History was her passion but IT became her calling. For Shruti Sharma, a history honours course from Delhi University was the ultimate dream. She had a keen interest in social sciences and was hoping to specialise in medieval Indian history. But midway through her course, a chance visit to an NIIT centre changed the shape of things to come. A short-term course to familiarise herself with IT skills got Shruti hooked and she went on to do a three-year GNIIT course. Today, four years later, she is a successful IT professional drawing a neat six figure salary.

Like Shruti, many other IT professionals have started their careers through such diploma programmes. So, if you are also keen on a career in IT but missed the bus when it came to doing a BTech (computer engineering), BE or BCA, then there’s hope yet. You can do a short-term or a diploma course offered by various IT training institutes and kick-start your career in this lucrative field. In fact, look around and you will be spoilt for choice. Besides the established names in this sector, like NIIT or Aptech Computers Ltd, several IT training institutes offer short-term as well as long-term specialised study programmes.

Take the Bangalore-based Indian Institute for Hardware Technology Ltd (IIHT). From basic courses in hardware and networking to high-end infrastructure management (IMS) courses in server management and network management, IIHT has a portfolio of 50 courses.

With 200 centres in India, IIHT trains about 60,000 students every year. “Our courses are in demand because they are industry-relevant unlike engineering colleges that teach outdated content and have poor teaching methodology and infrastructure. Though on paper these students are engineers, their skill application is not updated,” points out Keshava Raju, CEO, IIHT.

Industry relevance is the key focus in these institutes. “Our USP is our teaching methodology. It is up-to-date and offers real time industrial connection. This is very important as in the field of IT what you learn today might become redundant two years later,” says G. Raghavan, president, Global Individual Learning Solutions, NIIT.

The IT industry is not a monolithic block but has various dimensions. You can choose your area of focus depending on your aptitude and skills. According to Raghavan, if you are technically savvy and have a logical bent of mind, then software development could be your calling.

“If you are machine-oriented and like to play with gadgets then a career in IMS is for you; if you are creative then try your hand at gaming and animation courses. And in each of these spheres, there are hundreds of employers and thousands of jobs.”

What’s more, these courses are endorsed by the industry too. From 2006 to 2007 alone, 742 NIIT students got software engineering or programming jobs in the top five IT companies in India. Major recruiters that take students from NIIT include HCL, IBM, CTS, Polaris, TCS, CapGemini, Wipro and Cognizant. After doing these courses, students work as programmers, technical trainers, web designers, networking engineers, hardware engineers, system administrators and database administrators.

“Organisations are no longer looking at hiring BTechs and BEs alone. Companies have started recruiting bright graduates who have done industry-validated and reputed programmes that offer sound technology training and also equip students with requisite workplace skills,” says R. Krishnan, executive director, Aptech. An integral part of Aptech’s three-year ACCP programme is workshops and classes on soft skills. Students take part in writing as well as public speaking workshops.

Most of these institutes offer short-term as well as long-term courses. Further, their programmes are flexible, making it convenient for students and working professionals to opt for them. NIIT’s GNIIT course and Aptech’s ACCP courses can be pursued along with graduation. These courses are also offered in a six-month intensive module. Besides their flagship courses, these institutes offer several short-term study programmes as well.

You also have the option of doing certification courses offered by Cisco, Microsoft, Oracle, Linux, among others. From the basics of PC to hardware maintenance, Cisco offers several IT-related courses. “The Cisco certified networking associate (CCNA) course is our most popular one, with 80 per cent of our students opting for it. This 280-hour course teaches students to build, operate and maintain systems,” says Lokesh Mehra, regional manager-corporate responsibility, Cisco-India and SAARC.

The shorter version of the CCNA course called Cisco certified entry network technician (CCENT) is for 140 hours. After doing this course, you can work in the field of networking.

Oracle in India offers certified courses in Oracle technology and applications. Microsoft offers courses such as the Microsoft office specialist (MOUS), Microsoft certified system engineer (MCSE) certification, Microsoft certified system administrator (MCSA), Microsoft certified professional (MCP) or the Microsoft certified database administrator (MCDBA).

Interestingly, some companies such as HCL and IBM have their own training centres that offer IT courses. HCL’s Career Development Centres (CDCs) provide specially designed courses in high-end software, hardware and networking integration. The flagship course is called HCL certified network engineer (HCNE). It is offered as a three-month full-time or as a one-year part-time course and unique faculty comprising industry experts and veterans teach it. At present, there are 31 HCL CDCs operational in India.

So, look around and identify your kind of course and take the plunge into the booming IT sector.