Analysis of various IT training methods

Many are interested in the question of how to study better and why? Let's look at all the training options and choose the optimal one for a particular task ...

So, the main types of training in the IT field are as follows:

1. Forums, conferences, free resources
2. Books
3. Remote self-study in the Internet
4. Webinars
5. Full-time education

Perhaps there are some other forms, but for the most part they are similar to those already indicated. Let's now consider each form of training separately and identify strengths and weaknesses.

Forums, conferences and free resources

When the word “free” is pronounced, the first thought that usually flies through in my head is connected with the question “who pays for it and why does he need it?” Because they say “there is no free cheese even in mousetraps now”. It is clear that the majority of “conditionally” free resources are created in order to attract your attention and make you spend the most expensive - your time. 99.999% of all free resources and conferences are held for specific marketing purposes, and I haven’t believed in altruism for a long time, at least not on the Internet)). Accordingly, the main goal of all free events is “sale”, right away or a little later - it does not matter, the main thing is to interest the idea, technology, concept, product and encourage the reader to the desired action for the creator, be it registration on the site and getting news mixed with advertising or subscribing to the channel on Youtube. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, everyone is promoting his product or himself as he can, the question is in you ...

Such events can take an unprecedented amount of time without any visible result, since in any case you cannot or are very limited in choosing only the necessary information, the remaining 90% or more can be transferred to your “workload”. To maintain oneself “in IT form” one can use this source of knowledge, but it is recommended to limit to a maximum of 5% of the total training time. Why so little? Because free resources usually provide information not the one you need, but the one you want to impose). In addition, in learning based on free resources, there is no learning structure, that is, the learning process is “outbreaks” and does not allow to delve into the topic or draw a parallel through all the existing knowledge and group them. From the point of view of technical time management, it is best not to consider searching for information on the Internet as learning, but to treat it as acquiring awareness.

Technical forums deserve special attention ... These resources are usually created by “the suffering” because of any problems with hardware, software or workflows. On such resources, some ask questions and get answers from others until either the problem is resolved or there is no one to answer. For IT and IT professionals, forums are an invaluable source of information, as they allow answering “sharp” questions in fairly short periods of time that months cannot wait for formal training. Forums are a necessary and sometimes even critical source of information for solving problems of the “not perfect” system configuration or the consequences of the “not ideal” code of these systems themselves. The use of forums is justified for the “point” solution of incidents, but the forums are absolutely not intended for fundamental training and, as a rule, assume the presence of some knowledge of the initial level. Accordingly, forums, like conferences, cannot be considered a full-fledged source of education.

Summing up:

+ FREE (conferences are also fed)

+ access to information sites always at hand

+ Excellent source of information for immediate response.

- Information not verified

- The information is too superficial.

- There is no system for building career education.

- It takes a lot of time to search or filter the necessary information

- No verification of your own knowledge

Verdict: not a learning method, but rather a source for awareness

Books

Books are the most painstaking and long-lasting source of knowledge, but at the same time one of the most fundamental and thorough. Books are ideal for self-study, but require a sufficiently high level of aspiration from the learner, since reading the book in passing without deep immersion and analysis of details does not give almost any results, but only takes time. Optimal reading of books includes either notes in the book itself, both in paper and electronic versions, as well as taking notes. The summary of the book gives a guarantee of the minimum assimilation of the desired material. Many will find writing an outline a dreary, tedious and very long task, but as a person who has read more than 100 books on a specialty, I can say that it’s better to do a synopsis once than to reread or leaf through a book dozens of times (especially if you are preparing for an exam).

What are the main disadvantages of books and book education? Firstly, this is a naked theory ... after reading the book, we get practically no skills, since without additional actions we cannot apply this knowledge. Secondly, time and dedication. A book cannot be “eaten” at one time, it should be “eaten” in parts as an “elephant”, and in order to “eat an elephant” 1200 pages of a non-artistic text you need to have a certain amount of will and time planning. Otherwise, we can get a fairly frequent situation of “beginning without end”, that is, we will start reading the book, but we will never finish. I had it several times when I started reading books on physical security ... they were so tedious that I read a third and stopped, and then after passing several months I had to start everything from the beginning, since I did not remember what I had read.

Therefore, for book education, one must first of all be strongly motivated and focused on results, and this is not always so simple. Nevertheless, the books give the BEST results for memorization, this is due to the fact that the reader can stop at any moment and re-read the material that is not completely understood, consider these or other conclusions and draw parallels with their situations at work.
Let's sum up the books:

+ Better learning

+ Usually tied to topic or certification

+ Well structured material

+ Inexpensive

- Most LONG way of learning

- Need good willpower

- No practice

- There is no opportunity to ask a question

- No verification of your own knowledge

Conclusion: books are the most fundamental and time-consuming source of theoretical knowledge, but do not provide an opportunity to develop skills.

Remote self-study in the Internet

Online self-study on the Internet is becoming one of the most popular sources of knowledge. This way of learning quickly spread due to its mobility: learning is available at any time from any device, the main thing is to have the Internet. Self-study is often in the form of specially created videos, where the listener is offered rich multimedia content. It is always nice to learn when a lesson is like a movie, where everything that happens on the screen is shown and explained. In addition to video and audio training, there are simply text modules that display several pages on the screen and you need to read them from the screen. In my opinion, this is the most boring option, and when I open the next online course of the next manufacturer and get just the text on the screen, I have an intermediate feeling between resentment and chagrin.

In general, the method of remote self-study is being used more and more often, since it is quite complex and convenient: you can structure the material well, break it up into lessons, add some simple inserts with practical tasks and tests to check the material's assimilation, but it does There are some flaws. The first drawback is still a theory without reference to practice, the examples that are given in the courses usually do not cover the needs of fundamental training. The second is the inability to ask any question about the material, and if something is not clear, you are left alone with your thoughts ... In my practice there were several dozen of such courses, which in "thin" places just kept some information in check and did not give an explanation of why this is happening, that is, you must unquestioningly believe the author, and the “inner spirit of contradiction” and curiosity cannot always come to terms with it. In addition, the content of the courses may be frankly bad ... There are plenty of examples where reading a material in a distance course is more like a hypnosis session and the only thought that rings in your head is “when it will end”.

With this format, a person receives a minimum of knowledge, as I call it: he “listened” to the course ... literally. And if you compare the frankly boring online course and book - it's better a book)). And the last, as for books, for online self-study should be motivation. One thing is when it’s a dubbed presentation for sales professionals for 2 hours and quite another is an engineer training course for 50 hours of listening time ... without careful planning of time and systematic training, there’s not much to be done.
In the bottom line we have:

+ Multimedia

+ Ease of accessibility

+ Fairly fast learning

+ Learning structure

+ Binding to the topic or certification

+ Not cheap, but still not very expensive

- Not always quality content

- The beginnings of practical skills, but not enough

- Need will power

- There is no opportunity to ask a question

- Minimum knowledge test

Conclusion: This training method is quite effective and is recommended for the rapid build-up of qualifications on the theoretical foundations of various fields, but it cannot be a full-fledged replacement for full-time education due to the lack of practical tasks.

Webinars

Webinars can be positioned as hybrid learning. Now we began to gain turnover from various courses that are read remotely by the coach live with the ability to answer questions of interest and conduct small practical exercises. This method of training is designed primarily to solve the problem of the need to move people to study, provide accommodation in the city training center and the associated costs. I used to be a participant in several similar sessions online, when about one hundred people listened to one course, each had a connection with an instructor and questions could be asked, after reading the material, access was given to the stands for practicing exercises on the material covered. Everything seems to be good, and the coach, who answers questions and some kind of practice, but as always there are certain drawbacks ...

The first drawback is a huge group that does not allow the coach to pay attention to each participant of the course, so 90% of people are silent throughout the course and the coach does not have the opportunity to ask everyone or find out what is clear and what is not. The general question into the void “Who has questions?” Is ignored by 99% with the help of banal human modesty and unwillingness to seem silly ...

In addition, there is a time limit. If, in the case of full-time study, it is possible to disassemble the issue of interest at a sufficiently deep level right on the course, then this cannot be done as part of distance learning, since this type of training is more strictly tied to the time frame of the classes.

The third drawback is the lack of ability to work in groups and the solution of complex tasks due to the very distance. And the fourth is the almost complete lack of control ... The trainer is not able to guarantee the result of training for a person who sits 5,000 km away. When you listen to an online distance course, you realize that even if you are distracted, no one will notice, even if you leave the computer at all for a couple of hours. Distance learning does not provide one of the main opportunities for the instructor - control of the audience. Everything remains on the listener's “conscience” again ... if he hesitated and missed something, a situation often arises in which all further listening to the course is completely useless. You were distracted by the hour, and then you realized that you had lost the “logical thread” and you can no longer understand what it is about. And if this is a distance course, you can do nothing about it, except for the option of recording this course from the screen and completely re-listening it again. The lack of control of the audience leads to the impossibility of tracking by the coach, who understood and learned the material, and who took the training superficially.

Eventually:

+ Multimedia

+ Ease of accessibility

+ Fairly fast learning

+ Learning structure

+ Binding to the topic or certification

+ You can ask short questions

- Cost is above average

- The average effectiveness of the development of skills

- Need will power

- Minimum knowledge test

Conclusion: one of the most convenient and useful teaching methods, which, nevertheless, is inferior to full-fledged full-time training in efficiency .

Full-time education

Here we come to the most ancient and classical type of education, which was created before the appearance of books - full-time education. Full-time training provides students with MAXIMUM learning opportunities and gives the coach a whole set of tools to achieve a high level of QUALITY. Full-time training should take place in relatively small groups so that the coach can control the performance of each group member. In addition, classes of this format suggest a closer contact between the coach and students, which allows you to solve some of the assigned work tasks without leaving the audience. In addition, the coach, analyzing the class level, can easily optimize the level of training on the topic and provide either additional material or, on the contrary, will dwell in greater detail on material that for some reason has not been understood and understood. Practical classes in the classroom also suggest and enable the trainer for individual intervention and going beyond the patterns.

Only full-time training enables the coach to unleash his full potential, to engage in direct mentoring and customization of training for the needs of the client during the course of training. With small groups (up to 20, and better than 12 people), the instructor perfectly understands who is “what he breathes” and can help based on his experience. In addition, the course often creates an atmosphere of solidarity, when people work on the same task, share thoughts and ideas among themselves, exchange existing and acquired experience, which significantly increases the effectiveness of training.

+ Maximum EFFICIENCY

+ Multimedia

+ Ability to customize the course level

+ Opportunity for individual assistance

+ Audience and performance monitoring

+ Solving any customer questions on the topic directly on the course

+ Performing practical work

- High price

- The need for direct presence in the classroom

Conclusion: full-time education is the most effective, although the most expensive training method that has ever been invented, but they should not be abused. (read about it in the following articles)

Epilogue

So we discussed all the possible types of training that are most often used. The following are recommendations for using different teaching methods to prepare for serious certification exams.

Approach one

Book + distance or full-time course

This is the most scrupulous and long approach to training, which guarantees a positive result on exams. First, the specialist reads the book independently and obtains all the necessary theoretical knowledge, after which he attends a remote or full-time course that conducts the summation of knowledge. In addition, training with a coach allows you to clarify all the incomprehensible moments and get practical experience in a couple of accumulated knowledge. Passing through the course after reading the book will optimally prepare the student for the relevant exam.

Second approach

First course, and then book.

Such an approach first gives a powerful stuffing of material on a given topic, which then has to be fixed with the help of a book or handouts. This is a faster, but also more risky, exam preparation option. I highly recommend not passing the exam immediately after listening to the course. Practice shows that often after listening to a course, the amount of new information in the head forms a “porridge” that needs to be “settled” with the help of time and methodological manuals. If this is a 5-day full technical course, then taking the exam immediately after the course is almost a guarantee of failure. You need to spend at least a couple of days on reflection and repetition.

Purpose of teaching methods

• Forums, conferences, free resources - either raising awareness in a given area, or quickly solving fairly narrow tasks.
• Books are fundamental learning that needs to be supported by practice.
• Remote self-study on the Internet is an excellent option for filing not deeply technical and not complex material.
• Webinars are a great opportunity to listen to any courses around the world. But with a decrease in efficiency.
• Full-time training is a classic, distinguished by high efficiency.

This article discusses the various teaching methods, which one is suitable for solving your particular problems to be solved only by you, since there is no ideal teaching method.