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Which IT course ?
Programming or multimedia, Web design or hardware or Networking which computer course should you go for? Open your newspaper in the morning, and a sheaf of leaflets fall through. A lot of them carry advertisements for computer training institutes, and courses that are supposed to be lucrative. Go through recruitment sections more than half are looking out for software programmers, some others for Web developers, e-commerce specialists... the list is mind boggling. The demand is so high that it even makes people in other professions such as advertising, architecture, journalism, etc wonder if they made the right choice in their career. For a beginner, it’s even more confusing which course to take. Most beginners are unaware of what different types of courses are there. And then there are endless choices within each. And what about the fees, and the duration? Or if you’re working in an office, and you would like to enroll for a course that will better your prospects in the company which one should you take. If you’re interested in fine arts, what options do you have?
Broadly, you can categorize computer courses into courses in computing basics and common software usage, hardware, software programming, multimedia, DTP/CAD, and Web development. There are lots of courses for the beginner as well as for the professional. By a beginner we mean a person who’s new to computers. He may be a graduate or even a working professional, but doesn’t know much about computers. Let’s see what each type of course can teach you.
Computing basics
You have courses that last for a few hours to those that span a couple of months, and ranging from Rs 1,500 to Rs 4,000. You get to learn the basic terms related to PCs and learn to work on commonly used software such as Windows, MS Office, Internet browsers, and e-mail programs. Some institutes also run courses that have month-long or longer courses for surfing the Net. Be sure to find out what all is going to be covered. If it’s only how to use the browser and type in a Web address, you can learn it in less than 15 minutes. It’s always good to ask a PC-savvy friend about such courses, before you blow up hundreds of rupees on them.
Such courses are useful to those who have no clue what a PC is but want to learn how to use. Many of these courses are targeted at children, housewives, and elderly people. But there are office courses too that teach you how to use these programs for your work how to use spreadsheets, how to create presentations, how to do a mass mailing for your clients, and so on.
Hardware courses
What is a PC? What is it made of, what are its components? What are the different cards that go into it? How do you install the cards and cables? What kind of peripherals are used widely? How do you connect them to the PC? What do you do if something goes wrong? These are some of the things you’ll learn in a hardware course.
A hardware course qualifies you to get into companies that do maintenance of computers, the maintenance departments of organizations. Make sure that you get a lot of hands-on training in this course. Most courses range from Rs 6,000 to Rs 30,000,
Multimedia
Here you will find an amazing range of courses to choose from. You can find some that teach you the basics of picture editing to full-fledged courses that cover all aspects of multimedia authoring sound, video, animation, graphics, etc. You have to carefully arrive at what your interests and talents are and what you would like to do in this field. You’ll find a range of courses between Rs 15,000-Rs 50,000. You probably don’t even need to do the complete course. Take up an aspect that you’re good at and work on that. For a full discussion on a career in multimedia, see our Sep 99 issue (www.computersathome.com/sep99).
Companies that author multimedia titles such as educational CD-ROMs, games, computer-based tutorials employ people who know some aspect of multimedia. Web design companies also make use of multimedia on different sites, so they also have job opportunities for multimedia specialists.
DTP and CAD
DTP stands for desktop publishing. All magazines, brochures, posters, ads, etc are designed and laid out on computers. There are courses that teach you how to use the most popular software used for DTP. This is for people who have a good eye for design, details and colors. There are three types of software used for DTP: page layout programs, image editors, and illustrators. Complete courses give the training in all three. But if you would like to train only in one, you can do that too. The DTP courses cost about Rs 10,000.
CAD stands for computer-aided design. This course is useful for draughtsmen, architects, interior designers, civil, mechanical, electrical and other engineers who do designing on PCs. You can choose to do only some parts of CAD, depending on the work you do. If you are only into 2D work, do only the 2D part of the course. If you do a lot of 3D visualization and modeling then you need to do the 3D modules as well. These
courses range from Rs 10,000-30,000.
Web development
You’ll find a range of courses starting from Web design to Web development and management technologies. So you have to figure out which part you would like to be involved in and take a course for that. You’ll also find full-fledged courses that take you through all the topics design, publishing, programming, working with databases, and Webservers, and so on. Such courses cost about Rs 30,000 or so. If you’re already into Web design/development, you may only want to take short courses on certain topics those are available too.
Software programming
You can get a variety of courses with a mix of languages, operating systems, database management systems, etc. There’re many types of programmers. Application programmers write programs for specific jobs, say for a library or store management. System programmers write programs for the computer system such as terminals, printers and disk drives. Maintenance programmers find and fix bugs in software and customize it. And then there are special applications that need programmers specializing in a specific language. Broadly, in programming there are courses that teach you how to program front-end and back-end tools. The former deals with the interface of the application being developed, while the back-end takes care of the database structure, querying and management that happens in the background of the application. Most courses offer you coaching in both these fields, you can also choose which ones you would like to do. Among the front-ends the popular ones are Visual Basic, Visual C++, Developer 2000, and PowerBuilder. Among the back-ends you can easily find courses in Oracle, SQL, AS/400, and Sybase. Such courses can cost anything between Rs 7,000 and Rs 35,000.
E Commerce
Getting back to you the possible candidate for an e-com course. What are the choices and specializations available to you?
Most e-com courses cover the following:
Basics: From how to start the computer, to browsing, searching, ordering online, Windows concepts, and the history of the Internet.
Design and multimedia: Photoshop, audio and video images, file formats, image types, designing and layout, 3-D animation, text animation, Shockwave, Website development, etc.
Programming: Java, HTML, Corba, CGI, OOPS and more.
Web and network related: SQL server, installing and configuring servers, managing queries, Internet and intranet applications, Website security, etc.
E-com: Business basics, budgeting, costing, demographics, advertising, cyber laws, developments of the Internet, opportunities, hurdles and more.
If you are not interested in the complete package, find out if you can take up only selective modules of the course. For instance a graphic designer could obviously skip Photoshop. Or someone interested in the business side could just attend the e-com basics. In case you want to learn a specific language like Java, then it would make more sense to go for a Java course instead of an e-com one.
Do be aware that a career in e-commerce isn’t just about sitting in front of a screen, and designing and putting up Websites. You could branch off into any of the sub-fields. Some of these are very technical and others require a mix of techno-creative skills. And you needn’t even join some course for a few of these options.
E-com is less about technology, and more about business. Learning Java or networking doesn’t make you an e-com hotshot. However, it helps to be aware of the technologies, their capabilities, and their limitations.
Networking
Networking is the process of interconnecting computers whether in a local area (LAN) or wide area (WAN), using a combination of switches, hubs, routers, cables which could be twisted, copper or fibre. An example of all employees' machines in a single building connected to each other is LAN whereas when the same company connects it's distributors and suppliers across the country to form a network to exchange information, it is an example of a WAN or a Wide Area Network.
A Virtual Private Network or VPN is the hottest concept in this field and an example of convergence of technologies. Here a company, instead of maintaining a WAN of it's own, hosts it's applications on the internet, generally through an ISP. It results in saving of as much as 20 to 50 percent in installation and operation costs. So, you need not have dedicated lines running to all your offices and partners but whoever need to use an application, login to the application hosted on the net, submit authentication information and work.
Though hardware and networking professionals might miss the mobility and excitement associated with today's web programming and multimedia world, a hardware or a networking professional is certainly indispensable and works on the cutting edge of technology. This is one area in which demand for skilled professionals never ceases. A graduate degree like B Tech in Computer Science would take you to the field. You would however require specialised training to keep up with trends in technology specially with developments in broadband access, mobile computing.
How to choose an institute
Here are some points to keep in mind before you join an institute.
Analyze your interests If you are good at drawing taking up a course in a multimedia or graphics institute might be better than one in programming. All institutes have a focus and if you know what you want to do, it will help your choice easier.
Which course do you choose? All courses have a prerequisite. Ask before you decide on a course.
Duration Ideally beginners should take up courses which are short-term, say 3 to 6 months. During this time you will get to know more about computers and you’ll be in a better position to decide which path to take. The long courses are okay for people who know what exactly they are getting into.
Course content This varies from institute to institute. Before joining a course speak to people who know about computers.
Computer time, personal coaching Be sure to find out how much time you’re likely to get on the computer. If there are lots of students in your batch and the institute doesn’t have as many PCs, you’ll end up with very little time on the computer. If the batch is too big, you may not even get personal attention from the teacher. You may even find small institutes that may not give a recognized certificate, but may be able to impart knowledge very well. A lot of companies are interested to know if you have enough working knowledge, not in the certificate.
Job prospects Look for an institute that offers you a live project. A live project means that the institute should have clients in software, Web designing, or multimedia, or whatever your course is in. A lot of institutes have placement cells but check if this is merely on paper, before you join.
Faculty Trained faculty with lots of experience in their field are hard to find. Ask before you join if that institute has the right teachers.
Does the institute have an entrance exam or a specific procedure for admission? Is it for namesake, or does it really test the aptitude of the candidate for each course?
Recognition by industry There are a lot of courses that are recognized by the industry. There are certified programmes from Microsoft, Aptech, NIIT, Novell, and many others that are widely accepted. Before you take up a similar unrecognized course, think about the certification too.
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