5 Qualities to Look for in Your IT Skills Training Provider
We have discussed the need for IT skills training in a number of articles and blog posts that we have published here at QuickStart and on other websites. This article is for IT leaders and managers working in organizations that realize the need for IT skills training and are looking for a suitable training provider. While the qualities you should look for in a training provider will be different depending on the size of your IT department, your unique training needs, and your industry, it is a good idea to look for these five qualities in your IT skills training provider.
1. The Training Provider Should Provide Year-Round Training At A Fixed Price
When it comes to IT skills training, budget is always an issue. High impact courses that teach hard skills cost upwards of $2000, in some cases going up to $4000 to $5000 per student. Multimillion-dollar enterprises and small start-ups both require this kind of training multiple times throughout the year, and finding that kind of money in the budget can prove to be challenging to say the least. That is why, you need a training provider that covers you for the entire year for a fixed price, as that will liberate you from trying to find the budget for additional training throughout the year.
In our experience, technologists require at least three high-impact, instructor-led training courses in a year to upskill themselves, along with a number of self-paced courses on a monthly basis. If you start paying for all these courses individually, your finance department will have to intervene, but if you gain access to them through a subscription, you will only have to pay once.
2. The Training Provider Should Support Multi-Modal Knowledge Transfer
We have mentioned the different types of learners in one of our previous blog posts. The developers and other technologists in your team all have their own preferences when it comes to learning. Some will want interaction with an instructor, some may prefer pre-recorded video sessions and so on. You have to make sure that the training provider’s LMS supports multi-modality. This means different file types need to be supported by the LMS and the learners should be able to benefits from videos, live sessions, labs, PDFs, ebooks, infographics, blog posts and so on. Furthermore, the LMS/learning platform should provide you insights into the progress your team is making.
3. The Training Provider Should Be Able to Customize Your Learning Experience
We live in an age of customization. Amazon, Netflix, YouTube, Medium, and even the banner ads you see when visiting different websites are all customized to your preferences. In some cases, you define your preferences when signing up for a service or on a website, and on other occasions, the website/platform determines your preferences based on your past activities.
Why should your IT training experience be any different?
Your IT skills training provider should be willing to customize the learning experience for each member of your team. While the contents of the course remain the same, and there are certain limitations as to the different modes in which the training can be delivered, the learners should have multiple options in front of them to learn in a medium they prefer the most.
In addition to that, the training provider should be able to offer customized training sessions and workshops based on the technologies used in your organization.
4. The Training Provider Should Be Future-Focused
New technologies are being introduced today at a rate faster than any point in human history. With hundreds of thousands of new patents being filed every year, and new and improved versions of older technologies being introduced, it is more important than ever to keep your skills up to date. That is why you need IT skills training.
Your training provider needs to be focused on these changes as well.
They should keep one eye on the new developments in the tech sector, and another on your training needs. Their catalog, instructors, and the technology they use to deliver training should be up to date. Their job is to upskill you and protect you from skills stagnation, but to do that, they themselves need to future-focused. They need to be accredited by major technology providers, their instructors need to be certified experts, they should be focused on improving and growing their course catalog, and they should be investing in developing their instructors’ skills.
5. Your Goals, Vision, and Culture Should Align with The Training Provider
When hiring an employee, one of the most important qualities you look for is how they will fit in with the rest of the team and how they will adapt to and adopt your culture. The same should be considered when hiring a training provider.
The IT skills training provider will serve your company throughout the year, will help upskill your employees, and in doing so, will assume the role of a teacher within your organization. They will shape your team into highly skilled performers, and will have a directly impact on how your team handles different projects in the future. If the training provider is a good cultural fit for your organization, they will be able to do their job more effectively and you will see immediate results. If they are not a good fit, there will be friction, and your team may have a hard time learning from them.
Thank you for reading this article. We wish you the best of luck in your search for a suitable IT training provider. It goes without saying that QuickStart has all the qualities we discussed in this article and then some. Do feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions, and try a 7-day free trial of our subscriptions here:
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Senior Product Marketing Manager
Ehtisham Hussain
Ehtisham is a writer, editor, and digital marketing professional working in the IT training industry. Passionate about how IT Training is delivered, consumed, and implemented, he serves as a product marketing manager for QuickStart, a workforce readiness platform serving the IT Community by delivering high impact, personalized training.