IT Training

I want to be able to give good advice on how to find a good training center. What things should someone look for in a training center to know whether it is a good place or bad?

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Webmaster

The three things I find most important are:

1. Qualified instructors (basically means certified for the exam they're teaching, certified trainers, and experienced with the subject)
2. Whether they use official and/or other third-party course material
3. The availability of lab equipment per student.

And don't forget to check out the food

jim_stasz

I've had several training classes at various training facilities. There's nothing more frustrating than to have the lab equipment not work and not cover the material because of it. The best experience I've had have been with Global Knowledge. Great facilities, instructors, materials, and lab. Some of the worst classes I've had have been at New Horizons.

evanderburg

You're the second person who has said bad things about New Horizons. A friend of mine wanted to work there and was told in the interview that he would have to teach a little at a time so the students had something to come back for. He left the interview after he was told that because he wants to teach as much as he can.

Can you tell me about some of your other experiences?

jim_stasz

I have taken two classes there and neither did we finished the curriculum as was stated the first day. 1 of the 2 the computers weren't setup for the labs for the class I was taking. I've also found New Horizon seems to aim their classes at the, "So you're a truck driver and want to be an IT professions" crowd rather than advancing the training of someone already in the IT field.

shadown7

I've had the total opposite experience with New Horizens. The instructors were great and the people in all my classes were IT professionals. There lab equipment worked great also.

I think this is more of a location issue then the whole company being bad.

evanderburg

So any tips on how to tell if a particular location is good or bad then?

JDMurray

shadown7 wrote:

I think this is more of a location issue then the whole company being bad.

This is the truth in most technical training places. I've heard both good and bad about NH, UoP, and DeVry, and all the bad stories center around specific campuses or instructors, not the organizations as a whole. NH might have lower standards for hiring new instructors because they don't pay very well to start.

JDMurray

evanderburg wrote:

So any tips on how to tell if a particular location is good or bad then?

People chatter about their experiences all the time on USENET, especially on the alt.certification.* and microsoft.public.cert.* newsgroups. Use groups.google.com to search for people commenting on tech training centers.

cyberkid0101

Hi Sir,
I am planning to get trained from Netcom Info from NY(US) for CWNA/CWSP.
Have you heard any thing good or bad about the Netcom info institute.
They have branches in Florida/Texax and many in other places.
Pls advice me
Thanx

JDMurray

I have not heard anything good or bad about NetCom Info Tech. I see they have a 5-day CWNA bootcamp and a 7-day CWNA/CWSP bootcamp (http://www.computertrainingschools.com/netcom/national/). Check at www.cwne.com to make sure that NetCom is a registered training partner with the CWNE.

rainman03

I have had nothing but good experiences with New Horizons. Everyone around me is either an IT professional or they have a college degree in computer science. With 260 locations though...they all cant be as good as the wilkes-barre PA location...

skully93

evanderburg wrote:

You're the second person who has said bad things about New Horizons. A friend of mine wanted to work there and was told in the interview that he would have to teach a little at a time so the students had something to come back for. He left the interview after he was told that because he wants to teach as much as he can.

Can you tell me about some of your other experiences?

I'll third it then.

1) They took a month to even send me a basic info email
2) The prices are at least as high if not higher than others.
3) Here in Denver, it seems that they can't keep the same people for more than a week.
4) The course material doesn't seem to be updated and properly proofread. I looked at some sample material, and it was horribly written.

I've had good experiences with techskills. They aren't perfect but they offer memberships for a year, which means you can get as much as you can cram into that year. They give you a specific instructor that torments you if you get behind, and generally the lab equipment has always been available when I've needed it. They also offer good bennies to alumni, such as half-priced continuing memberships.

Overall I'd say word of mouth from a person that you know is actually qualified (no paper tigers), and the overall feeling that they CARE about your education as opposed to getting your $$ are most important.

evanderburg

Thanks skully. All this information has been helpful. JD, I did look on usenet for some posts. Thanks for the suggestion. I appreciate all the feedback.

JDMurray

evanderburg wrote:

JD, I did look on usenet for some posts.

Glad it helped. Lord knows people on the Internet aren't shy when it comes to screaming about things that they don't like.