Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Tech Training Schools Going Bust

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the make-money-fast dept.

superflippy writes "The Associated Press reports that many tech training schools which opened during the last few years are now shutting their doors. During the dot-com boom, there was the perception that a few months of computer training could lead to a fabulous job. Now, it seems all these schools have produced are unemployed people with student loans and dubious certifications."

4 of 651 comments (clear)

  1. Too many of them by l810c · · Score: 5, Informative
    This is just a result of the dotcom bubble burst. Companies these days are looking for (in order):

    Outsourcing to India
    Cheap College Grads (Although there are too many here also)
    Experienced (more expensive) College Grads
    And *maybe* a few scraps left over grads of these half ass tech schools

    There is still definitely a place for a few of these schools for people wanting to add a skill or become more advanced in a skill, but the days of taking an 8 week course and then finding a tech job are over. I actually know a couple of people that went to these type schools 5 years ago and now have great tech jobs.

    1. Re:Too many of them by pilgrim23 · · Score: 5, Informative

      I recall that back in the early 1990s there were many schools that specialized in technical training for those with non-mainstream cultures. An Example: A particular school opened up in Shiprock Arizona teaching all sorts of tech skills to the Navajos: "just sign here and we gaurantee to take all your money and what's more you will also get a free lifetime of debt!" As soon as the loan guarantees were signed and the monies delivered, the school closed up shop and moved on. This was something of a local scandal back then, but I think it was repeated in basic form throughout the country with other local populations. This latest schooling blight is just another form of the same. As long as the lure of student loan money is there, the shysters will come.

      --
      - Minutus cantorum, minutus balorum, minutus carborata descendum pantorum.
  2. You can't teach talent by Crashmarik · · Score: 5, Informative

    Passion for the work doesn't come out of a crackerjack box. An MCSE or any "Certification" from a vendor, is just a manufacturers way of saying you have digested their propaganda. If you are looking to get rich quick while only working a few hours a week try No money down real estate.

    It should come as no surprise that the people who went for these courses are now getting burned. The schools were unscrupulous but then again so were the majority of their students. Both parties were trying to sell sows ears as silk purses.

  3. Ten years. by Phs2501 · · Score: 5, Informative
    This seems like as good a time as any to mention Peter Norvig's Teach Yourself Programming in Ten Years, an interesting look into the "NOW NOW NOW" attitude that is present in the computer industry (and the insane number of "Teach Yourself $skill in \d+ (days|hours)" books out there). This attitude is a part of what these tech training schools represent, and probably a reason why it hasn't worked out so well for them.

    It also has very good advice for becoming an accomplished programmer.