How To Use Google Classroom As A Student

An 'A' Pupil

Commonwealth Financial'south Keri Donahue took classes to move from HR to the Web.

After spending the outset five years of her career as a homo resources manager at Commonwealth Financial Network, Keri Donahue started getting antsy for a new claiming. Then five years ago, when IT executives at the Waltham, Mass.-based banker/dealer asked Donahue if shed be willing to spend part of her time helping to implement a content management organization, she leaped at the chance.

A few months subsequently, Donahue was offered a full-time position equally a Web site specialist. She hasnt looked back since.

Donahue didnt have any prior technical experience other than having taken a few introductory It courses at nearby Bentley College during her undergraduate studies. So she started her budding career in It by cut and pasting content into a system that feeds Commonwealths Web site. In her early on days in It, Donahue received on-the-job HTML mentoring and took a few HTML courses on Commonwealths dime at New Horizons Reckoner Learning Centers.

These would marking the first steps in a five-yr journey that led Donahue, 32, to receive considerably more grooming, which has helped make her a more effective IT worker and a meliorate-paid one, too.

Keri Donahue Donahue has learned a lot about HTML, Photoshop and JavaScript on the job, primarily past tapping the knowledge of more experienced peers. Commonwealth is great in that you can get to anyone and inquire them questions, she says.

Three years ago, after Donahue had begun learning more nigh Web site usability and demonstrating more involvement in that area, her boss gave her a list of classes to consider. After attending a series of two- and three-day courses offered by Human Factors International Inc. in Boston, Chicago and New York, she took an online examination in March and received a Spider web site usability analyst certification. The certification helped her state a promotion, she says.

Donahue says the off-site training has likewise helped her to ameliorate understand how people use Web sites and online applications and to determine the types of features and functions users want.

As an investment banker/dealer, Commonwealth develops many of its own proprietary products, such as online financial wizards for more than ane,000 customers who are independent financial professionals, plus applications that those representatives can utilise to pull all of their customers information into a single view, Donahue explains.

Best Places for Preparation

one. Democracy Fiscal Network

2. National Rural Electric Cooperative Association

3. The Mitre Corp.

four. The Capital Group Cos.

v. Informatica Corp.

half-dozen. Verizon Wireless

7. Creighton University

8. University of Miami

ix. BAE Systems Inc.

10. Securian Financial Grouping Inc.

To determine this top 10 list, we considered the following factors: Average number of preparation days and boilerplate price of training per It worker per year.

To help her encompass the needs of Commonwealths internal and external customers, she has also taken introductory classes on mutual funds and greenbacks management.

In developing our Web site, its of import for me to empathise mutual funds, says Donahue. So when someone comes to me and says theyd similar to add this slice here or change the look of this area, its important that I take an understanding of what it all means and how all-time to brandish information technology on our site.

The classroom preparation Donahue has received has also helped her grasp the contextual nature of Web design. For instance, one of the courses she took focused on inquiry and helped her discover why its a graphical no-no to place red text on a blue background.

Information technology has something to do with your eyes its a physical thing in terms of how the brain interprets the colors and contrasts, Donahue explains. I was picking these kinds of things upwards from my boss, but at present it has new significant backside it.

Overall, Commonwealth provides its IT workers with an unbelievable amount of training, says Donahue. I call up I could take a class one time a week and not hit every one until after six or 7 months, she says. Plus, its not a static surroundings. Were constantly evaluating and improving the classes what works and what doesnt, she says.

The grooming has besides helped Donahue and her peers gain boosted respect from end users. Says Donahue, Nosotros have this credibility weve adult through all of this training.

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