banal, but even an annoying manner of speech can spoil the impression of learning.
Study reviews and rating of programming courses
The main value of reviews is that you can find information there that you haven’t even thought about. Often the top programming courses are shown on Google through ads, and anyone can get there. Even the top courses without ads are not really worth believing…. Popular schools because of the greater demand put the process of learning on the conveyor belt and the quality of courses will be lame. Do not be lazy to dig deeper and google reviews, only not on the page of the school, but on third-party sites, and on the second page of the search engine too. So for example from the comments on some forum you can learn that school X does not record lessons, and if you were not present – it’s your problem. It seemed to you that the recording of lessons – the base, and would not even clarify this point before buying. You also need to filter negative reviews and realize that there will always be people who will be dissatisfied with something. Negativity should be present, only in the right way. It is much more suspicious if there are no negative reviews; most likely and the history of teaching at such a school does not have as such, and to learn from newcomers in the industry – always risky.
Certificate, portfolio, job offers
Learning is a process, but it should have a logical conclusion. Ask yourself what you will get out of it. For example, does the school issue a certificate of training. Whether during the course there will be an opportunity to work on real projects and build a portfolio – another important nuance. And finally, do they offer job placement assistance for students after the course.