What is the Fastest Way to Learn IT?

There are many ways to learn IT but, as the saying goes, time is money. If you’re eager to jumpstart a new career or advance your current one, you may be looking to learn IT as quickly as possible. This article will cover the main ways to study the subject and how much time each option, generally, takes. 

Free Resources: The Very Basics

There are quite a few free resources available for learning IT, you just need to know where to look. YouTube boasts a wide range of tutorials and informative videos on all kinds of IT and computer science subjects: from short five-minute episodes on the fundamentals to more in-depth breakdowns of advanced topics. YouTube is a great way to explore your initial interest or get answers to specific questions on IT. 

Other websites like Google and LinkedIn offer short free tutorials and trainings designed to help you grasp the history and basic principles of IT. Free resources are often your fastest option and can last anywhere from a few minutes to a couple of hours. Their brevity is one reason they are so popular for beginners, but the drawback of these courses is that they will lack the in-depth knowledge and real-time interaction with an expert instructor that more immersive programs offer. With that in mind, it’s best to use these resources as a brief introduction to make sure you’re interested in the subject (or as supplemental learning materials) instead of the sole source of your education. 

Introductory Classes: Ideal for Eager Beginners

If you’re looking for something slightly more in-depth than YouTube tutorials and blog posts, an introductory course is a great place to start. These classes cover the history of IT, basic principles, and the fundamental techniques. They often will focus on specific tools that are used alongside IT, like JavaScript or various other programming languages. You’ll have access to top-notch curriculum crafted by an expert instructor and will usually spend a portion of the class on project-based assignments that can be added to your professional portfolio. Introductory courses can be held in-person or online in a live or on-demand format. 

The goal of an intro class is to offer you a strong foundation in the subject, building your confidence to pursue more advanced tools and techniques. These courses can vary in length from a few hours to a few days, but rarely are longer than that. 

Certificate Granting Programs: For Aspiring Professionals

While certificates take more time than introductory courses or free resources, they offer a wider breadth of knowledge, noteworthy credibility, and the potential to network. These programs cover an IT curriculum in a few weeks (or a few short months for part-time students) and are focused on professional development and technical training. While they may be longer than other options, they are still quicker than an undergraduate or graduate degree. The content covered will focus more on professional skills rather than introductory material or advanced theory, so you won’t get the immersive experience that a web development degree program would give you. You also won’t spend 2 to 6 years working on a degree, or be saddled with substantial student loans debt. These kinds of programs are the fastest options available for students whose goal is immediate professional development and employment.

On-Demand Courses: It's Hard to Tell

Self-paced courses from websites like Coursera and Udemy are a great way to learn the ins and outs of IT from whatever angle you find to be the most interesting. If your schedule is complicated or you prefer to learn at your own pace, on-demand classes offer the most flexibility and freedom. All lessons are prerecorded and there’s no due dates or class times to worry about. You can skip any lessons you’ve already mastered or spend more time on more difficult subjects. With this comes the disadvantages of no live collaboration with other students or instant feedback from an expert instructor. While you’ll have more time to master challenging subjects, you won’t have someone to help walk you through those challenges or provide additional insight. 

It’s also important to remember that with more freedom comes less accountability. On-demand classes can work for independent learners who can keep themselves on task and motivated, but may not be the best fit for those who find motivation through accountability. Without scheduled class times and due dates, you may fall behind or take longer to complete your training. And without the right level of motivation, you can easily lose interest in completing the training altogether.

Learn IT with Noble Desktop

Noble Desktop’s Data Science Certificate prepares you for entry-level data science and Python engineering roles. You’ll learn how to manipulate databases and perform data analysis, read and write complex database queries, prepare and clean data for analysis, and use Python to automate everyday tasks such as aggregating, updating, and formatting data. This course also covers how to clean and balance your data with Pandas, apply machine learning algorithms with the scikit-learn library to solve real-world problems, and analyze the results to detect areas for improvement. Finally, you’ll build and present dynamic dashboards and other data visualizations and deploy your projects online with GitHub to demonstrate your analytical abilities to employers.

Their Software Engineering Certificate is another option for aspiring IT students. Divided into front end development, React Development, and Django (Python) Development, you will learn HTML to mark up web pages and CSS for styling; the fundamentals of JavaScript and Git; and how to use Flexbox and Grid to layout, align, reorder, and adapt web page content to different size screens. You’ll then move on to the fundamental JavaScript programming concepts, including variables, data types, loops, and DOM. Plus, you’ll cover topics like React, a powerful JavaScript library for web development, and master Node.js, MongoDB, and Express.js to round out your JavaScript development skills.

By creating a portfolio of projects, preparing for common interview questions, and polishing your resume and LinkedIn profile, this course will have you ready to pursue a new job in software engineering in as little as 20 weeks (on a full-time schedule). One-on-one mentoring and a free one-year retake are included in the cost of this course. Payment plans and tuition assistance are available, and this training requires no previous experience, making it great for beginners.

Or you could try your hand at Noble’s Python Developer Bootcamp. This three-week online course teaches Python for software development with Django, Django REST, and other developer tools like Git and SQL. You’ll start by learning the basics of Python, including its lexical syntax, then move to more advanced topics like dictionaries, custom functions, and sorting algorithms. In week two, you'll learn object-oriented programming, how to work with APIs, and get an introduction to web databases using SQL. By creating projects that can be added to your portfolio, you’ll master URL dispatchers, querying models, and automating tasks with Django, as well as how to work with images, authentication, and use API endpoints with Django REST. 

It’s recommended that you are comfortable coding HTML and basic CSS. You should possess equivalent knowledge of Noble Desktop’s Web Development with HTML & CSS class, and mastery of another programming language is helpful, but not required. Payment plans and financing are available, in addition to extra perks like one-on-one mentoring, a free one-year retake, and a verified digital certificate are included with your purchase.