FIve Questions To Ask Before Attending A Computer Tech School

 Five Questions to Ask Before Attending a Computer Technology School

Like any field, there are good technical training schools, and bad ones. When you enroll in one of these schools, you have made a significant investment in time and money. You deserve to know everything about school and your job prospects after you leave that school before depositing the money you have earned a lot. The problem is, sometimes it's hard to know the right questions to ask.

The point of this article is not to bash technical education schools. So I started in IT eight years ago, and today I'm CCIE and the owner of my Cisco training company and my own consulting firm.

Before I cut down on the first dime, I asked some tough questions. So have you.

What are my true job prospects and legitimate salary levels after I graduate from your school?

We've all heard the ads on the radio. Did you know that the average MCSE salary is $ 80,000? Do you get $ 65,000 a year? If not, give us a call!

I’m optimistic, and I often tell people that no field rewards individual performance and drives how IT does. That said, none of us start at the top, and few of us start with that kind of salary.

I’m sure there are some people who came in for $ 80,000, but I didn’t meet many of them. Be very careful of the technical schools that use the famous / infamous MCSE Salary Survey as a marketing tool. They tend to represent those salaries as starting salaries.

Ask your technical school what the average starting salary of their graduates is. And keep in mind that salary is not the most important factor to consider when looking for your first job in IT, it is the experience that you can later put on your start that you will have to weigh heavily in. at this point.

In short, watch out for schools that boast of starting salaries. It’s not where you start, it’s where you end.

How current are the courses you offer?

Make sure the school you attend has made efforts to keep their courses relevant. Ask what changes have been made to their curriculum over the past three years. No field changes faster than IT. If the answer to that question is no, then look elsewhere.

I want to work in IT security. Have you been sending anyone in this area lately? If so, can I talk to her?

Technical schools are jumping on the security bandwagon, with a few schools putting up ads about your training to work in Homeland Security. If that’s your goal, that’s great, but keep in mind that you’ll need to get security clearance for any work like that.

And how do you get a security clearance? You need to be sponsored.

And who will sponsor you? Your employer.

Can you get a job in a Homeland Security job without getting approval in the first place?

Hmmm. Probably not.

Hello, Catch-22.

Again, I’m not saying you can’t get an IT security job if that’s where you want to go, you can get there in the end. The key word is finally there. Ask the school if you intend to attend if they can really put graduates in such jobs. Ask to speak to her. If schools succeed, they will be happy to put you in touch with such graduates.

What books does your school use?

Some technical school chains only use books written by someone in their organization. I have heard some of their own teachers complain about the quality of these books. The technical school I attended used books on the shelf, and the quality was very good.

If you are looking to enter the field of IT, you probably know someone who is already in it. Use that resource for everything it costs. Ask that person what they think about the books, or for that matter, what the local reputation of the school is. IT is a small world, if the school has a good or bad reputation, most of the IT staff in your city or town probably know it.

The fifth question is asked by HR representatives. Each technical school lists companies where they have placed their graduates on their promotional materials. Pick up the phone, call these companies and ask to speak to someone in HR. Ask that person about the reputation of the school. Five to eight phone calls give you a good idea of ​​where the school is with local employers.

Making the decision to attend a technical school may be the best decision I have ever made, for sure. Be sure to ask the right questions before writing a check or take out a loan to attend to the answers to these questions that will indicate if this school is really the school that can help you achieve your dreams. .