• Incus Data Home  > 
• General Course Info  > 
• Prerequisites

Course Prerequisites

Do you know what you need to know?

Whatever the course you are interested in attending - Java, Android, C++, C# or any of our other courses - please first check to make sure that you meet the prerequisites for that course.

Incus Data courses are designed to cover a lot of material in a limited time. This means that we are very serious when we specify that you need to already have certain knowledge and skills before you attend a course.

Maybe you think you are a fast learner, so you can skip the basics. Maybe you think a good way to save money is to go straight to the more advanced course. If you think that, you are wrong.

Meeting the prerequisites for a course is not optional - it is essential. And it is as much for your benefit as it is for ours and for the other delegates attending the course.

You will benefit the most from any training if it is appropriate to your ability and your current level of skill. When you learn to drive a car, you first learn the basics of steering and changing gears. You don't start with parallel parking and hand-brake turns. The same applies to all types of learning.

What happens if prerequisites are ignored?

When you attend a course and you don't have the required knowledge for the course, it will have a negative impact on you:

• You will soon be confused by the subject matter and the terminology that is being used. This will make you feel frustrated and inadequate. You will not enjoy the course, and may even (unfairly) blame the lecturer for this.
• You will learn much less on the course than you should. Every topic on a course builds on the material already covered. So if you don't understand what was covered in the beginning of the course, you will fall behind. As more and more new information is added, you will fall further behind and never get a chance to catch up.

Our lecturers will always try and help everyone who is on the course, but it is unfair to the other delegates on the course when you don't meet the prerequisites. Think of the ways it will have a negative impact on them:

• The speed at which the course material can be covered will be slowed down. This may mean that less material is covered, or that there is not enough time for the more advanced content.
• The lecturer is forced to give more attention to the person who is not prepared for the course, which means that the other delegates don't get their share of attention.

Good training is expensive. Attending a course that you are not ready for is a waste of time and money, because you will not derive real benefit from it.

Please note that, for some courses, the lecturer may decided to test delegates at the start of the course to make sure that the prerequisite knowledge is in place. This may be in the form of a short written test.

If a delegate does not have the specified prerequisites, we reserve the right to postpone their attendance to another more suitable course.

What are the prerequisites?

The prerequisites for each course are specified in the course outline. They vary from course to course, but there are a few prerequisites, in particular, to keep in mind:

• Almost all the courses need you to have previous programming experience: The only exceptions are:
  • Introduction to Programming.
  • Project Management for IT.
  • HTML and CSS.
  • SQL Fundamentals.
  • XML and Schemas.
• Java programming experience is essential before attending any of the other Java courses, such as: Java Servlets and JSP Programming, EJB Development, Android Development, Spring Development, Advanced Java Programming, Web Services and JEE Development.
• C programming experience is an essential prerequisite for the C++ programming course. By experience we mean a minimum of 6 months practical workplace experience. If you did a little bit of C or C++ at university, you are not ready for the C++ course.
• A good knowledge of HTML is required for a number of other courses: JavaScript, ASP.NET, PHP, and JSP.
• You should have both a good theoretical understanding of the fundamentals, and some practical experience in a language before attending the advanced course in that language. A minimum of 6 months intensive practical experience is recommended.

Am I ready for a course?

If you are not sure whether you meet the requirements, please contact us. We will either arrange to have a lecturer talk to you, or we can arrange an assessment.