In the modern world of information technologies, the choice of the path of education is becoming more relevant and complex. Traditional universities and specialized courses offer different learning approaches, each with advantages and disadvantages. Universities with a long history of training prepare specialists based on a deep immersion in theory and practice, while courses offer a more flexible, faster and practice-oriented approach. This article will examine the critical differences between courses and universities, analyze their pros and cons, and help readers make informed choices based on their goals, time, and resources. What is the best way to become a successful IT specialist? Let’s figure it out together.
Why choose IT Education
Labour market analysts analyzed the factors that influence the choice of young people in favor of the IT sector and identified the main reasons for this trend. Here are the key ones:
- High demand for specialists.
- A wide range of destinations.
- Attractive and stable income level.
- Promising career opportunities.
- The prestige of the profession.
- Exciting and creative work.
IT education is a magnet for many young people for several reasons:
High demand for specialists
The high demand for IT professionals ensures stable employment.
Variety of destinations
Various directions- from programming to data analysis- allow everyone to find the right direction.
Salary leve
Another significant factor is the high level of wages, which often exceeds the average income in other industries.
Career development and professional development
Career prospects and the availability of many opportunities for professional development opportunities make this area particularly attractive.
Realizing your creative potential
Finally, IT work often involves exciting and creative tasks that allow you to implement your ideas and skills in a dynamic environment.
IT Education Options
There are many options for IT education for those who want to become an IT professional.
Traditional basic education
Traditional university programs offer bachelor’s and master’s degrees in computer science and related fields.
Professional courses and electives for students
Professional courses and electives at various educational institutions often focus on skills like programming, data analysis, or cybersecurity.
Online courses
Online courses on Coursera, Udacity, edX, and others provide access to materials from world universities and companies, allowing you to study conveniently.
Webinars and bootcamps
Coding bootcamps are also becoming popular, offering intensive training in a short time frame.
Certificates of international companie
Some foreign companies offer certificates that can significantly increase your competitiveness in the labor market. Most often, international companies do not provide educational programs, and preparation for testing takes place independently. However, there are exceptions, such as Cisco Academy. Choosing a program that matches your interests and career goals is essential to develop your skills and knowledge as effectively as possible.
What are the differences between IT education options?
Although there are many opportunities for IT education, the options for obtaining an education differ in several essential aspects:
Approach to education
The main difference between universities and IT courses is the level of knowledge acquired at the end of training. Completing university studies involves obtaining a bachelor’s degree in information technology, computer science, or other related disciplines and issuing a corresponding state diploma. In addition, the university’s educational process includes studying general education subjects.
IT courses have a more practical focus, including learning programming languages, development, and technology. Training in IT courses is usually intensive and tailored to specific tasks.
Dive depth and duration
There is also a difference in the depth of immersion in the theoretical material. Higher IT education includes an understanding of the fundamental concepts of the IT sphere and its principles. The courses teach specific practical skills and relevant technologies. Higher IT education can be obtained in 4-5 years, unlike IT courses, which can be completed in a maximum of 2 years.
Cost
In Belarus, it is possible to get free higher education, but a high passing score makes many applicants choose paid education. Higher education will cost more compared to courses: the price of one academic year at the metropolitan university for paid students will be about $1,500. For four years, the training will cost about $6,000. In this context, IT courses are more accessible.
Experience
Neither courses nor other educational institutions provide real practical experience. However, it is more realistic to start performing valuable tasks in hiring as soon as possible with a diploma of training in an educational institution. Recruiters value both a degree and experience. On the other hand, you can always test your competencies on test tasks.
Community
Your environment should strive to gain knowledge and apply it. This is not always the case in higher education institutions, as not everyone can withstand the specifics of obtaining knowledge. Still, those who have completed their studies often retain connections in their community. Courses for IT professionals usually attract more motivated people who want to move on to practical experience rather than networking quickly.
What’s wrong with classical education
Usually, founders do not care what kind of education employees who complete their tasks have (however, in some IT professions, you can only work with a higher profile education, and recruiters track this).
The three main reasons why classical education in the IT field is discouraged are:
- Conservatism.
- An extended period.
- The high cost of education compared to courses.
Technology is evolving faster than educational institutions are complementing their training programs. Students often have to get up-to-date knowledge about new technologies on their own. The inflexibility of higher education sometimes discourages those who want to get an IT education and get started quickly. Class schedules and monitoring of knowledge and attendance often do not allow students to work in parallel and gain valuable practical experience. The long-term and high cost of higher education in the IT field leads to the popularity of various IT courses that offer you up-to-date knowledge quickly and with a lower financial burden.
In classical education, the presence of mandatory sessions often interferes with the work process of employed students, although it is not easy to combine education in educational institutions with work.
Universities with online programs
Online education at the world’s leading universities allows international students to study on a flexible schedule from anywhere in the world. In addition, online education will enable you to get the same full-fledged degrees as traditional training on the territory of the university.
When choosing a foreign university, it is essential to consider its experience in online education and the availability of various programs. In this article, we have presented universities from different countries offering high-quality distance learning in multiple specialities.
When considering different foreign universities, it is essential to think that the policy of sanctions may work for citizens of certain countries, making it challenging to communicate with the university and transfer tuition fees.
Open University
This British university, founded in 1969, currently has about 60,000 students. However, for international students, one-year training in the “Computing and IT” program costs $12,000. This university provides an opportunity to get an education in information technology.
Digital Age University
A Spanish university in Barcelona offers education at a more affordable price — about $ 2,000 a year. From IT specialities, it allows you to get a degree in cybersecurity and artificial intelligence.
Digital University Kerala
An Indian university focused on digital majors offers distance learning starting at $ 650 a year, which is a reasonable option.
Seoul Digital University.
A South Korean university, similar to an Indian university, offers tuition starting at $1,500 per year. Students can get degrees in computer engineering, software engineering, or information security.
IT courses
Due to the high demand for IT specialists, many people are attracted to online IT courses, which promise to train the profession in demand in the IT field quickly. Many people believe that the materials offered by IT courses can be found for free online. However, the search for materials requires an understanding of the training sequence, self-organization and consistency skills, and time for these classes. IT courses offer structured information in a clear language for people not trained in programming.
A good start in the IT field can be courses from large companies that provide sufficient knowledge. For example, Yandex, 1C, Mail. Many online IT courses are educational platforms and are not associated with large companies but work with attracted experts, for example:
Netology
Since 2011, the educational platform has been helping those who want to learn several programming skills from scratch. In addition to constant communication with teachers, the programming school offers free courses, classes, and communication with like-minded people.
Skillbox
At the Skillbox programming school, you can choose an IT direction: Java developer, cybersecurity specialist, or Fullstack developer in Python. You can take classes on your account and complete tasks from existing customers.
Hexlet
On the Hexlet platform, you can gain knowledge on professional development, find a job, and participate in an open online community.
SkillFactory
This online school offers each student a personal mentor, lots of practice, and free events and materials.
OTUS
The training platform offers more than 130 IT courses lasting up to 13 months and programs for people with different levels of training. It is stated that successful students are employed in leading Russian companies after the courses.
HTML Academy
HTML Academy offers a wide range of courses, from working with template engines to developing complex client applications.
These interactive online courses will help you start your career in IT and improve your skills. At HTML Academy, students develop their skills by working with simulators that allow them to interact with live code and solve complex problems. After completing the simulators, you can choose a professional programming course and proceed to the next stage of training. Each student is provided with a personal mentor. The classes focus on the subtleties of website and web application development.
Eduson academy
It is not a specialized IT school but offers many online courses in various fields. At Edison Academy, you can master the famous skills of testers, web designers, business analysts, and developers in the IT field. It is stated that among the teachers are leading specialists of Russian and foreign companies.
ITDVN
The platform is a video course on programming and IT professions. You can start training for free from level zero and then choose a suitable tariff plan. For training, you need to buy a subscription to one of the packages: starter, basic or premium. The platform hosts free webinars on immersion in the IT profession. A mentor and online tests are offered to help you check your level of knowledge.
Can I study abroad?
To answer the question about the possibility of getting an IT education abroad, you need to consider several points:
1. The training program is in English, as it is the language of communication for IT specialists.
2. The cost of training and living expenses, the level of prices in the state.
3. The opportunity to legally seek employment in the state after receiving an education, get a job and build a career.
Here are some countries that are popular for It education:
USA
It is a recognized global leader in information technology education. The country is home to the headquarters of leading technology companies such as Microsoft, Apple, IBM, Google, Cisco, Intel, Meta and HP. Silicon Valley attracts the best specialists from all over the world.
Great Britain
The UK offers about 2,000 specialized courses at 200 universities, two of which are among the top ten in the world. This is one of the few countries where a bachelor’s degree can be completed in three years and a master’s degree in one year.
Canada
Three Canadian universities are among the top 30 best in the world in computer science. The country offers high-quality education and attractive conditions for international students, including a wide selection of English-language programs and the opportunity to stay in the country for three years after graduation to find a job.
Germany
In state universities, education can be obtained almost free of charge, but often only in German. Private universities offer many programs in English.
What we get after getting an education
Depending on your level of education and personal luck, you can get offers or rejections. Recruiters prefer candidates with higher education, not necessarily specialized, plus professional courses and work experience. According to surveys conducted by career websites, specialized higher education helped about half of the IT professionals surveyed find employment.
There is no data on the discrepancy in the salaries of those who will receive a higher IT education and have completed IT courses, but it still depends on skills and successful completion of work tasks.
Employers are usually interested in the portfolio of IT specialists and their real-world experience, but they do not attach much importance to the specifics of obtaining an IT education. However, to work in the financial sector, employers require a higher specialized education in the civil service.
When choosing courses, we recommend focusing on those that help you find a job, guarantee employment for successful students, and secure an internship. Such points are written in the training contract. With the course format, “after receiving a diploma, relationships stop,” interest in the profession is often lost, frustration occurs, and people return to their previous occupations.
After receiving any IT education, or even in the process, finding an internship and gaining practical work experience is best. Experience will be a big plus when looking for a job after taking IT courses and getting a higher education in IT.
Conclusions
Educational institutions offer a structured approach with diplomas, but high passing scores and tuition fees can be an obstacle for many. Online courses provide more flexible and affordable opportunities, allowing almost everyone to study despite their academic achievements. Studying abroad can accelerate your career growth with international experience and diploma recognition. Still, you must first master the foreign language and match your tuition and living expenses to your budget.
As for employment, the IT sector continues to grow, and qualified specialists are in demand in the market. The availability of practical skills that can be obtained during an internship or at work in parallel with studying at universities, on courses, and after their completion usually determines the possibility of employment. It is essential to keep in mind that you are constantly learning and improving your skills, as technology is changing rapidly.
Our assistance in searching and registering qualified personnel becomes an integral part of the successful formation of a team that can cope with any challenges of the modern market. In addition, we offer EOR and accounting support, which allows our clients to focus on business development rather than administrative issues. Together, we create the conditions for dynamic growth and innovative progress in IT.
How to contact us
For more information or advice on issues related to IT education in Belarus, do not hesitate to contact us. We are here to help and support you.
Phone and email communication options are available for your convenience:
- +375293664477 (WhatsApp/Telegram/Viber);
- info@spex.by.
