QuickBooks bootcamps are often designed for career-oriented learners. QuickBooks bootcamps are a great option for those pursuing careers in bookkeeping, accounting, financial management, or financial analysis. After taking a QuickBooks bootcamp, you will have the skills necessary to track and manage finances for your own business. With additional training, you can learn how to manage finances for other clients. QuickBooks is the most used accounting software by small business owners and self-employed individuals, so those working with these clients should consider upskilling by learning QuickBooks. Read on to learn more about the professions that use QuickBooks and whether learning QuickBooks from a bootcamp is the right option for you.
What Job Prospects and Career Paths are Available for QuickBooks Bootcamp Graduates?
Learning QuickBooks can be the entry point to a career in accounting or finance or it can be a way to upskill and receive further training to advance in one’s current career. Many people pursuing a career in bookkeeping or accounting will need to take a QuickBooks course and a comprehensive bootcamp is a great option to receive this training quickly. It will also be important for Accountants, Financial Managers, and Financial Analysts who work with freelancers, independent contractors, or small business owners to familiarize themselves with QuickBooks accounting software to aid their clients who use it.
Bookkeeper
Bookkeepers are often tasked with doing all of the record-keeping and financial management for individuals or small businesses. Bookkeepers will likely use QuickBooks for routine and everyday record-keeping or payroll management. In using QuickBooks, they might be the ones setting up a company’s profile, recording transactions, running reports, and making sure everything is correct and up-to-date so that records remain accurate and a company is compliant with legal regulations.
Bookkeeping can be a flexible profession for those who want to work part-time, freelance, or just have more control over the kind of clients and businesses that they work with. Many bookkeepers also work in accounting departments or payroll management and bookkeeping can itself be an entry point into pursuing other careers in finance. Bookkeepers or prospective bookkeepers looking to become certified through the National Association of Certified Professional Bookkeepers are required to have training in QuickBooks from an approved training center.
Accountant
Accountants will also often need to be familiar with QuickBooks and other forms of accounting software. While bookkeepers are more involved in the routine and manual record-keeping functions of QuickBooks, Accountants will use QuickBooks to analyze, monitor, and review their client’s finances. QuickBooks even offers a free version of its software for accounting professionals called QuickBooks Online Accountant.
Both Accountants and Bookkeepers continue to provide essential functions for individuals and businesses that need help tracking and managing their finances. Accountants are more likely than Bookkeepers to work in accounting departments for a variety of companies both small and large or to work in tax preparation, though one can also work as a freelance or part-time Accountant. It is especially important for Accountants working with individuals and small business owners to learn how to use the various features that QuickBooks offers.
Financial Manager
A Financial Manager oversees a business’s finances to help them maintain profitability and stability. They will often spend time creating budgets, developing strategic plans, managing expenses, overseeing cash flow, and making sure a company is performing well. Financial Managers can work with small and large companies from various industries and often work as part of a larger team of financial professionals. They can also work for individuals and small businesses and work part-time or do freelance work for more flexibility.
Financial Managers who intend to work with individuals or small businesses should consider learning QuickBooks. QuickBooks has many features that a Financial Manager can use to help a company set up a sustainable budget or create long-term financial goals. Financial Managers can also use the reports that QuickBooks generates to oversee a company’s current and historical financial positioning and forecast future growth.
Financial Analyst
Financial Analysts analyze financial data for companies so that they can make strategic investment decisions. The work of a Financial Analyst can include keeping up with market trends, examining financial statements and reports, performing risk analysis, and developing financial models to aid a company’s growth. Financial Analyst jobs, like most who work with data, are in demand as more individuals and companies are looking to use data to make informed business decisions.
Learning QuickBooks will allow a Financial Analyst to access useful historical data that they can use to run reports or develop models of a company’s financial outlook. Financial Analysts can also help a company customize and interpret the reports that QuickBooks generates. For Financial Analysts who plan to work with self-employed people or small business owners, it is useful to learn how to use this accounting software.
Are QuickBooks Bootcamps Good for Beginners?
Most QuickBooks bootcamps are beginner-friendly. Enrolling in a bootcamp is a good option for anyone who wants to start a career in accounting and finance or for those people who are already in accounting and finance and need to upskill by learning QuickBooks. Learning QuickBooks can be the first part of one’s training to become an accounting or finance professional. After completing a QuickBooks bootcamp, those seeking careers in accounting or finance will need to gain further experience working on the job and take additional classes specific to the career they want. Prospective Accountants and Bookkeepers should look for all-inclusive certificate programs to learn the concepts and practices underlying these professions and prospective finance professionals can take classes that will teach complementary skills like financial analysis or financial modeling.
QuickBooks bootcamps are also a great option for professionals who already have experience working in their field. Usually, you do not need experience with QuickBooks or other accounting software to take a bootcamp, but it can help to know something about double-entry bookkeeping or accounting. Other finance professionals might be interested in learning QuickBooks to aid their work with small business owners and individuals. Bootcamps will teach finance professionals how to use QuickBooks features for purposes of analyzing financial data or advising businesses about their financial health.
What Career Services Do QuickBooks Bootcamps Offer?
Some QuickBooks bootcamps will include career-support services, depending on which education provider offers the bootcamp. Bootcamps taken from a professional skills training center, like Noble Desktop, or a community college are the most likely to offer additional support for one’s career. Both professional training centers and community colleges are geared toward training students for a career and have an active interest in helping their students prepare to enter the workforce, change professions, or upskill to take on new roles within their current professions.
When looking for a career-oriented bootcamp, consider the utility of both in- and out-of-class career-support services. In-class support starts with a class having the right curriculum, as a career-oriented learner will want to learn practical, hands-on skills that are necessary for one’s intended career. It can also be important for instructors to help students develop a strong portfolio, resume, or LinkedIn profile and provide students with opportunities to network with the instructor and other students so that learners can start forming professional relationships that will be useful once the class is over.
Out-of-class career support services are just as important. This can include going to a career center or meeting with an advisor for career counseling. It also will frequently include help navigating the job market, access to a job board or recruitment event, or providing students with further networking or mentorship opportunities. If it is not clear whether a QuickBooks bootcamp offers any career-support services, you should inquire to find out what the training center or school provides so that you can take advantage of any opportunities to start or advance your career.
What Jobs Will a QuickBooks Bootcamp Qualify Me For?
Depending on your prior education and experience, completing a QuickBooks bootcamp can qualify you for bookkeeping and administrative jobs. It is common to find employers looking for bookkeepers with proficiency in QuickBooks, in particular. With knowledge of double-entry bookkeeping or experience working in accounting or finance, someone who has completed a QuickBooks bootcamp should be able to work as a Bookkeeper for small businesses or startups that use QuickBooks. For most bookkeeping jobs, even entry-level ones, it is important that one knows how to do things manually, like recording and summarizing financial data, compiling reports, and making sure that a business complies with all applicable regulations.
Additionally, knowledge of QuickBooks can be useful when applying for some administrative positions. Someone can leverage their experience working with QuickBooks to apply for jobs as an Accounting Clerk or working in Accounts Receivable or Accounts Payable, HR, or Payroll. This type of work is typical of entry-level administrative assistant jobs in a variety of industries. With knowledge of both QuickBooks and data analysis, one can also potentially find a job as an entry-level Financial Analyst. For most of these positions, one will likely need additional experience working in an office environment and even experience handling money or processing payments.
Can I Freelance After Completing a QuickBooks Bootcamp?
For those looking to freelance as Bookkeepers, learning QuickBooks from a bootcamp is a great option. It is common to find freelance, part-time, and even remote work as a QuickBooks Bookkeeper for small businesses and startups. To pursue these positions, it is likely that one will need to know common bookkeeping standards and practices beyond what someone can learn in a QuickBooks bootcamp. As long as one already has some knowledge of bookkeeping, learning QuickBooks should open up new ways to track and manage a client’s finances as a freelancer.
It can also be an option to do freelance accounting after learning QuickBooks. Again, it is important for someone wanting to freelance to already have experience and knowledge of accounting, as this will make it clear to potential clients that you can manage and review their finances beyond doing basic record-keeping in QuickBooks. Some freelance Financial Managers or Financial Analysts will also benefit from a QuickBooks bootcamp, though one should learn QuickBooks as a supplement to the more comprehensive training that is needed to work in these professions.
Are QuickBooks Bootcamps Good for Upskilling?
Yes, enrolling in a QuickBooks bootcamp is a great way for an accounting or finance professional to upskill. While there are no formal prerequisites to learning QuickBooks, most people suggest that knowledge of common accounting terms and principles is useful. For professionals who already have experience working with a company’s finances, it should be easy to learn QuickBooks. Learning how to use QuickBooks will help those in accounting and finance branch out and work with a more varied set of clients, like self-employed people or small business owners. It is necessary to become familiar with QuickBooks if one intends to work with clients or companies that use this accounting software.
In comparison to other QuickBooks classes, instructor-led bootcamps are the fastest way to learn QuickBooks comprehensively. Instructor-led QuickBooks bootcamps can often be completed in just one or two days, so there is not a huge time commitment to learning QuickBooks from a bootcamp and those already working in accounting, financial management, or financial analysis will not have to take too much time away from their other obligations. Look for a bootcamp that promises to teach both basic and advanced QuickBooks features or that is catered to career-oriented learners. QuickBooks learners who need a slower, less intensive class should consider looking for standalone QuickBooks classes rather than bootcamps. Bootcamps will teach QuickBooks at an accelerated pace but one can find both instructor-led and on-demand classes that will teach QuickBooks over a week or even multiple months if that is preferred.
What Does a QuickBooks Bootcamp Offer Over Other Means of Finding a Job?
If you are looking for training in accounting software so that you can manage finances for individuals and small businesses, taking a QuickBooks bootcamp offers many advantages over other types of professional training. Most people complete a QuickBooks bootcamp for one of two reasons. The first reason that many are interested in taking a bootcamp is that they are one of the fastest ways to learn new skills. So, if someone wants to learn QuickBooks and start using it right away, a bootcamp is often the best option. This can make it useful as a more structured replacement for on-the-job training, a mode of training that can take away from one’s other work obligations and that can result in learning how to use QuickBooks poorly.
A second reason that many people take a QuickBooks bootcamp is that it is less expensive than completing a full college degree program or a certificate program. Accountants, in particular, can often find multi-year degree programs at universities or colleges. What students often find is that while community colleges and tech schools teach accounting software like QuickBooks, some university accounting programs do not. This means that someone might end up paying for a four-year degree and still needing additional QuickBooks training to work as an Accountant. It can be much cheaper (and quicker) to take only the training one needs to do one’s job rather than completing a costly program of study and still needing additional training.
For those who need a quick, easy, and cost-effective way to learn QuickBooks, a bootcamp is one the best options available. Taking a bootcamp from a reputable professional training center or community college can often allow learners to access career-support services that things like on-the-job training do not. An expert instructor or a career counselor can advise QuickBooks learners about the next steps to take to turn working with QuickBooks into a viable career opportunity. Keep in mind that while QuickBooks can be an entry point into a career in accounting or finance, someone will need some amount of additional training to work as a Bookkeeper, Accountant, Financial Manager, or Financial Analyst.