Reader Comments

In August 2004, I attended an MCSE boot camp at Intense Schools. They've since been purchased by Vigilar. Some of the same people are there. This is absolutely the worst IT company I've ever dealt with, regardless of the company catagory. HORRIBLE. The arrangements of the class where a lie - we were supposed to be in the Residence Inn, instead they never made reservations, so we ended up in a horrible dump hotel with tiny rooms. It never got any better, even though they eventually did get into the R.I. (and made it sound like they did us a favor). The meat of it, the instruction, was dismal. The training computers were so old and slow, it truly wasn't worth the bother. The instructor was far below par, and far worse than any other I've ever had, and this course was not cheap. He was unresponsive to questions, seldom stayed late to help students, frequently belittled students who asked "dumb" questions, yet let others drivvle on and on about their mostly irrelevant scenarios. He just didn't lead the class very well either. I did manage to pass - largely due to the highly illegal brain dump practice exams they wrote for use to use. Running on a server via ASP pages, you couldn't take a copy with you (of course!), but the "practice tests" VERY closely emulated the actual exam questions - a no no in this industry. I mean, company names, scenarios, questions and answers. When I took the exams, I literally new the answer because I had seen the question before. It really was that much of an exam rip. Heck, I walked out an MCSE, and I had NEVER INSTALLED AD, Never created/implemented a group policy (and didn't know how). I wouldn't have been able to tell you the basic tool to use for most of that stuff. Basically, I was disfunctional as an actual MCSE, I just regurgitated test answers. Total paper MCSE. Something I abhor in the industry.

By no means will I try to imply that you are exaggerating or blatantly making that account up. But I will say that has to be the most non-typical opinion of the company I have ever seen. Heck, they invented the concept. Copycats in the industry sound like what you describe - test prep regurgitating sessions. They even warned me about such companies when I signed up. I think that they are a Microsoft Partner. I've since found that other copycat companies often risk litigation fromMS for their practices. I know they are classier than what you describe because I went to their DC class, my friend Paul Marquardt went to their Florida class, my buddy Tom Menasco went out west somewhere (I can't remember where right now) - the list goes on and on. The formula is simple, 14 days straight dawn to dusk, lecture, labs, group study, total emersion. Is it INTENSE. But you come out with an exceptional knowledge enhancement (even if like me you already knew the products and concepts for the most part) and 95% of the time you also come out with an MCSE. These guys don't push illegal test preps, they discourage it in fact. Someone in class brought up test king and the instructor (Kelly Morrison - awesome) was quick to remind us that these types of test prep are often filled with errors and under high risk of being sued. Some have even speculated that you could have your MCSE revoked if MS ever subpoenaed their records. But that's another story. In my case the hotel was nice, but not distractingly so. The classroom was at the hotel, you took your tests at the hotel, they brought the food in, there were plenty of snacks and drinks all the time. They made it as easy as pie to focus on nothing but getting your MCSE in 14 days and leaving with the concepts you needed. No "paper MCSE's" ever walked out of mine or any of my friend's classes or we would stop recommending them. Yes, they are on the pricey side, but you get what you pay for. You'll be proud of your MCSE, I sure am Chris