Are you considering a certification bootcamp to fast-track your career? They can certainly save time, if not money.
Consider that a typical Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator (MCSE) bootcamp will cost anywhere from $6,000 - $9,000 and take anywhere from 9-15 days of your life, and it’s important to choose the right one. Here are questions you should be asking any prospective bootcamp, to help discover if it’s the one for you.
- What Qualifications Do I Need to Attend This Certification Bootcamp? This will help you find out if the bootcamp only accepts qualified individuals, or is just looking to make a fast buck, even if it knows a candidate doesn’t have the background to earn a credential.
- What is the Breakdown of Instructor-Led Training and Labs? Some bootcamps are mostly spent mostly in a classroom, listening to lectures and possibly going through some configuration exercises. Others spend a nearly equal amount of time on lectures and labs, getting your hands dirty.
Look for a bootcamp that does both. You need the theory behind why things work as they do, which the lecture will give you. But just as important is hands-on practice with a router, for example, if you’re going for a networking certification. Don’t settle for a bootcamp with a too-heavy emphasis on one type or another.
- Are the Labs Open 24 Hours? At a bootcamp, sleep isn’t a primary consideration; passing the tests is. Having availability to a lab at all times is important, as you never know when you’ll need access to one. Not every bootcamp has 24/7 lab availability. If you think that will be important to you, ask upfront.
- What Hours are Instructors Available? It’s the same thing with instructors. They need to have lives outside of the bootcamp, but they also need to be available almost any time to ply with questions or help you through a difficult configuration. The more they’re around, the better experience you’ll have, and the more successful you’ll likely be.
- Will I Get to Take Re-tests for Free? If so, how many? Nearly all bootcamps have some kind of testing guarantee. Some will let you re-take a test for free, but charge you if you have to take the same test a third time. Some give you a certain amount of retakes total, and when you run out, that’s it. Some will pay for unlimited re-tests until you pass – even after the bootcamp is over.
Find out beforehand the re-testing policy, and make sure it meets your needs. This may be an item you can negotiate, in fact; tell the prospective bootcamp that free, unlimited re-tests may help you choose their camp over a competitor. It can’t hurt to ask.
- Do You Provide All Meals and Snacks? You’ll be spending an awful lot of time in lecture, labs, taking tests, and often re-taking tests. You don’t want to be spending time worrying about meals or snacks. At 3 p.m., when your eyelids are starting to droop, a big bottle of Mountain Dew may be just what the doctor ordered. Make sure all meals and between-meal munchies are supplied, and that there’s no limit on them.
- What’s the Success Rate of Your Candidates? Find out how many attendees successfully obtain the credential during the bootcamp. This can give you important clues about the quality of the instructors and training. If only half make it through, you might want to move on to the next name on your list.
A strong school will be proud of its success rate, and should have no problem providing that information. If, instead, it tries to dance around the question and not give a straight answer, a huge red flag should be raised in your mind. Press the school on this point.
- Can I Talk to Recent Attendees? Ask for a list of candidates who have been through the program, then follow up and make calls to at least some of them. Find out what their experience was like – would they attend another bootcamp with that school? What were the strengths and weaknesses of the instruction? Did the instructors appear to have real-world experience, or did they seem to have only book knowledge?
These kinds of questions will give valuable insight into the bootcamp, and whether it lives up to the hype on its website. After all, it’s your time and money; spend some time investigating beforehand, and you greatly reduce your chances of wasting both.
If, for instance, you want to attend a Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer (MCSD) bootcamp, but your only code-writing experience is reading Computer Programming for Dummies, you can’t possibly succeed at a bootcamp. If a bootcamp company doesn’t ask you specifically about your background, and give you good advice on whether or not you meet the minimum criteria, hang up the phone.