Full-Stack Development Diploma
A Day in the Life of an InnoTech Student
One of the most common important questions any student considering any educational program is “What will a typical day during school look like?”. People come from all kinds of different backgrounds and situations and the educational landscape that exists today is usually able to accommodate almost all of them.
Some educational programs move slowly and take more time like:
- Four Year Universities
- Masters Programs
- PHD Programs
While some programs move rapidly and take less time:
- Bootcamps
- Diplomas
- Certificates
If you want to learn more about the different kinds of educational options available to you and how your education can fit your personal needs, read this post.
InnoTech College is a government accredited diploma program designed to fit the same amount of lecture hours and content of a two year diploma into a six month period. This is actually a common practice in educational institutions at any level. You fit more lecture time into each day, and take less time off.
Let’s take a comparison between a week in a typical class you would take during a four year degree and a week in the InnoTech diploma.
| Four Year Degree | InnoTech College |
|---|---|
| 2.5 hours of lecture + 1 office hour weekly | 18 hours of lecture + 6 office hours weekly |
| Assignments usually due at most, weekly | At least one assignment due after each class |
| Course topics are small in scope | One large course broken into units that build on the proceeding unit |
| Many courses taken will not be related to your degree (forced options) | The entire program is designed to focus on what you will need to work as a developer |
As you can see, the InnoTech program is designed to have you in class for more time per week. The overall course is also designed to be focused around purely technical skills with no forced options.
This means that you will be able to focus on a single topic each day, not having to worry about your computer science homework, your economics paper and your math assignment at the same time.
This also means that your time spent in class and working on assignments is much more during your time with InnoTech. Let’s take a look at what the schedule of a successful student looks like:
| Monday | Evening Lecture - 3.5 Hours |
| Tuesday | Evening Lecture - 3.5 Hours |
| Wednesday | Evening Lecture - 3.5 Hours |
| Thursday | Evening Lecture - 3.5 Hours |
| Friday | Evening Lecture - 4 Hours |
| Saturday | Self Practice - 1.5 Hours |
| Sunday | Self Practice - 1.5 Hours |
This schedule paints a perfect picture of a student giving them the largest change for success in the course. Technically, the only required components of the week are the lectures. We have found that students that attend the office hours as much as possible are far more successful than student who do not.
There are office hours available 30 minutes before and after each class from Monday to Thursday. You can freely ask questions, work on assignments or come in to practice
Many of the students use office hours to simply work on assignments or extra practice in an environment where questions can be asked. I usually recommend that students only consider taking the course if they can commit to attending at least 2 of the office hour sessions per week at a minimum.
The main take-away from this schedule is that in accelerated program you should expect to be working every day. For some students, this simply does not fit with their job/life schedule while some students are able to commit to the six months of heavy work.
Picking your education path is very personal, so make sure you reflect on your current situation and determine what is best for you!
About the Author
Alex Bymoen
Teacher, Curriculum Developer, Software Engineer
Alex is a senior software engineer at Morgan Stanley. He enjoys teaching, writing, and the overall notion of honing ones skills through diligent and patient practice. "The only way you learn is through building, and the only way you build is by starting small"