Training company Computeach has launched what it claims
is the first distance learning course in Lamp, the open source web
server platform.
The course is aimed at newcomers to IT or people who have some
experience of commercial platforms, said Alan Sweeney, learning
solutions manager with Computeach.
Lamp has become a de facto development standard. Short for
Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP, Lamp is an open source web
development platform that uses Linux as the operating system,
Apache as the web server, MySQL as the database and PHP as the
object oriented scripting language. Perl or Python is often
substituted for PHP.
The course is based on certification and offers recognised
qualifications in each of the Lamp software systems. However, it
also has a practical element, with each student completing a
Linux-based project before they are certified.
With continuing growth in the use of open source web server
technology, and starting salaries of about £28,000 after
certification, Sweeney said qualification offers good prospects for
students.
"The open source community is mutually supportive and growing.
Major IT companies such as Oracle, Novell and IBM have all started
backing open source in recent years. With people like that behind
it, the future for the technology will be good," he said.
Although Computeach is offering the first distance learning
course in these technologies, a few companies already provide
classroom-based training. For example, Well House Consultants,
based in Wiltshire, also offers courses in Lamp.
By providing the course in a technology growing in popularity,
combined with supported distance learning, Computeach is aiming to
attract between 500 and 600 students in the first year.