Computer training

The number of computer academies providing software training and software testing courses is on the rise.

TODAY, computers have invaded almost every field of human activity. No wonder, becoming a hardware or a software engineer is the dream of many a young person.

SRM Infotech, a division of SRM Learning Tree Private Limited, offers computer courses that are currently in demand in the country, to students and professionals. It is an important player in software training, and offers customised software training solutions to the corporate and government sectors. It has 100 branches in the four south Indian States. It has opened a branch in Malaysia, and has plans to expand in Asia-Pacific, West Asia, and Africa. SRM Infotech has so far trained one lakh students.

SRM Learning Tree plans to set up separate divisions in the areas of Information Technology-Enabled Services (ITES), multimedia, computer-aided designing, and hardware and networking. SRM Technokrat is its manpower consultancy division.

Accel IT Academy has developed training programmes to suit evolving trends and technologies. It offers training in hardware, networking with CISCO, system administration with UNIX, LINUX, Sun Solaris and Windows 2000, auto CAD, embedded systems and so on. Its non-commercial placement cell helps its students by tapping job opportunities in leading companies. The cell in Chennai maintains a data bank of students, listed according to their skill and merit, which helps prospective employers find suitable candidates. Many students have been absorbed into Accel group's own divisions.

The placement cell's industrial training module imparts practical training to students who have completed their course. It organises technical seminars and circulates a weekly news mail. The Academy provides a personality development programme to its students to hone their communication skills and succeed in interviews.

Software testing is a growing industry in the computer field. It is the process used to identify the correctness, completeness, security and quality of a developed computer software.

STC Technologies, set up in 2000, is the largest software testing and training organisation in the country, offering industry-oriented certification programmes in software testing. According to STC Technologies personnel, there will be a demand for 25,000 software testing professionals this year. The software testing business in India, which stood at $200 million in 2003-04, may touch $700 million to $1 billion in 2007.

STC Technologies offers two courses in software testing called CSTP and ADST. It has set up an independent Software Testing Recruitment Company called STC V-Serve, focussing on the needs of professionals specialising in software testing.

DirectionsOnIT was set up in 1994 to provide the benefit of IT to the community in a cost-effective and efficient manner. It provides high-end training to IT developers and software development organisations. Its training is based on current industry practices; it organises technical sessions and software code camps with programming instructions and prepares students to face competition.