The cost of this training class is fairly priced if not slightly better then a few others I looked at. It includes the following:
1. Airfare to Florida (economy class) there and back.
2. Hotel at the Fairfield Inn & Suites Marriott.
3. Four days of training and exam voucher.
4. Lunch provided by the training center.
5. Training books.
6. Shuttle pickup from the airport by certificationcamps.com to hotel.
Tomorrow is the first day of class and I will report on the facilities, trainers, food, snacks and overall feel of the training and sessions. I have been to many training and certification classes and boot camps over the past 15 years.
Day 1. Arrived in Florida.
A lady from certification camps picked me up at the airport and drove me to my hotel. It was about a 50 minute drive from Airport to Hotel. It was the Fairfield Marriot Hotel which was a 10-15 minute walk to Certification Camp Building. I arrived at the hotel around 3 pm and first day of technical training begins tomorrow morning. The hotel was an average mid-level hotel.
Here is a picture:
It had a small workout room but had enough for me to get in a daily workout. The free breakfast each morning consisted of scrambled eggs, a few choices of cereal, yogurt and various fruit. Some mornings they had bacon or sausage available. I noticed later in the week that they had a waffle making station.
1st Day of IT Training:
1st Day of IT Training:
The hotel provided a shuttle which took around 4-8 of us over to CertificationCamps.com each morning and picked us up each afternoon around 5 pm. I didn't know where to go when they dropped us off at the building as there wasn't a sign or anything. So I just followed the other people to the elevator and went up to the 2nd floor and followed them into the room. There wasn't anyone there to greet me when I first arrived so I walked down the hall and noticed that there were several classrooms with signs on them stating what class was in each room. I walked past one that said Exchange, another that said SQL, a 3rd room that I don't remember and finally I saw one that said Windows Server. I went in, met the instructor and we got started. It was just me and one other student.
Here is the classroom:
They had Dell machines that ran well. I didn't have any problems with my machine throughout the training class. We used Microsoft Hyper-V to run virtual machines for all the training sessions. Here are some of the VM's that were pre-made:
Lunches:
They provided lunch for us each day from by bringing in to go food from a different local restaurant. You received a menu from the restaurant that day and you circled what you wanted to eat. For instance, one day it was Jimmy Johns or some sandwich place and you picked your sandwich, side and dessert if you wanted it. Another day it was some burger place and again you choose your burger and side. I can't remember what the other places were but you get the picture.
Snacks:
They had a nice kitchen area that was always stocked with plenty of various snacks ranging from breakfast bars and fruit to bags of chips and cookies.
Here is the kitchen:
They provided lunch for us each day from by bringing in to go food from a different local restaurant. You received a menu from the restaurant that day and you circled what you wanted to eat. For instance, one day it was Jimmy Johns or some sandwich place and you picked your sandwich, side and dessert if you wanted it. Another day it was some burger place and again you choose your burger and side. I can't remember what the other places were but you get the picture.
Snacks:
They had a nice kitchen area that was always stocked with plenty of various snacks ranging from breakfast bars and fruit to bags of chips and cookies.
Here is the kitchen:
Here are the snacks:
Here are the drinks:
They had a nice outdoor patio area where most of the students would take breaks and also eat their lunch.
Outdoor patio shaded area:
Outdoor patio shaded area:
Outdoor patio area in the sun:
The Instructor:
I've only taken one training class from CertificationCamps.com so I obviously can't comment on all of the instructors but the one I had seemed knowledgeable. He had a good attitude and was an independent contractor which has been the case for most all the training classes I've ever been too. I think I remember him telling me he was an MCT and MCSE. He was also on time and professional. He told us how long he'd been in IT, a few of the various IT companies he'd worked for and how long he'd been a trainer.
The class and instruction:
Class each day began on time and we took about 2 ten minute breaks in the morning, had lunch around 11:45 and then about 2 ten minute breaks in the afternoon. I felt he did a good job of mixing in the material with how he'd seen it done in real world IT at various jobs and consulting situations. I also liked that he didn't just lecture and then send us to labs. He would ask us questions about the material and sometimes give us scenarios to make sure we were grasping the topics.
Actual Class time:
This was scheduled to be a 5 day class for a Windows MCSE certification exam. We met 4 days in a row and they encouraged us from the beginning to try the exam on the 4th day. Their reasoning was that if you failed then the instructor could review again with you on the 5th day and go over any topics you had trouble with on the exam. When you first enter in the office area of certification camps you see this sign at the reception desk which shows the retake policies.
Retaking Microsoft Test:
Taking the exam:
So on the 4th day the 2 of us students spent the afternoon reviewing and taking various practice exams and then took the exam onsite late that afternoon. The exam room was a typical exam area like all the others I've been in. It had room for up to 8 students to test at one time with individual desks, monitoring cameras and a dry erase board in case you needed to calculate anything. The other student in the class with me decided he'd had enough studying and went to take the exam first. I decided to keep reviewing a little longer. After about an hour he came out and said he passed the exam, thanked the instructor, told me good luck and left. I reviewed one more topic and decided to take the exam. I went and had the typical exam entrance where they check you in, photo ID and such. I sat down, put the ear plugs in and started the exam. I took almost the entire 2 hours as the exam was difficult and then pressed finished. I was certain that I had failed the exam as I waited for the final screen to come back. I passed!
Ending thoughts:
Overall, it was a good experience and I'm glad I went. However, I don't like flying on planes and waiting in lines at airports so I'd rather do something local. But at the time, this was the best option in terms of price. I had found some other training classes that were within driving distance but they were either more expensive or the same price and didn't include meals or have onsite testing. The last training class I went to was at Global Knowledge and that was for my MCSA. The instructor there didn't seem as knowledgeable and they did not have onsite testing. I've found that having the test at the end of the class forces me to focus even more and motivated me to study at night in my hotel room.
Overall score of the class
Grade = A-
CertificationsCamps.com review - I would return for another class as long as they still had the competitive pricing, all inclusive and onsite testing available. Hope this helps you. Feel free to comment if you have additional questions.
