Courses in Informatics – Where to begin?
The system of IT courses is complex, and it has many levels aimed at different demographics, so there are a lot of courses in informatics that offer different expertise.
If you are looking for IT courses, want to learn about information technology, learn a profession, or just to strengthen your knowledge about something you already know, you can find a lot of useful information in this article.
First, you should think about which part of IT interests you—mechanics, installation and operation of IT systems, industrial technologies, or programming? Where to start on your IT course journey depends partly on your interests.
It is also important to decide whether you want to learn in the school system or in a course, whether you want to go to night school or not, and whether you want to learn online or offline.
The education systems of countries greatly differ but one thing is certain — people can learn informatics at universities all over the world, and in other forms of education as well.
Informatics, anywhere in the world
User skills
In order to use your computer efficiently, or to be able to work effectively and gain experience in using office applications, you can take various courses.
IT skills development
From confident management of IT tools to the use of word processors and spreadsheets, these courses develop many important skills that we can use at work or in everyday life.
ECDL courses
It is a recognized qualification throughout Europe that certifies the confident use of computers and Microsoft Office applications.
- Pitman Training
- Distance Learning Centre
- ICDL Ireland
- City of Bristol College
- Further Education & Training Course Hub
Office applications
There are many courses in informatics, where you can learn the use of office apps, word processors, spreadsheets and presentation creating applications.
Computer management courses for seniors
There are more and more elders who would like to learn how to use computers and the internet, and there are courses for them as well. It is worth staying up to date—for example, local community houses often organize such a course.
- Master Computers – From Beginner to Expert
- Microsoft Office Training Bundle
- YouTube Masterclass
- Online Teaching Masterclass
Courses outside of the school system
The range of professions is much wider than what is included in adult education covered in the professional register. For a training fee, we can broaden our knowledge in many other courses in informatics without becoming a student at any school.
The list below is just a brief overview, if you are interested in any special expertise within the IT field, look specifically for that course.
Programming courses
If you are interested in programming, you have numerous options to learn it from the basics to advanced levels. We already wrote about how you can choose a beginner programming course, and we also wrote a list of the best programming courses.
A few courses from the most popular programming schools
IT security courses
The vulnerability of stored data and information is constantly increasing, which is why corporate IT security is an important area.
- Hackedu’s Secure Coding Training
- Virtual Hacking Lab’s Cyber Security Courses
- Udemy’s Cyber Security Course for Beginners
- Coursera’s Cyber Security Courses
- Sans’s Certified Cyber Security Trainings and Degrees
- Cybrary’s Free Cyber Security Courses
- Learning Tree’s Cyber Security Trainings and Certification Courses
Ethical hacker courses
- Ethical Hacker Courses on Udemy
- EC-Council Certified Ethical Hacker Course
- Ethical Hacker Courses on Coursera
- Guru99’s Free Ethical Hacker Course for Beginners
- Alison’s Free Ethical Hacker Course for Beginners
- Udacity’s Ethical Hacker Course
- Abertay University’s Ethical Hacker Bsc Program
University courses in informatics
Although there are several positions in the field of IT that can be filled without a university degree, there are areas of specialization and advancement where higher education is essential.
In university IT education, there is a strong emphasis on the theoretical background of computer science and mathematics and less on programming practice. However, you can gain experience in using programming languages individually or on programming courses to supplement your theoretical knowledge.
Majors
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Undergraduate courses
- Computer and Information Science
- Computer Programming
- Computer Science
- Computer Software and Media Applications
- Computer Systems Analysis
- Computer System Networking and Telecommunications
- Computer/Information Technology Administration and Management
- Data Entry/Microcomputer Applications
- Data Processing
- Information Science/Studies
Before high school graduation
If you want to work in IT in the future, it might be useful to take a final exam in informatics — it is also mandatory for higher education in IT. Well-structured courses in informatics may help you with that.
Graduation exam preparation courses:
On the border of practice-oriented vocational training and higher education: higher vocational training
Easier access
Two-year-long professional training at a university. Vocational higher education does not lead to a degree, but once completed, students can easily progress towards the labor market or BSc courses. Its advantage is that it is possible to get in with fewer points compared to university courses, even without an advanced level of graduation.
The point threshold is decided at the institution, based on the number and performance of the applicants, just like in the case of the BSc, but it is generally lower in these courses.
Where do you go from there?
You won’t get a degree, but you can look at it as preparation for university, since you can use it for your entrance exams, and you will learn a bunch of new skills that make university training easier. Those who successfully enrol for a BSc training afterwards can have their acquired knowledge recognized in the form of credits.
Internship
Higher education vocational training is a practice-oriented form of training, combined with internships at companies. Training is available in various forms of financing: state scholarship, self-financing, in a dual form, or with a fee associated with a practical contract. It is worth looking carefully at the pages of training institutions if you are interested in higher education vocational training.
Institutions:
If you are interested in IT courses, and you want a job in this field, but you don’t know exactly what interests you, you might find our article titled “Is there a difference between a programmer and a software developer?” useful. In that article, we are looking at professions within the IT field, so you know who does what.
If you are not sure about what you want to learn, you can read about which programming language you should choose.
If you’d like to see more programming tutorials, check out our Youtube channel, where we have plenty of video tutorials in English.
In our article series “Programming courses” we collected the learning opportunities, so if you want to learn to program, you can find these, and other interesting facts there which can help you find the perfect course.
Programing courses
Language-specific courses:
- Web developer courses
- JavaScript programming courses
- Java programming courses
- Python programming courses
- Data Science courses
- Courses in informatics
- Excel courses
Programming courses with extras:
- Programming for free
- Programming courses with a job guarantee
- Programming for kids
- Programming: private teacher vs online course with mentor
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