Practical IT education

How does | practical IT education look?

Why don't employers like IT courses?

Because they don't need “spectators,” they need skilled workers. The employer expects that you will be able to do something useful for the company within the first month of your probationary period.

Most free and paid IT courses use online lectures or webinars for training, where you just sit and watch. These are the cheapest training formats for courses, but as a result, you will only gain knowledge — not practical skills. This is one of the three main reasons why most students of an average course do not find IT jobs.

Read more in the special section:

How to acquire the practical skills that employers need

Got it. So, practical education in the form of workshops is not beneficial for the course, but it is beneficial for me as a student.

How should the workshop be conducted so that I can get the most out of the training and then demonstrate excellent practical skills to the employer during the interview?

It must comply with the following golden rules:

10 golden rules for a practical workshop ↴

Before the workshop

Preparation

The detailed workshop agenda is published in advance on the learning platform. Students have the opportunity to refresh the necessary theory in advance and prepare themselves.

1
Early responses

After reading the interactive textbook, students ask questions in advance in the Telegram group.

The workshop mentor answers students' questions, not an inexperienced curator/assistant/tutor/reviewer.

Thus, 10 minutes are sufficient for students to ask questions at the beginning of the practical workshop.

2

At the workshop

Effectiveness

No new theories or explanations from the mentor for longer than 5 minutes. All theory is covered in an interactive textbook that students study BEFORE the practical workshop.

3
Without distractions

The mentor does not answer questions that are not related to the topic of this practical workshop (so as not to distract other students from the main topic). Students can ask questions that are not related to the workshop topic in the Telegram group, directly in the chat with the mentor, or at the relevant practical workshop.

4
Practical exercise 1

The entire study group of 15 students performs the exercise together under the supervision of a mentor. Students take turns tapping the screen in Zoom and performing their part of the exercise.
It begins no later than 15 minutes after the start of the workshop.

The mentor helps, guides and analyzes typical mistakes.

5
Practical exercises 2 and 3

The study group is divided into subgroups of 3-5 students and goes into Zoom meetings.

Before each exercise, the mentor asks randomly selected students (not just the top performers) specific questions to make sure that all students know what they are supposed to do.

While the students are working on the task, the mentor “walks” through the Zoom meetings and observes how the task is being solved.

6

Medium difficulty

The second and third practical exercises contain tasks of medium difficulty and cover: 1) theory from the textbook 2) questions that may be asked during an interview 3) tasks that are as close as possible to those encountered in real IT projects.

7
Sharing decisions and discussion

After every practical exercise, each subgroup presents its solution to the other groups.

The mentor acts as moderator and final judge.

8

At the end of the workshop

Debriefing

The practical workshop ends with a debriefing, discussion of homework assignment and students' ideas about how to complete them.

The mentor again asks randomly selected students (not just those with excellent grades) specific questions to make sure that all students know what they are supposed to do.

9
No more than 2 hours

The duration of a practical workshop should not exceed 120 minutes (excluding breaks). This is the maximum amount of time during which the brain is still capable of absorbing information (it is no coincidence that academic classes at universities last 45+45 minutes).

10