Hi
here in San Diego, CA, our ears and eyes are constantly assaulted by various
companies spruiking the benefits of getting your A+, your MCSE, your CCNA
with them. Microskills, ITT-Tech, New Horizons and Laptop Training Solutions
being the most visible of these training vendors. In fact for a short time I
worked for one of them but before, during and after my brief tenure, I was
very suspicious of the actual benefits gained by those who hocked themselves
into student debt and slaved for many hours to grab some elusive
certification.
If you are a current student, ex student, graduate, or employee of any of
these venerable institutions then I'd like to hear from you. Also if you are
an employer or other person in the industry who can speak to whether these
schools have any credibility that would be great. If you just want to vent
that is also welcome! Or if you work for the school and want to present your
side of the story, then that would be great.
My bias would be that some of these schools turn out some very highly
trained, fully certified people. However, most have little experience, and
despite their certifications, probably end up in entry level jobs. There is
probably a very high dropout rate as the high fees and cramming would take
their toll on many student's dedication. Also the glowing picture that the
schools paint of the demand for their graduates and the computer industry
itself is basically a misrepresentation. I don't think they have a clue
about the demand! However, I may be totally wrong!
I intend to set up a web site that will assemble all the facts and review
the most prominent of these schools, hopefully helping either a whole bunch
of eager suckers from losing their pants, or if the schools don't lie,
putting some bright eyed people onto the path to certain riches as a network
engineer.
I just want to allow potential students to make an informed
decision about what they are about to embark on. Often, the only people they
would talk to would be the enrolment staff at the schools, who for some
reason

only paint a very glowing picture of the benefits that accrue by
enrolling. Anecdotal evidence doesn't reflect a good opinion of these
schools but who knows what agendum the source of these anecdotes has.
You can go to Consumer Reports to get information on a $80 DVD player, don't
you think that there should be an equivalent source of information for a
$8000 8 month course of education? Or a $20000 one? That is what I am going
to provide. This is your chance to contribute your 2c.
You can reply to this newsgroup or email me at the email account that I have
set up at yahoo.com, which is paulg2004y
Confidentiality is guaranteed.
If you want to suggest other groups or forums that I could crosspost this
into, that would be welcome too.
thanks
Paul G.