Taking a look at how the world is advancing at a tremendously fast pace and the traditional ways of doing things are all being replaced by digital technologies, getting a good education in IT ( Information Technology) can possibly be one of the best investments you will make in yourself.

Also See: 8 Best Computer / IT Schools in Accra, Ghana You Should Consider

I stressed the word ‘good’ above not to make it look fancy, but to emphasize how important it is in the context of getting an IT education. This is because, the IT industry is highly technical and practical, thus it is very likely you will have a hell of a time in whatever field you find yourself if you lack the requisite level of knowledge and skills. See DWTA courses and fees here.

Please Note:

As announced, all new students are to complete their application processes, tuition fees, and registrations for the next academic session as soon as possible before classes begin for the new session. You can see the step by step info here and the admission requirements here needed to complete your registration on time before space runs out.

Info Pages & Links for Prospective Students

• DWTA Courses & Fees
• Admission & Entry Requirements
• Submit Your Application Here – Apply Now
• Info for New Students
• DWTA Student Career Paths Program
• Online Learning
• Offline Learning
• Tech Experts Should Not Be Poor
• Tech Career to Become Rich

Luckily, there a few numbers of IT educational institutions here in Ghana that have professional training courses as well as the environment and facilities needed to get you equipped with the skills you need to succeed in the industry. In the consequent chapters, I will be doing a comparison on two such; IPMC and DWTA.

Who they are

IPMC 

IPMC stands for Intercom Programming and Manufacturing Company. Started in 1992, it is considered as one of the largest and oldest IT institutions in the country. IPMC branches spread across the country with standard facilities and good staff. They also have a wide array of ipmc ghana courses ranging from Web Design to Secretariatship. They have done quite a good job of graduating a large number of IT professionals have gone on to become successful.

For Devworld Tech Academy ( DWTA), we are located at Ashaley Botwe School Junction, Accra. We believe in imparting not only knowledge to our students but the practical skills as well as soft skills needed for success. We do this by teaching all concepts in a very practical and project-oriented approach while giving them mentorship to make them well-grounded. Head on to our About Page to find out more about us.

Course Structures

IPMC

IPMC courses and fees are grouped into three categories namely; Corporate Courses, Professional Courses, and Undergraduate Courses.

1. Corporate Courses

These are courses designed to help the corporate class upgrade their knowledge and skills to stay competitive and thus assist them to climb up the corporate ladder faster.

Courses under these are:

• AI and Machine Learning
• Big Data
• Cyber Security

2. Professional Courses

The professional ipmc ghana courses are tailored to nurture anyone aspiring to make a career in the IT industry into an IT professional. They have divided this category into three subcategories being; Certificate, Diploma, and Short.

The Professional Certificate IT Courses like ipmc digital marketing courses helps one to learn from their best IT trainers, get practical hands-on IT training in their modern labs, complemented by real-world industry visits to boost up your confidence for stepping into the corporate world. Course offered are:

• Database Technology
• Graphic Design and Web Development
• Software Engineering
• Systems Engineering

The Diploma Category does not significantly differ from the Professional one. They both have the same courses and structure. The only difference is the diploma ipmc ghana value of the certificate and the duration of the course.

The Short Courses category as its name suggests contains courses with a very short duration as seen with ipmc software engineering. The courses under this category are;

• Accounting with IT
• AI and Machine Learning
• Big Data Analytics
• Cyber Security
• Digital Marketing
• MS Office for Business
• Software Programming

3. Undergraduate Programs

This category includes Study Abroad programs in which students get the chance to study in countries like India. It also includes the option where students can obtain degrees from the UK. Being an NCC Education Accredited Partner C candidates, students can study in their home countries and obtain admission to the final year of IT degree (BSc. (Hons) Business Computing & Information Systems) at their NCC partner universities. Courses under this category are:

• Level 3 Diploma in Computing (L3DC)
• Level 4 Diploma in Business (L4DB)
• Level 4 Diploma in Business Information Technology (L4DBIT)
• Level 4 Diploma in Computing (L4DC)
• Level 5 Diploma in Business (L5DB)
• Level 5 Diploma in Business Information Technology (L5DBIT)
• Level 5 Diploma in Computing (L5DC)
• Sc. (Hons) Business Computing & Information Systems
• Sc. (Hons) Computing

Devworld Tech Academy

At DevWorld Tech Academy, our courses are structured with a little twist to have the kind of impact we desire. The courses are broken down into three categories. These are the Certificate Courses, Diploma Courses, and Advanced Diploma.

Certificate Courses

The certificate courses are the starting point at DWTA. There are five faculties under this category with a wide range of well-structured courses that are tailored to set you up properly.

It, however, does not offer some of the courses offered in the Diploma and Professional Diploma.

It has two to three sessions per year which lasts three months each.  The faculties are as follows:

• Faculty of Artificial Intelligence, Data Science & Cloud Computing

This houses courses like Algorithms, Big Data, Cloud Computing, etc

• Faculty of Game, Software, Mobile and Game Design.

This includes courses like Game Design and Development,

Software Design and Development, Android App Development, etc.

• Faculty of Programming, Cyber Security and Computer Ethics.

It also houses the courses; Python 3 Programming, Cyber Security, etc.

• Faculty – Digital, Graphic & Product Design
• Faculty – Digital Business, Digital Marketing, Digital Sales

See the full list of our online courses or offline course in the faculties above and their tuition plans.

Diploma Courses

Our diploma courses are tailored and well-structured to impact all the required knowledge and skills needed to graduate as highly skilled and well-rounded professionals who go out into the industry and leave an indelible imprint.

The diploma courses come with access to five levels of real-world projects that ensure that students get and develop the practical grasp of every concept being taught.

Intake sessions for the courses happen four times per year and each session lasts for three months each.

Under it are four strong faculties housing a wide range of the latest and trending courses in technology. The faculties are as follows:

• Faculty – Artificial Intelligence, Data Science & Cloud Computing
• Faculty – Game, Software, Mobile & Web Development
• Faculty – Programming, Cyber-Security, Computer Ethics
• Faculty – Digital, Graphic & Product Design

These faculties facilitate the trending courses in technology such as:

• Machine Learning
• AI Foundations and Deep Learning
• Cloud Computing
• iOS Development for Creative Entrepreneurs
• Responsive Web Design and Development

See the full list of our online courses or offline course in the faculties above and their tuition plans.

Advanced Diploma

This category is for those who want to take their career game a step further. It also has four faculties like the diploma category but with more advanced courses and projects.

It lasts for five sessions and students get the chance to take up Path Projects that are in line with the career paths of the graduates; either they want to want to become a freelancer, an employee or entrepreneur. The projects are not carried out in the school but in industry, settings to make the graduates familiar with the environments.

See the full list of our online courses or offline course in the faculties above and their tuition plans.

As one can clearly see, both IPMC and DWTA have well-structured and industry-relevant courses that can help anyone with the interest to become a good IT professional. However, the stacking of the knowledge alone but rather, the know-how. And that is what at DWTA, we excel in.

See Also > NIIT Ghana vs DevWorld Tech Academy – How Do They Compare 

Staff and Learning Facilities

 IPMC has done a very good job of setting up standard facilities across the nation to help facilitate the accessibility and effective studies of IT. Their study centres are filled with state-of-the-art hardware and software coupled with experienced staff that ensure all concepts are being well taught.

In Ghana, “IPMC” often refers to IPMC College of Technology. IPMC stands for “Intercom Programming & Manufacturing Company Limited.” It’s a well-known institution that offers various IT-related courses and programs, including software development, networking, database management, and cybersecurity. IPMC College of Technology has several campuses across Ghana and has been a significant player in the country’s IT education sector for many years.

Likewise, DWTA believes in creating a serene and an enabling teaching and learning environment that makes the learning and practise of the concepts learnt much more effective. Our campus at Ashaley Botwe is well equipped with all the standard requirements to teach in the field. Our staff and course facilitators are all very active in the industry, with some still working on solutions to businesses and institutions. This enables them to lecture and mentor the students with real-world examples and the concepts that are currently being used in the industry.

Certification

IPMC training comes to the credibility of certification, IPMC’s Certifications are something to reckon with. Being affiliated with the big names in the industry such as Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco, Pearson and others, their certifications are very credible and of good standing.

At DWTA, we believe in impacting valuable, industry-relevant and hands-on practical knowledge to our students through real-world projects and mentorship. That notwithstanding, we have award Certifications that provide different job-specific training programs; they are diplomas and not degrees. They are awarded after completing an internal or external (by a third-party certification body) Professional and Technician Examinations.

Apart from certificates and diplomas awarded by us, we also offer external certification. Since our curricula is an extensive, well-thought-out merge of several world-renowned curricula from across the world, our students if they wish, can also receive external certification after passing the assessment exams.

Click here to learn more about our accreditation and certifications.

Tuition Fees and Admission Process 

Much information is not available about the administration process as well as the course fees for IPMC unless you contact to get ipmc admission forms. You can also get ipmc admission fees that way.

However, for DWTA, the admission process is outlined in seven easy-to-follow steps. These are:

1. Visit the Admission Requirements  page and get familiar about what it will take become a student of DWTA.
2. Visit and review our online courses or offline course and decide what course you want to study and at what level you want to study it.
3. From there, visit the Online Applications  page to apply online, or use the Contact Page to get in touch with us if you have any questions.
4. Your admission will be reviewed and we will call you to discuss your admission. After that, if you are accepted, conditional acceptance will be emailed to you.
5. When done, you then pay your tuition fees stated on the conditional acceptance to keep your admission spot.
6. When paid, we will email you an unconditional acceptance letter proving your spot have been reserved. Also, we will inform when to come for your study starter pack.
7. After all has been completed, you start your class on dates stated on your unconditional acceptance letter.

In Conclusion

To conclude this lengthy article, one thing that should stick with anyone who reads this is that, the world is advancing at an unprecedented pace due to technology. This has made the possession of industry-relevant digital skills become more relevant and very lucrative. Many young and bright minds out there are leveraging this opportunity to secure their respective futures, and you can be the next. I have neatly laid out the best institutions here in Ghana to get your IT education. The ball now is in your court.

The post IPMC vs DWTA: How Do They Compare? appeared first on DevWorld Tech Academy.

These have been on the rise lately and for good reasons. Do you know that the monthly cost of running a basic web-based application was a staggering amount of $150,000 back in the year 2000? Thanks to the advent of Cloud Computing, that amount has been drastically reduced to less than $1000 and is still getting cheaper as more companies and institutions are jumping on the bandwagon.

Info Pages & Links for Prospective Students

• DWTA Courses & Fees
• Admission & Entry Requirements
• Submit Your Application Here – Apply Now
• Info for New Students
• DWTA Student Career Paths Program
• Online Learning
• Offline Learning
• Tech Experts Should Not Be Poor
• Tech Career to Become Rich

This leads to the most popular questions of nowadays, “What is Cloud Computing and how does it work? Does it have promising career opportunities? Are there any good schools in Ghana that teaches practical Cloud Computing that makes one qualified and job market-ready?

Note; I am about to cover the questions i stated above in this article. Please read on.

What is Cloud Computing?

In simple terms, Cloud Computing can be defined as the usage of the ‘cloud’ (a metaphor for the internet) as a medium to share computing services or resources such as processing capacity, storage space, data, software and applications among others to computers and other devices on-demand and a pay-as-you-go basis.

This made it, for example, very easy as well as cost-effective for companies and institutions with large data-bases efficiently store, manipulate and retrieve that data without having to own any physical data centers which can nearly cost a fortune to build one.

There are three main types of Cloud Computing services, sometimes called the Cloud  Computing Stack due to how they build upon each other. These are;

• Infrastructure-as-a-service. This is used for internet-based access to storage and computing power.
• Platform-as-a-service: This gives developers the tools to build and host web applications.
• Software-as-a-service: This is used for web-based applications.

What Is The History Behind It?

The concept of Computing-as-a-service is not a new industry. It has been around for as far back as the 1960s when Mainframe Computers were the computers in existence. Then, computer bureaus would allow companies or institutions to rent time on a mainframe, rather than having to buy one themselves which again, would cost them a fortune to do so.

This concept slowly faded away as the Personal Computer era emerge. This made owning a computer much more affordable and everybody wanted to have his computer to make processes much easier and secure. However as time went by and large companies were born, much much more computing power and storage spaces were needed to keep things running as well as manage the enormous amount of data being collected daily. The only way forward was to build large data centers and computer networks to keep up with these issues however, the problem with this approach was the cost of setting up and running a data center. It can quickly add up to millions of dollars and most companies could not afford that.

• Necessity being the mother of all inventions led to the resurfacing of the concept of computing-as-a-service where very large companies like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google who can set up and run large data centers or better still, IT infrastructures saw a viable business model of creating such infrastructures and then rent the computing services to the companies that need them via the ‘cloud’ (the internet). This was one of the major technological breakthroughs in the mid-2000s. On the 9^th of August, 2006, the term ‘Cloud Computing’ was coined by Eric Schmidt, the then CEO of Google in an industrial conference. Since then, Cloud Computing has risen exponentially with brands like Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform leading the forefront.

How Does It Work?

The main idea of Cloud Computing is to deliver traditional high-performance computing power, usually available only to high profile institutions like the military and scientific research organizations, to mainstream companies and institutions to increase productivity and reduce cost.

This is done technically by creating large networks of servers(housed by numerous data centers) which are then connected to special connections called nodes. The nodes then facilitate the spreading of data-processing load across the network.This has made access to such computing resources as easy as just visiting the website of your favorite brand, signing up your company and you are good to go.

How Ghanaian`s Are Adopting Cloud Computing.

A research was done by PK Senyo, Ibrahim Osman Adam and Erasmus Addae, all researchers from the University of Ghana, University of Development Studies and South Texas college respectively in November 2015 and published it on Research Gate on May 20, 2016.

The purpose of the research was to investigate the nature of how Cloud Computing is being adopted across the different Ghanaian industries and organizations. They carried out a survey on 305 Ghanaian companies on their perception of the technology and how they are deploying it in their businesses. They came out with these three findings.

Firstly, they found out that the level of adoption of Cloud Computing in Ghana was very low as compared to the other economies around the globe and this I thought wasn’t surprising during to how Ghana was lagging in terms of technology during those years.

Secondly, they found out that the industries that were utilizing the technology the most were the information and technology services, financial institutions, educational institutions as well as telecommunications firms. Out of these industries, the companies and organizations that were pioneering the change were the National Information Technology Agency(NITA) itself, MTN Ghana, IBM Ghana, Rack Africa and Ghana Dotcom.

They lastly found out that these companies patronized the software-as-a-service type more than the rest since they were still in the early stages of adoption of the technology hence the other two won’t meet their immediate needs.

The research gave a very helpful insight into how Ghanaian`s were embracing the technology. Although there has not been any update on the research yet to keep us abreast of current developments, with the speed at which Cloud Computing is rising, I’m very confident that the rate at which the technology is being adopted has considerably improved.

This can be ascertained by the number of Cloud Computing Companies being launched yearly, with notable recent ones being Nutanix Ghana, Zentech IT Solutions, STL Ghana and V Technology.

Careers in Cloud Computing  And Where To Find Good Schools In Ghana That Offer Quality Education On It.

As clearly stated in the preceding paragraphs, Cloud Computing is on a huge rise and is only going to get bigger over the years. This has made professionals in the field very sought-after and jobs in high demand as well as very lucrative. Professionals in this field have now become the new celebrities in the job industry. So if you are thinking of creating a career in the tech industry, Cloud Computing is where you should look at.

Some of the many job opportunities in this field that are in very high demand are;

• Cloud Architect
• Cloud Software Engineer
• Cloud Sales Executive
• Cloud Services Developer
• Cloud Systems Administrator

The list continues.-

I made it a commitment to research and find schools that teach the practical skills that are needed to become a professional in Cloud Computing so one can also enjoy its rise right here in Ghana since most IT schools in this country are only good at awarding certificates but not teaching the actual practical skills. I did a lot of research and one of the few schools that I came across that do  more practical is DevWorld Tech Academy(DWTA).

I came to the premises of DWTA, to further my research on Cloud Computing. I had the chance to discuss with the director about Cloud Computing in general and he made know to me  the approach they use to teach Cloud Computing at DevWorld Tech Academy; which is 80% practical and 20% theory. He shared with me his views on Cloud Computing and gave me some insightful knowledge on the future of Cloud Computing .He predicted that Cloud Computing will be considered as one of the greatest innovations the world has ever seen.

• According to him, Cloud Computing is the new Gold Rush both business-wise and career-wise and the earlier the world realizes this, the better. Due to this, he and the whole team at DWTA have taken it upon their shoulders to facilitate streamlined course structures that focus on teaching the students not just a bunch of theories and then reward them a certificate at the end of the course. But rather, teach them the hands-on practical skills they need to establish themselves in this lucrative industry.He made it known to me that at DevWorld Tech Academy, they believe in teaching practicality and impacting real practical skills into their students through real-world projects in all the courses they offer so that when they go out into the job market or any other venture, they outperform their competition and excel, having the practical know-how as their superpower.

He concluded by pointing out to me few tech industry highlights,

He said , he saw a huge gap in the practicality of the knowledge of IT professionals in this country.He realized that  when he wanted to recruit a developer to design a website for one of his projects.

Because of lack of practicality he couldn’t do it  but rather gave me an excuse that he will come later but he never came. In the Director`s own words, “I was both shocked and disappointed at the number of applications I received and the number of those I had to reject because they could not execute a simple test project I gave to qualify them”.

This, he said, led to the birth of DevWorld Tech Academy, – an IT school that is focused on teaching and imparting practical knowledge as well as the  skills and mentorship needed to succeed in any endeavor they may undertake after graduating from the school.

DWTA has four strong faculties under which are a wide array of courses. These courses range from software engineering to graphics design and product development. The faculties are:

• Faculty of Artificial Intelligence, Data Science and Cloud Computing.
• Faculty of Game, Software, Mobile and Web Development.
• Faculty of Programming, Cyber Security and Computer Ethics
• Faculty of Digital, Graphic and Product Design

Since this article is all about Cloud Computing, let’s take a look at the courses offered under its faculty. Cloud Computing falls under the faculty of Artificial Intelligence, Data Science and Cloud Computing as can be seen above.

These are the courses under this faculty:

• Algorithms
• Applied Data Science with Python
• Big Data
• Cloud Computing
• Introduction to Google Cloud Technology
• Data Structures and Algorithms
• AI Foundations and Deep Learning
• Machine Learning
• Data Science with Python (Intro, Applied, Advanced)
• Big Data, Data Insights, Data Engineering and Machine Learning on Google Cloud Platform
• Data Engineering, Machine Learning with TensorFlow and Developing Applications with Google Cloud (all on Google Cloud Platform)

One thing that i learnt was how they teach their various courses to achieve their end goal. They are as follows:

1. For every course you take, they are responsible teach 80% practical  and only 20% of theory, a feat worth applauding!
2. Their students work on real-life projects whilst at school. Those projects are then sold and the income is given to the students. This gives them the chance to generate income whiles still learning.
3. They have career mentorship programs that guide you as you proceed this course.

All of these are facilitated in state-of-the-art classrooms and study centers. The tutors and mentors are highly experienced, for they are keen to practice what they teach.

There are a lot more and this article will be oversized if I am to continue with their good works. So for anyone of you or a connection of yours that wants an exceptional IT school to enroll in, I cannot recommend DevWorld Tech Academy to you enough. Check them out on their website on DevWorld Tech Academy and verify them for yourself.

In conclusion, Cloud Computing is booming and it shows no sign of slowing down anytime soon. In 2017 Forbes indicated that Cloud Computing professionals are earning a whooping median of $137,957 to as high as $248,342 in the United States.

As stated, these figures are just averages. There is a guarantee that there are professionals out there earning much more than that.  This is a sure record that Cloud Computing is the highest paying job  in tech industries. Even if a professional working in Ghana does not earn as high as our white colleagues, the sum won’t be disappointing for sure.

The post Cloud Computing – What It Is and How Businesses and Professionals Are Adopting It In Accra,Ghana appeared first on DevWorld Tech Academy.