I was(and am) very passionate about computers and programming during my high-school days. The school where I studied boasted of 1 powerful multi-user computer that ran a processor of speed 4.77 Mhz. Yes, I was talking about the 80286 antique piece. Well, anyway this was acceptable because it was way back in 1995 but one machine for 800 students taught me the basics of multi-user computing!
As I was craving for some computer literacy(believe me, I really did ;-) ), I had to look for other options. The only option available was to take up a certificate course in a private institute and Aptech was the most favourable choice at that time coz they had tile flooring(!!), some 10 odd computers(ofcourse, of the same configuration), and promising faculties. I dished out an initial 5000 bucks and 1200 odd bucks every month. With this money, a small nuclear-family can possibly be run in a remote town where I lived. But, somehow I managed to persuade and get an uneasy-nod from my dad, a couple of uncles and all those respectful elders for a ’’go ahead’’.
With great hopes, I entered this institution and was first taken aback to see that there were no programming course for the 1st 6 months. Instead they chose to teach powerful and complex tools like DOS, MS-Office 4.2 etc. The 2nd semester was a bit okay with C and FoxPro programming. The faculties were good all these days and had a terrific time garnering knowledge from them.
By this time, my twelfth standard exams were nearing and so I opted for a break so that I can resume the rest of the semesters after completing higher-secondary. The first blow came to me when I came to know all the experienced-faculties had resigned. The 2nd blow came to me when one of my batchmates(with whom I studied the previous semesters) started teaching some UNIX stuff. I really thought that this guy was playing some prank or just doing some seminar. But, it continued for all the 2 hours and after that I was told that he was made a faculty!
I sincerely doubt the credibility of having these fellas as tutors. They really did not know what is daemon, or fork or IPC(I’m talking some technical stuff in UNIX) and still lecture-out whatever that is written on a 150-page book prepared by Aptech.
I thought I’ll somehow put up with this and complete the course. But, I really could not tolerate the hard-earned money getting wasted for an unworthy cause. I ran off the sight of the institution and did not even care to get a certificate from them. I know they’d be of no use
My sincere advice: Ask your dad to donate money to some charitable institution and get tax exemption than join a certificate computer course. You have C-DACs, CSI, and DOEACC that offer you better course or certificate examinations. Go for them and gain some knowledge.
Best regards.