Just be VERY CAREFUL when choosing a school and curriculum.  These places are worse than used car salesmen...

They will find out what your hot-button is, MCSE/CNA/etc., and tell you exactly what you want to hear.  Look out for the "we don't guarantee that you'll pass the MCSE but, we teach the same curriculum."

If you're looking for an extended term "certificate" course then its not such a big worry.  However, if you're looking at shorter term, in-order-to-get-my-MCSE type training, ONLY go with a place that teaches from the MOC (Microsoft Official Curriculum).  Otherwise, you will not get all the specific information needed to pass the exams.  The exams aren't everything but, it sucks to waste money.

That said, don't pin too many hopes on a certification breaking you into the industry.  There are 22 bazillion MCSE's out there with not one month of experience between them...

(Can you tell I once got burned REAL bad by someplace?  To the tune of $12,000 to be exact.)

That said, I know someone who went to DeVry out here and it was a good course.  I think it was almost 2 solid years of classes and he came out fairly well prepared for an entry level job.

I've heard DeVry has shaped up into a decent place for getting certification, if he just wants to get a foot in the door to some employer quickly. Tech job market still isn't looking too good at all. :(

Tell your relative not to become a MCSE (or MSCE, whatever)....there are a billion of them out there, like FMJunkie said.

Okay, if he wants to go the way of a BS (or some kind of degree), it all depends on what he wants to go into. A university can have an excellent electrical engineering dept, but their computer science dept can suck balls.

A couple of friends went to DeVry...all of them got hired by the end of their first year and only one stayed to finish school.  

Certificate/getting started wise, while there are some good "cert-schools" out there, some Junior Colleges have some real nice classes that will educate somebody enough for the certificate and save the student a ton of money.  

A four-year school is a good way to go as long as the students gets their certifications their first year on their own and then finds computer work for experience the other three years.  The benefit is that later on for other jobs and promotions, some places like to see a Bachelor's degree regardless of what it was in.

School prestige is real, but it only works for a few schools such as MIT, CalPoly, etc.  And that's some big bucks.

My brother-in-law had just finished school for a different career (design) and was looking to relocate, etc.  Meanwhile I met a guy and we were just shooting the breeze and as a way of conversation I mentioned that my brother-in-law just finished school and was looking for work.  The guy responded that his company wasn't looking for anybody and were quite happy with what they had.  Later in the conversation it came up that my brother-in-law's school was the Art Center in Pasadena...upon hearing this, the guy totally changed and said his company would be more than excited to interview a graduate from [b]that[/b] school.

Cal Poly in San Louis Obispo (you know where that is) has the #1 rated CS progam for the state univertisies. I think #2 is Virginia Tech (?) or some thing. Cal Poly also has good programs in engineering, architecture, and other things.

Avoid the pay-to-play schools like DeVry and such! Get into a good community college, or if he has the grades, a real engineering school! I dicked around and built houses, cooked, and worked various jobs until I decided to get an engineering degree at 27. Never looked back. It sucked being a starving student and busting ass for 5 years, but now I have a great job, good income, security, and even stock options! I may retire at 50! [:D]

PS: no offense to some of you IT guys, but if you don't have at least a bachelor's degree from an accredited engineering school - you AIN'T an engineer.

Wow, that'd be cool if it was Virginia Tech, because that's where I am right now.

Robby

I'm not sure where you got that rating, but according to usnews (which I take lightly):

1. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology  
2. University of California–Berkeley *
3. Carnegie Mellon University (PA)
4. Stanford University (CA)
5. U. of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign *
6. University of Michigan–Ann Arbor *
7. University of Texas–Austin *
8. Cornell University (NY)
9. University of Washington *
10. California Institute of Technology  
  Princeton University (NJ)
12. Georgia Institute of Technology *
  Purdue Univ.–West Lafayette (IN)*
14. Univ. of Wisconsin–Madison *
15. Rice University (TX)
16. Univ. of California–Los Angeles *
17. Texas A&M Univ.–College Station *
  Univ. of California–San Diego *
19. Virginia Tech *
20. Johns Hopkins University (MD)
  Pennsylvania State U.–University Park *


I know some of those aren't public, but all the one's with a * are.

Edit: that ranking might be limited to schools that offer BS and PhD

How long ago was that, though??

Two years ago, companies were hiring anyone who could spell "kompewtur".  Right now, although hiring has picked up again (just barely) in the last month or so, the vast majority of people I know who got laid off this year are still unemployed.  Not just in Seattle, either;  I mean nationwide.

(I have to qualify that, because Seattle is in the worst shape of anywhere right now.  6.8% unemployment according to the news tonight, and that was LAST month's figures, BEFORE the Boeing mass layoffs kicked in.)


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As far as general "computer training" goes, what exactly does he/she want to do in the "computer industry"?

I guess it's kinda moot, since personally, I don't recommend that anyone get into it at this point.  I think the software industry is moving to India, and I think the corporate IT industry is getting outsourced to India.  About all that will be left here is stringing up cables at insurance companies, and the salaries on that are gonna crash when all us other techies get desperate for "a computer job, any computer job".