10 Honest Answers about Online Programming Courses

Online programming courses are gaining popularity. The size of the online education market in the UK is growing by 20–25% annually. At the same time, half of the Etch market falls on additional education for adults, and of all areas, programming is the third most popular after foreign languages ​​and marketing.

There are a lot of questions about online education, and we gave detailed answers to ten.

Why do you need online programming courses?

The question is relevant, given the abundance of literature, video lectures, and other educational materials. But for every problem, there is a solution. A video or an article will explain whether you are interested in working with the chosen programming language, help you write the first "Hello World," and drive you around the basics.

And sometimes, you want to go deeper, ask a question, and get feedback. Alas, self-education is not designed for such a spectrum. Yes, if you are an experienced programmer, you can easily master a new language or technology, but you can still lose sight of some pitfalls and not find the answer to your question.

2. What are programming courses?

Everyone learns information in their way, respectively should choose the type of training based on your preferences. Here are just a few types of programming courses:

Interactive online courses are almost the same as video lectures and educational games, but with support from specialists who will answer questions that arise.

With webinars and practical tasks - focus on long-term training, after which they most often leave access to the materials covered.

Online intensives are a program with a high learning rate and a concentration of useful materials. Courses from companies to train future employees.

3. Which is the better, intensive or long course?

It just depends on your needs. Intensives are gaining popularity, and this effect is associated with people's lack of time. The bottom line is that at intensives lasting 1-3 days, you are given full useful information immediately deposited in your head. This training option has no long breaks between lectures, as with long courses.

However, online programming courses practice homework and debriefing, give time to comprehend the information received, and formulate questions. In addition, teachers are responsible for the knowledge they have acquired, evaluate it afterward, and provide free advice. But in this case, you should have a lot of free time since combining work and long-term education is difficult.

4. And if you choose between individual and group training?

In the conditions of individual training, will compile the program personally for you, and the teacher will devote 100% of his time to you, as in the case of a tutor, but unlike the last incentive, the teacher of an online school has more, because your feedback will depend on the quality of teaching and then continue the work in this school or not.

And for some students, on the contrary, it is more comfortable to study in a group, to feel the competition, to be able to communicate with other students and clarify some points with them. It is also a good practice for learning courses in UK that involve communication and participation in group projects.

5. What do certificates provide?

Against the background of useless diplomas of higher education, certificates seem completely useless, but there is still a difference between a certified specialist and a specialist in words.

Also, if you go freelancing, at the initial stages, you should reinforce your competence with something, and the certificate will come in handy. And it also proves that if you do not stand still, continue to learn and improve your skills: in the IT field, this is especially important, given how quickly technology changes.

6. Who is hired as a teacher?

Good online schools introduce potential students to teachers at the start. You can find most of the information about them on the course page.

These are either permanent teachers of the chosen school or temporarily qualified specialists who acquaint students with all the nuances of their work and give real examples from practice.

7. What if the training is not satisfactory?

The reason can be anything: topics, schedule, specific teachers, poor quality of communication devices (bad microphone, internet, constant failures), and much more.

First, always familiarize yourself with the program before starting it. If the information important to you is not on the course website, check it out through online support.

Secondly, do not forget about the opportunity to contact teachers or support and explain what exactly you are not satisfied with and why. If this is fixable, a good online school will meet your needs. If it is impossible to correct the situation, and the problem is serious, you should return the funds, part of them, or offer an alternative.

8. How to choose an online school and avoid getting scammed?

Read reviews about online schools, and ask as many clarifying questions as possible, which will allow you to assess the competence of specialists, do not hesitate to ask about the cost and method of payment to have correspondence with school representatives in case the information on the site suddenly changes.

Not all, but many schools now also offer the possibility of a monthly payment, which significantly increases the degree of confidence and allows you to "painlessly" refuse to study.

9. Is employment available everywhere?

No, but more and more online GCSE group tuition includes this feature in their programs. In this case, the school agrees with companies that recruit interns, and the best students can try their hand at practice immediately after training.

10. So, why are online programming courses worth the money?

Answers to questions of interest are exactly what cannot be obtained from video lectures, books, and "dry" documentation. You can always go to a conditional forum or Stack Overflow and ask there, but what is the likelihood you will get an answer? And what is the answer politely and correctly?

Online programming courses are an experience reinforced by communication with teachers throughout the learning process, the opportunity to receive lecture recordings and related materials, real skills assessment, certificates confirming qualifications, and the first completed projects in the portfolio.

In addition, paid courses give many an incentive because the money is given away, which means that they need to be "recaptured." It seems like a small thing, but notice how different your approach to self-paced free education is from your approach to paid courses with lecturers, schedules, and homework. Agree. The second option encourages you to be collected and work for the result.