There was an article in the Houston Chronicle recently – certainly not the only one of its kind – which described the availability of various tuition grants for information technology training programs. That particularly article took San Jacinto College as an example, but if you’re on a blog because you’ve been searching for an online IT training consultancy in California or anywhere in the US, you’ll probably be able to find similar programs in or around your local area.

Generally, these programs will be geared toward providing Agile training, business analyst training, or any number of other information technology skills to the unemployed and the underemployed, for the sake of readying them for a 21st century career path. But some may also be aimed at re-training for mid-stream career changes, or for specific fields or personal demographics.

You don’t know what might be available to you until you pin down what you’re looking for and look around for a good match. If you’re just at the beginning of your career – just beginning to get acquainted with the roles and responsibilities for a California business analyst or training and development specialist – find out what forms of online information technology training you’ll need to get your start. Once you’ve done that, look up your local educational institutions and see if they have related programs, and if they have financing to help you pay for them.

Of course, we’re not trying to steer you away from online information technology training, per se. We just want everyone who’s looking for a career in that field to have a full range of opportunities to make their entry into it. A free or reduced cost, short-term program will not be the be all and end all of that opportunity, but it could be an excellent start from which point you can build your skills with more advanced, online information technology training.

The Houston Chronicle article implies the same thing. It quotes a grants specialist as saying that the winter in particular is a good time to seek out training programs so that you can be ready for new opportunities as they arise in the coming year, whether they are permanent positions in IT firms or contract assignments.

In other words, free programs can help you to secure the essential skills you need to get your foot in the door when hiring is in full swing. Once you’ve gotten there, online information technology training can help you to develop those skills to a much higher level while you’re already working in the field. Or if you’ve got the time and resources, you might just be able to pursue both courses at once and be better prepared than your classmates and colleagues to make the desired entrance into a new or expanded career.