Would you like to change careers or finally catch up on your vocational qualification and get a fresh start? Retraining will help you with this. With our IT retraining courses, you will build up future-proof skills, keep up with the latest technical developments and increase your chances on the job market.

Our IT retraining courses

Commercial retraining

What is retraining and how does it differ from training?

First things first: both retraining and apprenticeships provide you with a recognized professional qualification.

You generally do an apprenticeship straight after leaving school to start your career. The training takes place either at school or in a company and lasts two to three and a half years, depending on the training occupation.

Retraining , on the other hand, usually only becomes interesting for you later – for example, if you have already gained professional experience but do not yet have a qualification in this profession. Retraining is generally shorter than regular training.

You will undergo retraining either in a school or in a company, but you also have the option of completing it inter-company with an approved training provider such as GFN. You will take your final examination at the chamber responsible for your region – for example the Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK) or the Chamber of Crafts (HwK).

When does retraining make sense?

There are many personal reasons for retraining. In order for it to be financed by a funding agency such as the Federal Employment Agency and for you to be able to retrain free of charge, you should have at least one of the following reasons:

• You have been unemployed for some time and there is a good chance that you will quickly find a job again through retraining.
• Your original profession is no longer in demand on the job market and you are threatened with unemployment.
• You have a vocational qualification, but have taken longer breaks from your job – for example due to raising children or illness – or have spent the last few years working in a completely different professional field.
• Your training is outdated due to technical innovations.
• Your learned profession has been lost due to digitalization or no longer has anything in common with your original training due to new regulations.
• You can only do your current job to a very limited extent or not at all for health reasons.
• You want to learn a so-called “bottleneck profession” in which there is a very high shortage of skilled workers, for example in IT or healthcare.

Your chances of having your costs covered are good if you opt for retraining with good prospects for the future. This is the case, for example, if the demand for your desired retraining occupation is high and you can make a living from it in the long term.

With retraining in IT

In the course of the digital transformation, the demand for skilled workers is increasing. But they are rare: according to the digital association Bitkom, there is currently a shortage of 149,000 IT specialists in Germany. Newcomers and career changers in the growth sector of IT therefore have the best opportunities.

If you would like to gain a foothold in the IT sector, you can retrain with us to become an IT specialist – and obtain your IHK vocational qualification in around two years. Any missing basics are quickly and easily made up for in specialpreparation courses .

During your retraining, you will specialize in one of two fields: system integration or application development. You will receive very practical training and acquire a broad range of specialist knowledge so that you can be used in a variety of ways later on. You can find out everything you need to know about our IT retraining courses – requirements, course content, procedure, specializations, etc. – on our IT specialist page.

Since 2024, you also have the opportunity to retrain for a commercial IT profession with us. This is because companies are dependent on specialists with a combination of IT and business management skills. You can find all the information you need on our Commercial IT professions page.

Due to the shortage of skilled workers in IT, you have a very good chance of having your costs covered if you retrain. And that’s not all: the state supports IHK retraining with a further training premium of up to 2,500 euros. You can find information on further training funding on our funding opportunities page – feel free to take a look.

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Our partners & memberships

³ Germany’s number 1 in the field of IT: According to an evaluation by the Federal Employment Agency, GFN is the market leader for retraining as an IT specialist in system integration.

⁴ After you have taken the final exam, you will receive your used laptop incl. Headset, keyboard and mouse for further use.