On Saturday 02 August 2003 8:01 pm, Aaron wrote:

> There you've gotten your interview.  Getting through that is a whole other
> e-mail and I have to go. :)  I'll do part two later.  Just for further
> reference.  I have never had an interview for a position I wasn't later
> offered.

Ok.  You've seen a need, and you're a professional educator.  Perhaps you 
really ought to do something serious about it - not that your email isn't 
helpful.

I'm pretty skeptical that you've got all the answers.  Your formula's good 
when there really is a market, but I think the market in general is a lot 
softer than you paint it.

You touch on part of it in skill atrophy and expectations.  I was trapped in a 
job where the company's technology wasn't moving forward, and the last thing 
they were going to do was help me get training to move on without them.  When 
they did move on, it was with new people who had the training.  

There's also the phenomenon that a 40 year old with two kids isn't going to 
work eighty hour weeks, sleep under his desk, and live on Skittles and Wham 
for $25k.  Someone fresh out of school might, for that ilusory "foot in the 
door" (only to find that the next stage beyond that is the exit door).

If you really believe that there's a market in K.C. and it's a matter of 
teaching people who got in when it was easy and don't know how to look, you 
should probably go through your school and/or the local Full Employment 
Council, and create some Job Hunting classes targeted at IT people.

You could also work with the LUG to get those classes set up, possibly through 
Communiversity (they can supply enrollment and facilities support).

You've said enough to get me interested in your credentials though - 98% 
placement is what one school I interviewed once said.  They based it on the 
fact that nobody ever came back for placement assistance - not that they 
offered any.  Turned out that actual in-specialty placement was well below 
10%, and most people HAD to go to work, even if it was flipping burgers, 
because they'd spent so much on the school.

So come over with it, what school do you teach for?  Who can document that 98% 
figure, and is it in-specialty?  What's the ratio between average starting 
salary and the cost of your program?

Many of us know we need re-training, maybe you have a good deal.