Microsoft Trainer - MCT

WillTech105

Hey all,

I was wondering if anyone has ever taken the MCT and had some experience in teaching courses. I have been thinking about doing this to switch it up for little bit in my career and I wanted to get some opinions before I actually did it. Is it worth it? Is the pay worth it? How does one find a position in this (calling testing/learning centers?).

Thanks in advanced!

kimanyd

I think a lot of that depends on what you teach. I've seen people here claim to make very good money doing that, but they're working with cutting-edge .NET development. The demand/pay would probably be a lot less if you were teaching basic Server 2003 material.

Contacting places that offer training (Global Knowledge, New Horizons, etc.) would probably be the typical method of finding employment.

blargoe

I couldn't really tell you what to expect income wise, but a lot of the trainers that I have met don't rely on only training for their livelihood, they also supplement with some consulting as well (or vice versa, they consult and train on the side). I think the combination can be lucrative depending on your specialization.

eMeS

WillTech105 wrote: »

I was wondering if anyone has ever taken the MCT...

There's nothing to "take" really...it's a matter of meeting a set of requirements.

WillTech105 wrote: »

...and had some experience in teaching courses.

Yes, there are quite a few people on here that do this. I'm inclined to agree with Blargoe that few do training 100%. It's almost always a mix of training and consulting.

WillTech105 wrote: »

Is it worth it? Is the pay worth it?

That all depends. For me the answer is definitely no, but that is because I do a number of others things such as ITIL and WebSphere that are in significantly higher demand and pay much more than any Microsoft training.

I would agree with the statement that the development-focused MCTs probably command the higher rates, and would add that those those focused on training things like Word and Excel are probably at the low-end.

The MCT, and the few Microsoft certs that I hold, have been some of the few things that I've done in my business or career that has had a very bad ROI. I seriously miscalculated this market. I originally headed down this path because we had a customer that wanted to use Microsoft training vouchers for classes (there's more to that, and it relates to being a Microsoft partner as well). It was once I got pretty deep into this that I found out that the Microsoft training market is very tight, and there are few if any differentiators between the players (they all basically sell the same courses, based on the MOC). Much of this market competes on cost, and there are an abundance of instructors and companies offering training.

If I had to estimate an average at what an MCT for a reasonably in demand subject in the US would make (such as SQL Server 200x), I would put that around $500 to $600 per day (but not uncommon to see $600 to $700). The development trainers probably have an easier time getting closer to $1000 per day. This is based on work that I regularly see come across my desk, from both direct training vendors and from training brokers. All of whom I regularly avoid.

Please also consider, you likely won't be able to book every day or necessarily even something every week or month, especially at first.

So the answer to "is it worth it?" all relates to how you compare to those ranges.

The other aspect to consider is that you do not have to be an MCT to deliver training on Microsoft products (notwithstanding MOC). There are a number of third-party courseware vendors that build courseware for Microsoft products. Additionally, some of the best money in training comes from building your own customized courseware and selling both the training and the courseware.

I've seen quite a bit of business over the last couple of years for Microsoft training that does not use the MOC and is often customized to the organization where it is delivered. Doing this does not require that anyone involved be an MCT. That's where the money is in Microsoft training.

WillTech105 wrote: »

How does one find a position in this (calling testing/learning centers?).

Connections in the training industry will help the most. If you become an MCT you get access to some trainer specific newsgroups...sometimes that can help with understanding what's out there and what people need. Calling around to training companies is probably unlikely to get you what you want. Usually once training companies find instructors that they like, it's a fairly rare event for them to seek new ones. Also, to those guys you are an unknown quantity. They're generally going to want to see prior class reviews, etc.. before they take a new guy on.

Keep in mind also that all of the little pissant training companies out there are notoriously cheap. There are also a number of players out there selling things that they totally don't understand. In many ways much of the Microsoft training industry has a "butts in chairs" mentality.

The one thing that I would keep in mind is that the audience of this board is largely people that self-study. That should have told me something about the overall Microsoft training market, and it should definitely tell you something about it.

Delivering training can be fun and financially very rewarding. However, I would advise you to find something more in demand and that can command on average a higher daily rate than Microsoft training. With that said, I'm all about having a lot of sails on my sailboat, because you never know which winds will die down and which will pick up; from that perspective, and from the perspective of reduced exam fees, the free TechNet subscription (this year), and access to the MOC, perhaps the MCT isn't so bad.

MS

massiramones

THX Emes, very interesting ur words....it's a topic i would like to open too after i had some certifications.......

eMeS

massiramones wrote: »

THX Emes, very interesting ur words....it's a topic i would like to open too after i had some certifications.......

You'd be dealing with an entirely different thing in the EMEA market...I have no advice to give on how to get training work or how much to expect for a daily rate.

MS

WillTech105

eMeS -- thanks for the detailed input!!

That was always something I'd though about doing sometime in my career -- I appreciate everyones input!

eMeS

WillTech105 wrote: »

eMeS -- thanks for the detailed input!!

That was always something I'd though about doing sometime in my career -- I appreciate everyones input!

You bet...it's not bad work but like anything it's best to go into it as fully informed as possible...

MS