Is it worth investing in a computer course? It can open the door to a better job

Employers’ requirements for candidates are high, and even offers for simple office positions count on advanced computer skills, where you should work at a high level, for example, with the basic Office package. In the IT sphere itself, applicants are offered a number of well-paid positions, but they already need to have basic programming skills. Information technology courses are therefore increasingly popular for those who want to change their lives. However, every interested person asks themselves whether it is worth it. Are you also wondering if it is worth paying for a course with us? What do you actually get for your money and what benefits do courses at Smarty Academy have? We have prepared a summary for you to help you get your bearings.

You can take programming, software testing, or basic Office courses at Smarty Academy for free thanks to programs from the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and Family:

1. The KOMPAS+ program is intended for unemployed people who are registered with employment offices,
2. and the relatively new program “Don’t lose your job, get educated” can be used by students, retirees, but also some already employed people, for whom the course can help them improve their qualifications and get a frequently offered job in the IT field.

For others, the courses are paid, but they provide great value. Why?

1. The basics of programming can help women, for example, launch a completely new career. They are still a minority among IT employees in our country, but thanks to the offer of educational courses, the situation is slowly changing for the better.
2. The courses are a condensed version of the practice that you would otherwise have to study for years. So while it costs a bit, it is an intensive course, focused mainly on practical skills. No unnecessary theory.
3. Smarty Academy is part of a professional network, we are in direct contact with representatives of IT companies, and after completing the course, we can recommend jobs to you and, in turn, generate smart potential employees for companies.
4. You can take them at home, in the comfort of your own home, and you don’t have to go anywhere. We communicate via Teams and the lessons are held in the evenings, so they can be arranged around your current work.

These general benefits alone are reason enough to spend your savings this way. After all, the prices of the courses are more than a good investment considering what they will teach you. Judge for yourself:

Office course – a lot of music for little money

Many of us don’t really know how to use the Office suite. We work with Word and Excel every day, but we don’t know macros or pivot tables. However, jobs focused on analytics or budgets require this knowledge. In addition, most people have no idea what diverse possibilities the individual programs of this suite offer. And thanks to our course, you will learn, for example, how to use Outlook not only to send emails, but also to manage working time in a team, organize meetings, or generate business cards. You can learn to create stunning tables and graphs full of functions and create your own functions for them. In total, over 4 weeks, you will complete 64 hours with a lecturer, during which you will learn practical knowledge from 10 years of experience.

Programming in Java

Still one of the most popular programming languages, in which many business applications are created. During our course, you will learn to program web, mobile and desktop applications, work with JUnit and TestNG frameworks, write “clean code”, UML language, SQL basics, delve into the basics of so-called object-oriented programming, learn to fix errors in the program and many other things. The eight-week course offers up to 96 hours of practical teaching along with assignments and team projects.

Web developer academy

Do you want to know how to program your own websites and web applications, the basics of databases with MySQL, JavaScript and HTML, and learn how to style websites using CSS and Bootstrap? A comprehensive and intensive course with at least 75 hours of teaching, project creation, tests and consultations will prepare you for junior developer positions in companies. And all this in 8 weeks, which corresponds to ten years of practical experience.

Learn to test software

Companies inevitably need to eliminate errors when developing their software products, which is why they employ so-called automated testers. They should master the creation of automated tests for web and mobile applications, which requires the basics of programming in Java or SQL, knowledge of frameworks, API tests, various tools. All this will be given to you by the 8-week Automation Tester Academy course during 96 hours of training and consultations.

Programming in C/C++ languages

This course is focused on creating console and graphical applications, for example, the C++ language is often used in creating video games. In 64 hours of teaching and consultations, you will get practical experience with data structures and sorting and searching algorithms, and even though these are somewhat more demanding programming languages, thanks to the two-month course and slower “dosage” of teaching, even beginners can really cope with it. And our lecturers are here to guide them through it.

When you calculate the cost of one hour of training for each of the courses, you will find that the effectiveness of such courses is undeniably high. The results of the courses are certificates in Slovak and English, finished projects that will be a summary of everything you have learned, and priceless experience.