This is a post I wanted to write for a while but I just didn’t want my students to think I was visioning them. So if you are one of my students, no it’s not about you but I have to write this because almost every class I teach I have a student who does not meet the prerequisites, is too experienced or had other expectations of the course.
When teaching at a Microsoft Learning Partner Center I usually use the standard Microsoft Official Curriculum courses so there is plenty information about them on the internet.
First there is the Partner Centers’ website where you can book the training, they all list the official numbers and most of them have also the complete description. Otherwise you can check the Microsoft Learning site. Fill in the course number and make sure you read the Course Details and Prerequisites! If you don’t match the prerequisites for let’s say 60% and don’t think “hmm interesting” for 75% of the chapters, maybe this is not the ideal training for you.
What happens when you’re in the “wrong training”?
Well it depends, if you don’t meet the prerequisites, you’ll lose interest, get bored, and miss some essential information so you completely can’t follow anymore,… You just wasted you’re time and money. The same happens when you already have too much knowledge. It’s good that you have some working experience before you come follow a course. But if you work for 5 years with the previous release you shouldn’t follow the complete basic course of the next release. You will get the same result.
On the other hand you will also ask a lot of questions, because you don’t know how to get the exercises to work or because you can ask all the exceptions you ran into the last 5 years to the teachers. In both scenario’s you will annoy you’re co-students for slowing down they’re training experience, taking too much teacher time and so on.
As a teacher I don’t mind getting all these extra questions, beginner or advanced. But I have to make sure that the majority of the class gets what they paid for so at some point I might have to disappoint you.
So if you’re going to take a training, make sure you look up the available information and if you’re still in doubt. Just mail or call the Education Center. They’re happy to help you find the training that meets your expectations.
After 12 years as a MS SQL Server consultant and trainer, Axel is now using his data knowledge to implement "Product Information Management" solutions. These implementations are usually but not always linked to E-commerce projects.
