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The following was submitted by Tami Babcock, a recent graduate, to a potential incoming student.  Tami attended The Master's Program, via The GRID, from Colorado.

I thoroughly enjoyed being on the GRID! There were 7 of us (on the GRID) in my masters program class and we all got to be great friends - several with whom I still keep in touch. We helped each other all day every day because we could 'see' each other and often your face tells whether or not you are 'getting it' and if we saw someone struggling we could IM and check in.

We could never really see the folks in the classroom - a lot of the instructors liked to zoom in so that you could see only them, which was good because when they zoomed out all you could see was the back of everyone's head anyway! They also set up video conference 'rooms' that we could call into after class or on weekends which was something the folks on site didn't have. The group I was in usually did a study session before each test and often dialed in to help each other during the programming weeks. I only had one issue with my connectivity during the entire 13 weeks and after 2.5 days of non-stop support from SetFocus, the problem turned out to be with my ISP! During the diagnostics the school did everything possible to make sure I stayed 'connected' in other creative ways.


Yes, The Master's Program unquestionably helped my marketability.

I have about 20 years in IT and even though I thought I was working in fairly current and 'in demand' technologies, turned out that in my market, Denver, there wasn't a thing out there and I own a home here and didn't want to relocate! I worked in Retail for four years while looking for another job in IT.

SetFocus got me the lead for my current job. The company is 15 minutes from home and a very challenging environment. I can easily say that I've learned as much there in the last two months as I did in my 3 months at SetFocus and there's no end in sight! I keep my eyes on the job boards and I see many .NET jobs every day for my market so I know there will continue to be other opportunities too.

I feel like I learned an incredible amount at SetFocus and I know that I wouldn't have learned nearly as much nor retained nearly as much if I'd have gone the route of a two-week boot camp just to get certified. Plus, we heard from several companies that came in to the school and did interviews that while certification is important, it's not too meaningful without some practical experience. With a project week to go along with almost every class, trust me, you get plenty of experience.

Was it worth the cost? Only you can answer that. I don't know your financial circumstances. I felt like the school went the extra mile for each and every student.

The one thing that the boot camps couldn't offer was the career placement service. Yes, I could have been done and certified in two weeks but would that have guaranteed me a job? I doubt it. I can't imagine being able to speak very intelligently about my experiences programming in the .NET environment after only two weeks but I certainly could regale them with plenty of examples after 13 weeks!

The way I rationalized the cost was to compare it to the boot camps. The ones I was seeing were two weeks for around $8,000 - that's $4,000 per week. SetFocus was 13 weeks - pretty much a college semester - for $17,000 or a little over $1,000 per week. Plus, their placement rate was awesome! I couldn't see how I could go wrong. Turned out I had a job before I was even finished with school! This company waited 2.5 months for me - so for me, it was definitely 'worth it'.

Don't hesitate to ask more questions if you think of them. Good luck with your decision!!

ALUMNI SPEAK will be a regular feature in upcoming Newsletters.  If you have a story that you would like to share, please contact Stacey Uhrig or your admissions representative.