Taking computer class to find better job

Taking computer class to find better job

Sudibyo M. Wiradji
Contributor
Jakarta

The number of institutions offering computer courses has been
on the rise over the last several years due to the increasing
demand from job seekers who want to improve their qualifications
or those who want to promote their professional careers.

Although most computer courses provide basic IT knowledge to
high school or university students, many have been established
with the objective of producing IT experts qualified to an
international standard.

"Computer courses seem to be attractive to professionals who
feel left out and are keen to jump onto the technology bandwagon
as well as those that want to upgrade to the latest products,"
said SSI education director Kavita.

Small and large computer course centers are available in the
capital, with many occupying rooms in simple buildings while many
others have air-conditioned rooms in multistory buildings on main
streets. The locally run institutions commonly offer relatively
cheap course fees compared to those set by the more
professionally managed institutions with programs and syllabi
prepared in accordance with international standards.

More professionally managed institutions are equipped with
laboratories, restaurants and cafes, and have highly trained
tutors.

To ensure the quality of computer education, some computer
centers provide internationally standardized certification for
graduates to help them to easily find a job or pursue further
studies overseas.

In States Information Technology, for instance, upon
successful completion of training, participants are awarded the
internationally recognized Microsoft Certified Professional, A+
Certification and other international certificates.

Despite the differences in size, course packages, teaching
methods, fees and certificates, all of the institutes are
benefited from the public's growing awareness of the need to be
either "Internet literate" or possess IT skills.

According to Widodo Nurly, chief operating officer of States
Information Technology, the Indonesian people have begun to
become aware that formal academic education is not flexible in
terms of responding to the enormously rapid changes in technology
and global information technology products.

Among the favorite computer institutions in town are NIIT,
States Information Technology, SSI Education and INIXINDO.

The computer packages offered by each institute are varied,
depending on what level participants wish to take, but most are
categorized as being short or long term. Each institute has its
own way of organizing the materials and modules presented to the
students on the basis of the objectives of course. Depending on
the package, the courses range from one day to two years.

NIIT's packages include a Career Program that lasts from
between six months and two years, Swift Program from two weeks to
three months, Corporate Program from one day to five days, and
Children's Program/LEDA from two weeks to one month.

Elizabeth Maria Siburian, office manager of NIIT, said that
its Career Program introduces a new curriculum called Futurz
Technology Curriculum designed in accordance with current
industrial needs and corporate demand. The Futurz Curriculum
provides a certificate in IT, with the end profile Object
Oriented Application Programmer. The course fee is set at Rp 3.69
million per semester.

SSI Education opened its center in the capital in April 2001.
Its courses are segregated into to types. "First, the career
course which is mainly focused on college students that would
like a complete and comprehensive course. The duration can last
from six months to two years, depending on how long the student
wants to continue. The price for such a course is Rp 3.75 million
per semester," Kavita of SSI Education said.

"Second, the short-term courses which range from Office 2000,
Web & Graphic Design, Network Administrator, Oracle and Ms SQL
Server Database, Web Programming, Java Programming, E-Commerce,
Visual Studio.Net," she said, adding that the duration of the
courses ranged from one month to five months and price ranged
from Rp 890,000 to Rp 4.80 million.

She said that at the moment there seemed to be great interest
in Web-related course as many companies were migrating from the
traditional client-server architecture to Web-enabled systems.
Student interest in the Internet leads them to look for courses
with more to do with the Web.

Kavita said: "We have been here for just over a year and
already have close to 300 students. We project growth of 30
percent over the next few years."

Meanwhile, INIXINDO's director Didik Pratono Rudiarto said
that its course participants were those in the IT profession or
IT related areas, with the number of participants increasing from
year to year. "When we first opened in 1991, INIXINDO had 200
participants. This has risen to an average of between 2,000 and
4,000 participants per year. This year, the number has reached an
average of 100 per week," he said.

Since 1994, instructors have been assigned to teach various
training materials abroad, like AIX in the IBM Malaysia training
center, Sun Solaris and Java for Sun Microsystems for Asia
Pacific, and Sisco in South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia.

At States Information Technology, students follow a training
program with a syllabus standardized by Microsoft Corp, CompTIA+
and others, and textbooks published by MicrosoftPress. "The
duration needed for each certification program is one week for
Microsoft Certified Professional A+ certification program or two
months at the most for Microsoft Certified System Engineer
(MCSE), Microsoft Certified Solution Developer (MCSD), Microsoft
Certified System Administrator (MCSA) and Microsoft Certified
Database Administrator (MCDBA)," Widodo said.

He said that a hands-on and interactive training system was
employed that allowed the student to design, install, implement
and administer the network systems available in a company. "The
participants have a lunch and coffee break considering that the
intensive training program lasts from morning till evening,"
Widodo said.

Several institutes also offer courses for children in response
to their parents' increased awareness of the importance of
computers nowadays.

NIIT, for instance, has prepared special programs for children
aged between eight and 12, with the purpose of introducing
computers to children at an earlier age. "NIIT has designed the
LEDA (Learning through Exploration, Discovery & Adventure)
program that is suited to children at that age," Elizabeth said.

The programs last between two weeks and one month, with the
fees ranging from Rp 300,000 to Rp 500,000 per package.