So, how should you go about getting your online IT job training?
First, start by knowing what you want. Maybe you just want to learn some IT knowledge of a certain kind so that you can use it in your personal life. If that is the case, the online downloadable tutorials are perfect for you. You can pause, fast forward, and rewind, thus learning at your own pace. These tutorials will give you a very good introduction to an IT subject and break it down into components for you to work on. You may learn enough to do freelance work and teach yourself more, too. On the other hand, if you are more serious and are considering getting your foot into the door of an IT company or into a company’s IT department, you might want to take online “distance learning” IT courses.
As a matter of fact, online IT classes are being put on the Internet by more and more colleges and universities all the time. These classes’ tuitions almost always cost less than their on-site counterparts, and you save lots of money in other ways, too. You don’t have to commute. You don’t have to pay for housing on the campus or near the campus. You don’t have to relocate. You don’t have to buy the school’s food plan. You don’t have to buy textbooks. Also, as an IT student enrolled with a recognized school, you can find lots of good discounts on various software programs. You also get your choice of school, since you are not required to go somewhere to be physically present.
Before you start in with signing up for an online IT class or buying those downloadable tutorials, however, consider what might be an even better option for you: free (or very cheap) online webinars. Top-notch IT companies offer these all the times. They serve as a company’s promotional material. They also serve as extremely inexpensive ways for them to inspire and cultivate their next generation of employees. But they are chock full of highly valuable information, and are given by industry professionals. Some of them even have question-and-answer sessions at the end. Usually, these webinars are recorded by a presenter, who is open to receiving and answering your questions via email. All virtual meeting software providers like WebEx will often sell these recordings at a low price to anyone who attended the webinar. You can build an impressive array of computer-stored webinars that you can view and forward or rewind through again and again until you’ve gained some expertise in the field of information technology.
Maybe you already working in IT (or some other department) for a company but you want to become more advanced so that you can get a promotion or move to a more interesting subdivision of your IT department. In this case, see if your company offers IT tutorials through its Intranet. While mostly you’ll have to watch these tutorials on your free time, if you can convince your manager that it’s related to something critical to a project you’re working on, you might just get permission to watch it during your work hours.
And there is one more probably surprising place where you can gain tremendous knowledge about IT matters and have specific questions answered in detailed ways, and even explained to you more than once if you didn’t understand the first answer — online forums. Find some IT forums and you’ll realize that it is a gold mine of “geek” knowledge. The people who go to these forums love answering others’ questions. They may want to show off, they may want to meet new friends, they may be doing research of their own, they may be promoting their own services, they may sympathize with you because they have been in your shoes, or they may just be generous with their knowledge. They may be all of those things. What it all means for you is that you can get high-quality answers to all your IT questions for free. You’ll probably be shown plenty of free resources that you can use, too.
Conclusion
The IT jobs are hot items and will continue to be for at least the next 100 years. If you can learn enough online to qualify you for good paying, rewarding IT jobs, why not go for it?
