Technical school certificate question

[Night Elf]

Ds22 is considering going to our local technical school for PC Repair and Network Technician Certificate. It's 5 classes over 2 semesters. There are no prereqs so can we assume this program is starting from ground zero for a person with absolutely zero knowledge of the subject? It's only a certificate and I was wondering if it was for people in the field already. 

Also, they want his high school and college transcripts and his SAT. He took that SAT more than 5 years ago. Do you think that will be a problem? I'm afraid he'll freak out if he finds out he has to test again just to get into technical school. He only took 4 classes at a 4-year university.

[Catwoman]

Can you call them and ask? 

 

[WendyLady]

Our local tech school requires every new student to take a placement exam.  It is very basic, but it is required for all new or transfer students. 

I have a friend who is a counselor there and they really work hard to help place each student in a job at graduation - they track the employment rates and they do an amazing job at helping more than 90% find jobs in their field.

You can usually google the name of the tech school and their "Placement Report" or something like that to see their employment placement rates overall and divided up by all of the different programs. Your son can also visit with the counselor to find out placement rates.  

The tech school is a great place to start to ask some questions.  Also, since your son has been out of school for over a year, he could also receive help through your local government employment office.  They have some great programs for young adults to help with job counseling and possibly education expenses for programs just like he is looking at.  

[Soror]

Not sure what happened

Edited September 20, 2018 by soror

[Night Elf]

Ok. I called the school and the person who answered didn't know the answer so she gave me two instructors names and numbers. I called one and left a voicemail. I really hope it's for beginners. 

[Catwoman]

6 minutes ago, Night Elf said:

Ok. I called the school and the person who answered didn't know the answer so she gave me two instructors names and numbers. I called one and left a voicemail. I really hope it's for beginners. 

 

I hope so, too! 

Hopefully, the instructor will respond quickly. It might be worth contacting the second one, as well, to increase your chances of a quick response.

[gardenmom5]

it's probably more for beginners, but probably with some expectation they have experience at least with computers.  

dd did a program that was three months (I don't recall how many certs they were to do in that time frame.  but on their own time.) then an intense two week "workshop" before going out into the job market.   she had no computer experience (other than using it to do stuff - did have a BA in classics.) - another guy in her "class" - had five years of computer experience.

they will want to know math and english proficiency.

[Caroline]

You might want to look into the HOPE Grant program. It helps pay for technical school. 

[itsheresomewhere]

Instructors might not know this and I am kind of surprised that she referred you to instructors.  Did you ask for the admissions office as they should know this? 

Planning for the future for your DS- both of you look at the job market for this near you.  That way if he enjoys this and completes the program, he will know what other education companies near you want in their techs.  

[Night Elf]

1 hour ago, Caroline said:

You might want to look into the HOPE Grant program. It helps pay for technical school. 

Yeah, we'll fill out the forms. He got the Zell Miller Scholarship when he went to the 4-year university. I think for technical schools they only pay $500 towards the program and they may not even pay for his since he's received money from them in the past. Not sure.

[Night Elf]

42 minutes ago, itsheresomewhere said:

Instructors might not know this and I am kind of surprised that she referred you to instructors.  Did you ask for the admissions office as they should know this? 

Planning for the future for your DS- both of you look at the job market for this near you.  That way if he enjoys this and completes the program, he will know what other education companies near you want in their techs.  

I don't know why she sent me to the instructors. I'd prefer to talk through email but their email contact form is broken.

They have a 92% placement rate so I'm hoping they'll help him find a job. It's the ONLY program offered by them that he's interested in. That's why I'm hoping it's for beginners.

[Night Elf]

1 hour ago, Catwoman said:

 

I hope so, too! 

Hopefully, the instructor will respond quickly. It might be worth contacting the second one, as well, to increase your chances of a quick response.

I just did. Thanks. Hopefully one of them will call back. I'd like to jump on this while he's interested. He may be able to get in Spring semester. I'd hate for him to have to wait until Fall semester. He said he might consider a part time job if that happened but I don't know where he'd work. He seems really against Kroger again.

[Catwoman]

1 hour ago, Night Elf said:

I just did. Thanks. Hopefully one of them will call back. I'd like to jump on this while he's interested. He may be able to get in Spring semester. I'd hate for him to have to wait until Fall semester. He said he might consider a part time job if that happened but I don't know where he'd work. He seems really against Kroger again.

 

Is the school far away from your house? If not, maybe you and your son can take a ride over there and get more information in person.

They must have admissions counselors or at least some kind of staff in the admissions office, so it might be worth calling to see if you can make an appointment with them.

[itsheresomewhere]

Don’t look at the placement rate.  They can be very vague on how they get their numbers. For some schools, having a job at Wendy’s is a plus to the placement rate.     It just means to quite a few schools that their graduate are employed. Look at how the program is looked at locally.  Does it have a good reputation locally?  Is it more of a certificate/diploma mill?  Google lots of reviews.  If you have Facebook, ask on local groups if anyone has experience with it. 

Just a thought-  it might not be a bad thing if he has to wait to get in.  That would give you time for evaluation so you know what disabilities he has.  Then he may be able to get some accommodations in his classes.

Edited September 21, 2018 by itsheresomewhere

[TechWife]

23 hours ago, itsheresomewhere said:

Instructors might not know this and I am kind of surprised that she referred you to instructors.  Did you ask for the admissions office as they should know this? 

Planning for the future for your DS- both of you look at the job market for this near you.  That way if he enjoys this and completes the program, he will know what other education companies near you want in their techs.  

The instructors certainly would know the entry level proficiency required for their courses. 

[itsheresomewhere]

1 hour ago, TechWife said:

The instructors certainly would know the entry level proficiency required for their courses. 

She asked about SAT scores from 5 years ago and if they were ok or needed to be taken again.  That is not the instructors job to know, it is the admissions office.  And if they do know, they refer them back to the admissions office as they don’t want to put their job on the line with wrong information.  

 

Edited September 21, 2018 by itsheresomewhere

[scholastica]

Is this a for-profit technical college? Or a local CC? I would be very wary of a for-profit college and their placement statistics. If it is for-profit, please look into a CC option for the certificate. They often have similar offerings without the for-profit reputation.

[Night Elf]

2 minutes ago, scholastica said:

Is this a for-profit technical college? Or a local CC? I would be very wary of a for-profit college and their placement statistics. If it is for-profit, please look into a CC option for the certificate. They often have similar offerings without the for-profit reputation.

It's part of the technical college system of Georgia.

[Night Elf]

One of the instructors called me back. That man was WEIRD! He was asking questions that had nothing to do with what I wanted to know. At one point he told me this certificate would help my son get a job for about 10 years but then the field will dry up so he should pursue something else like programming. It was a very strange conversation. However, he did verify it was for beginners and he told me which classes to take each semester.

[Catwoman]

1 hour ago, Night Elf said:

One of the instructors called me back. That man was WEIRD! He was asking questions that had nothing to do with what I wanted to know. At one point he told me this certificate would help my son get a job for about 10 years but then the field will dry up so he should pursue something else like programming. It was a very strange conversation. However, he did verify it was for beginners and he told me which classes to take each semester.

 

Wouldn’t it be easier to just call and make an appointment with an admissions counselor so you and your son can go and get the information you need in person? 

[itsheresomewhere]

You both really need to go to the school and see admissions.  They will be able to answer these questions best and give you both an idea of what the program is really like. 

Also, depending on his placement testing he may not be able to get in the program right away.  They may want some remedial courses first ( not all schools do this but please keep this in the back of your head so it is not a surprise). 

[catz]

I also think it's weird they referred you to a teacher.  I also think he said that field was drying up?  You need to constantly keep your skills up to date in any sort of tech job including programming.   I wouldn't necessarily get too excited about him saying that.  

It's exciting he's interested in this!  I hope you can figure it out.  Going over to just talk with admissions directly is a good idea.  

[Mergath]

He said PC Repair is "drying up?" That's odd. Unless the program only teaches actual desktop PC repair and doesn't cover tablets and phones, in which case he might have a point and your son should take another class at some point to gain those skills. Something else to look into, anyway.

Also, if your son is worried that his basic computer knowledge might be a little wobbly, you could have him get an A+ cert prep book and read through that before the class starts. The CompTIA ones are the best, imo.

[Night Elf]

10 hours ago, itsheresomewhere said:

You both really need to go to the school and see admissions.  They will be able to answer these questions best and give you both an idea of what the program is really like. 

Also, depending on his placement testing he may not be able to get in the program right away.  They may want some remedial courses first ( not all schools do this but please keep this in the back of your head so it is not a surprise). 

Oh no, he won't need placement testing. He got an excellent SAT score and was a 4.0 student in high school and college. If they do require testing because his SAT score is old, he'll have no problem with it. 

[itsheresomewhere]

2 hours ago, Night Elf said:

Oh no, he won't need placement testing. He got an excellent SAT score and was a 4.0 student in high school and college. If they do require testing because his SAT score is old, he'll have no problem with it. 

Most trade/tech schools and community colleges do placement testing.  They do it to all students even those with 4.0 gpa. I would be surprised if they don’t. 

Just looked up two schools part of the Georgia system.  They do placement test/evaluations.

Edited September 22, 2018 by itsheresomewhere

[katilac]

Make sure you're calling the admissions office directly. If you get a less-than-helpful person, wait a while and call back again until you get a different person. I was trying to solve a problem with my alumni membership the other day, and the first person seemed to think it was complicated and tried to transfer me to what I knew was the wrong office. I just hung up and called again later. Second person was like, oh yeah, we just need to do this . . . 

[marbel]

7 hours ago, itsheresomewhere said:

Most trade/tech schools and community colleges do placement testing.  They do it to all students even those with 4.0 gpa. I would be surprised if they don’t. 

Just looked up two schools part of the Georgia system.  They do placement test/evaluations.

Right.  Placement testing is just that - to see where the student fits, whether that means they just take all the typical intro classes, or can skip some/all of them, or need to step back and take developmental classes. 

[Night Elf]

I'm surprised some of you don't think an instructor would know about the program. He was familiar with all the classes. There are only 4 definite ones and then you choose 1 more from 3 choices. 

I can go to admissions but I did like speaking to someone who knows the classes well. He told me a bit about what they covered and why he recommended the sequence he did. He gave some good information when he wasn't going off on random things.

PC repair is strictly desktop computers I'm assuming. He didn't mention tablets but he said phones is a whole different other thing. He didn't mention laptops either. He said 3 of the classes was software knowledge because most of the time when a person has a problem with their computer, it's software related. I don't understand that but whatever. 

He said the classes prepare the student to take the A+ exam and that the college is an authorized testing center so ds won't have to try to find one. I don't know what kind of job he can get though. The instructor said he has one employer who was currently looking for someone A+ certified but a job requirement is able to lift 50 lbs. The instructor talked about how that limited the pool of possibilities and that some good people with good skills would miss out on that job. 

I don't know. This is the first school program ds has shown an interest in. There is a networking specialist diploma but it's a 2 year program where you take GE courses. That stopped ds from being interested. He wants to take classes pertaining to a job and nothing more.

I wished he had gotten that last job he applied for because now we're out of possibilities. It seems it's school or nothing. I think he knows that and he's not pleased about it. But if he's willing to give it a shot we'll pay the bill. 

[Night Elf]

There are only 5 classes to take. They aren't classes like math and english. They do not have prereqs.

[itsheresomewhere]

42 minutes ago, Night Elf said:

There are only 5 classes to take. They aren't classes like math and english. They do not have prereqs.

I am going to be honest- This is a starter course not a career course.  Most companies will want more education and more certifications.  I have quite a few friends in IT and they will tell you that this is more of are you interested in this as a career course.  And one of my good friends will tell you that he will need to be prepared to have some people yell/tantrum/hissy fit at him because of whatever went wrong.  They shouldn’t but they do.  

To answer your other question- you are not out of possibilities.  Your DS needs an complete evaluation, counseling and job coaching/training.  There is a career out there for him but he will need help that you can’t give yourself for him to find. I think you aren’t seeing the whole picture yet and it is clouding you both.  

Both of you need go to the school and talk to admissions. If it is the drive that is stopping you, how are you going to get him there when he is taking classes. Another bonus of going there is that they may be able to give your DS a career aptitude test.  It would show your DS what careers would be good with his strengths and what careers would not be the best.   

Good luck to you both. 

Edited September 22, 2018 by itsheresomewhere

[Catwoman]

3 hours ago, Night Elf said:

I wished he had gotten that last job he applied for because now we're out of possibilities. It seems it's school or nothing. I think he knows that and he's not pleased about it. But if he's willing to give it a shot we'll pay the bill. 

 

Beth, wasn’t the last job an entry-level job at Target? How could he possibly be “out of possibilities” because one very ordinary job prospect didn’t work out? 

Are you saying that no other business in your entire area has an entry-level opening for which your son could apply? There is no Walmart, Costco, or Kohl’s? There is no mall with both department stores and smaller stores? There are no restaurants? There are no offices that need basic clerical help or someone to answer the phone? 

If your son wants to attend the tech school, that’s great, but it certainly isn’t his only possibility — and if it is, I would suggest that he is being way too picky or both of you are getting far too discouraged based on one job opening that didn’t work out. Your son applied for ONE job, not fifty jobs. If he wants to work, he can’t give up after one rejection.

You said he has been volunteering at the thrift store where you work. Can’t he use the manager as a reference so he can apply for a paying job in a store? 

Edited September 23, 2018 by Catwoman

[Catwoman]

3 hours ago, itsheresomewhere said:

I am going to be honest- This is a starter course not a career course.  Most companies will want more education and more certifications.  I have quite a few friends in IT and they will tell you that this is more of are you interested in this as a career course.  And one of my good friends will tell you that he will need to be prepared to have some people yell/tantrum/hissy fit at him because of whatever went wrong.  They shouldn’t but they do.  

To answer your other question- you are not out of possibilities.  Your DS needs an complete evaluation, counseling and job coaching/training.  There is a career out there for him but he will need help that you can’t give yourself for him to find. I think you aren’t seeing the whole picture yet and it is clouding you both.  

Both of you need go to the school and talk to admissions. If it is the drive that is stopping you, how are you going to get him there when he is taking classes. Another bonus of going there is that they may be able to give your DS a career aptitude test.  It would show your DS what careers would be good with his strengths and what careers would not be the best.   

Good luck to you both. 

 

I agree completely. This is excellent advice.

[Mergath]

5 hours ago, Night Elf said:

I'm surprised some of you don't think an instructor would know about the program. He was familiar with all the classes. There are only 4 definite ones and then you choose 1 more from 3 choices. 

I can go to admissions but I did like speaking to someone who knows the classes well. He told me a bit about what they covered and why he recommended the sequence he did. He gave some good information when he wasn't going off on random things.

PC repair is strictly desktop computers I'm assuming. He didn't mention tablets but he said phones is a whole different other thing. He didn't mention laptops either. He said 3 of the classes was software knowledge because most of the time when a person has a problem with their computer, it's software related. I don't understand that but whatever. 

He said the classes prepare the student to take the A+ exam and that the college is an authorized testing center so ds won't have to try to find one. I don't know what kind of job he can get though. The instructor said he has one employer who was currently looking for someone A+ certified but a job requirement is able to lift 50 lbs. The instructor talked about how that limited the pool of possibilities and that some good people with good skills would miss out on that job. 

I don't know. This is the first school program ds has shown an interest in. There is a networking specialist diploma but it's a 2 year program where you take GE courses. That stopped ds from being interested. He wants to take classes pertaining to a job and nothing more.

I wished he had gotten that last job he applied for because now we're out of possibilities. It seems it's school or nothing. I think he knows that and he's not pleased about it. But if he's willing to give it a shot we'll pay the bill. 

 

The program only prepares you to take the A+ certification test? Sorry, but that's a complete waste of money. A+ certification is basically the "I know how to turn on a computer" certification. It might get him a low wage job working an online help desk, but that's about it. And if that's something he'd be happy doing, great! I'd personally love to work from home, sitting in my pjs and asking people if they've turned it off and on. It's not a bad sort of job if you're an introvert who likes to hang out at home. One of these days I plan on getting my own A+ certification, when I have the time to review and the extra cash for the fee.

But, with that said, no one needs to take five classes to get their A+ certification. You buy a prep book, read it through a couple times, do a couple practice tests, and take the test. I can't even imagine how they'd spread that across five classes. It's just memorization of basic computer knowledge, and if there's something you can't wrap your brain around, you hit a forum like stack exchange and ask someone for help.

[Ausmumof3]

On 9/22/2018 at 9:07 AM, Night Elf said:

One of the instructors called me back. That man was WEIRD! He was asking questions that had nothing to do with what I wanted to know. At one point he told me this certificate would help my son get a job for about 10 years but then the field will dry up so he should pursue something else like programming. It was a very strange conversation. However, he did verify it was for beginners and he told me which classes to take each semester.

I would take that as useful advice to do the course but plan on following up with more part time study while working.  He might be trying to tell you politely that this is not the best course to take for long term employability but is limited as to what he can say as an employee?  Just a thought. I wouldn’t take it at face value but I would try talking to anyone else you know in a related field to dig a bit deeper into what he might have been getting at.  It may be that as PCs are becoming much cheaper people are throwing away not repairing. 

Also I totally get the whole hate making phone calls things but with stuff like this you get much better and quicker feedback by ringing than emailing through a form.  I also get anxiety about ringing but it almost always comes to a phone call in the end.

[Night Elf]

12 hours ago, itsheresomewhere said:

I am going to be honest- This is a starter course not a career course.  Most companies will want more education and more certifications.  I have quite a few friends in IT and they will tell you that this is more of are you interested in this as a career course.  And one of my good friends will tell you that he will need to be prepared to have some people yell/tantrum/hissy fit at him because of whatever went wrong.  They shouldn’t but they do.  

To answer your other question- you are not out of possibilities.  Your DS needs an complete evaluation, counseling and job coaching/training.  There is a career out there for him but he will need help that you can’t give yourself for him to find. I think you aren’t seeing the whole picture yet and it is clouding you both.  

Both of you need go to the school and talk to admissions. If it is the drive that is stopping you, how are you going to get him there when he is taking classes. Another bonus of going there is that they may be able to give your DS a career aptitude test.  It would show your DS what careers would be good with his strengths and what careers would not be the best.   

Good luck to you both. 

The classes prepare him to take the Comptia A+ exam. There will be some places that want to hire someone with that specific certification. If he wants to go further, there is another diploma program but he doesn't want to take all those classes. 

The school is 10-15 minutes away. I haven't yet gone to admissions because of my working hours. Next week I only have Monday off. Then starting the week after I'll have Thursdays off. 

He took the assessment that his psychiatrist gave to him to see if he's still on the spectrum. I didn't look at his answers. He finished the test and we put it in an envelope. She's supposed to call him when she looks it over. She doesn't do the rest of the testing, like IQ or aptitude test. Those we have to go to a private psychologist for and pay out of pocket. If his psychiatrist says he's not on the spectrum, the rest of the testing is moot, IMHO.

[Night Elf]

9 hours ago, Catwoman said:

 

Beth, wasn’t the last job an entry-level job at Target? How could he possibly be “out of possibilities” because one very ordinary job prospect didn’t work out? 

Are you saying that no other business in your entire area has an entry-level opening for which your son could apply? There is no Walmart, Costco, or Kohl’s? There is no mall with both department stores and smaller stores? There are no restaurants? There are no offices that need basic clerical help or someone to answer the phone? 

If your son wants to attend the tech school, that’s great, but it certainly isn’t his only possibility — and if it is, I would suggest that he is being way too picky or both of you are getting far too discouraged based on one job opening that didn’t work out. Your son applied for ONE job, not fifty jobs. If he wants to work, he can’t give up after one rejection.

You said he has been volunteering at the thrift store where you work. Can’t he use the manager as a reference so he can apply for a paying job in a store? 

He's applied to Game Stop, Ingles grocery store, Target and Best Buy. He doesn't want to work in food so no department in a grocery store like produce, meat, deli, bakery. He doesn't want to stock anymore. He doesn't want to run a cash register. He has no clerical skills. He can't speak on the phone well. He gets a block for some reason. He types with only 2 fingers. He doesn't seem interested in an office job. I wanted him to go to tech school for accounting because he's so good with numbers but he said no. He won't apply to Walmart for anything. He can't apply to Publix grocery stores because they don't hire men with long hair or facial hair. He has been volunteering but there isn't a part-time job available there that he wants. He has been volunteering in intake which takes donations from cars but he has no initiative to start sorting donations and putting them where they belong. He just stands there so he really hasn't impressed the Board Member that has worked with him. He doesn't want to work directly with customers which is why he didn't apply to Kohls or choose such jobs at Target when he filled out that application. He has considered applying to Costco but it would have to be in stocking and he doesn't want to do that. 

This is his Aspergers. He doesn't like change. He doesn't want to do something that doesn't have a specific meaningful purpose. He doesn't consider stocking or cash register meaningful.

The mall is about 30 minutes away. He would need to use Uber/Lyft but he doesn't want to ride with strangers. He's been practicing driving because he wants to buy his own car. That will open possibilities I suppose. 

[Night Elf]

I thought about Geek Squad but I don't see favorable reviews for it. Most say they really only hire people with sales experience. There is very little tech involved. It's about selling contracts. So I don't know.

Y'all are worrying me. Ds won't attend any school that requires general education courses. 

He know most of Office Suite because he used those programs in high school. He helped build a computer. We considered the possibility of him building computers to sell. My dd's boyfriend can build them and my ds can finance him and they'd split the money but dd's boyfriend can't sell the one computer he built. It's too specialized I suppose and there must be lots of companies that do that anyway.

Honestly, I think this is why his psychiatrist is pushing us to get disability. Ds has limited himself tremendously. I can't force him to get into a specific job. I thought he was doing well at Kroger but he got frustrated with them. I asked if he'd consider going to the new super Kroger further away to work with new people and he can tell them about his Aspergers so maybe they won't expect the same level of work as from other employees but he said he didn't really want to do that. He's trying to find something completely different.

[marbel]

1 hour ago, Night Elf said:

The classes prepare him to take the Comptia A+ exam. There will be some places that want to hire someone with that specific certification. If he wants to go further, there is another diploma program but he doesn't want to take all those classes. 

The school is 10-15 minutes away. I haven't yet gone to admissions because of my working hours. Next week I only have Monday off. Then starting the week after I'll have Thursdays off. 

He took the assessment that his psychiatrist gave to him to see if he's still on the spectrum. I didn't look at his answers. He finished the test and we put it in an envelope. She's supposed to call him when she looks it over. She doesn't do the rest of the testing, like IQ or aptitude test. Those we have to go to a private psychologist for and pay out of pocket. If his psychiatrist says he's not on the spectrum, the rest of the testing is moot, IMHO.

Why would the rest of the testing be moot if the assessment says he is not on the spectrum?  There are other issues besides autism/Asperger's.  I have a kid with multiple LDs, executive function issues, slow processing speed... all things that can affect his school performance and ability to do certain sorts of work.  He is not on the spectrum. (ETA: I should say, he does not have a dx of autism/Asperger's though he definitely has some of the typical characteristics.)

Maybe I'm misunderstanding you but I hope you will continue to pursue testing regardless of the results of the assessment.  

Edited September 23, 2018 by marbel

[Night Elf]

1 hour ago, marbel said:

Why would the rest of the testing be moot if the assessment says he is not on the spectrum?  There are other issues besides autism/Asperger's.  I have a kid with multiple LDs, executive function issues, slow processing speed... all things that can affect his school performance and ability to do certain sorts of work.  He is not on the spectrum. (ETA: I should say, he does not have a dx of autism/Asperger's though he definitely has some of the typical characteristics.)

Maybe I'm misunderstanding you but I hope you will continue to pursue testing regardless of the results of the assessment.  

I don't know what other kinds of tests to ask for. He had an IQ test done when he was young and it was a high number in the gifted range. He's never showed any signs of LD's. He never had problems with his schoolwork or testing. He learns quickly and retains everything he learns. He's organized when it comes to assignments and papers. He liked being homeschooled because he could do things on his own time but he had no problem meeting deadlines in college and often finished assignments before the due date.

What other tests do I ask for?

[Arcadia]

If I am not looking at the wrong page, it is four modules (three compulsory and choose one out of two) and the CompTIA A+ is covered in one module.

“CIST 1122 Hardware Installation and Maintenance

This course serves to provide students with the knowledge of the fundamentals of computer technology, networking, and security along with the skills required to identify hardware, peripheral, networking, and security components with an introduction to the fundamentals of installing and maintaining computers. Students will develop the skills to identify the basic functionality of the operating system, perform basic troubleshooting techniques, utilize proper safety procedures, and effectively interact with customers and peers. This course is designed to help prepare students for the CompTIA A+ certification examination.”

“Select One of the Following (3 - 4 hours)

CIST 1130 Operating Systems Concepts

CIST 2431 Unix/Linux Introduction”

Going by the description, the CIST 2431 is covering too little for 90 hours of instruction. Your son might be bored. I attended a Redhat Certified Engineer boot camp which was instruction for four days (Monday to Thursday) and test on the Friday. If your son has some Unix experience, boot camps would probably be less boring due to the fast pace. 

He might be bored with the first two compulsory courses too

”COMP 1000 Introduction to Computer Literacy

CIST 1001 Computer Concepts”

He needs career counseling and with someone who has experience placing people with autism into job training/internships with high chances of success. Some people just has the ability to match people’s personalities to jobs well. The meaningful purpose part is going to be hard, maybe work for a non-profit like SPCA?

[Lanny]

@Night ElfI haven't read all of the replies.  That seems like "overkill" for the PC Repair part.  And "underkill" (is there such a word?) for the Network Technician part.

The 2 are loosely related.  I wonder what his goal is. If it is to be a Network guru, then I would suggest diving deeply into that, as Arcadia mentioned, in the last reply I read before writing this.

If it is a private technical school, I would always be very wary. What is their success rate in placing graduates into paying jobs?

Possibly an Apprenticeship or something would get him where he wants to be, faster than that technical school would, and he would be earning money, instead of paying them.

[katilac]

26 minutes ago, Lanny said:

 If it is a private technical school, I would always be very wary.  

 

 

It isn't. 

[itsheresomewhere]

5 hours ago, Night Elf said:

The classes prepare him to take the Comptia A+ exam. There will be some places that want to hire someone with that specific certification. If he wants to go further, there is another diploma program but he doesn't want to take all those classes. 

The school is 10-15 minutes away. I haven't yet gone to admissions because of my working hours. Next week I only have Monday off. Then starting the week after I'll have Thursdays off. 

He took the assessment that his psychiatrist gave to him to see if he's still on the spectrum. I didn't look at his answers. He finished the test and we put it in an envelope. She's supposed to call him when she looks it over. She doesn't do the rest of the testing, like IQ or aptitude test. Those we have to go to a private psychologist for and pay out of pocket. If his psychiatrist says he's not on the spectrum, the rest of the testing is moot, IMHO.

The testing is not moot at all.  In fact, it will be eye opening to you and your son.  Red flags are waving from all your posts.  I am going to be brutally honest here with you just like I would any friend.  Fire the psychiatrist and get a new one.  Get a complete evaluation and a new opinionated .  You want him tested for learning disabilities even if to you, you don’t think he has them.To look at a different way-  you are setting your DS for failure.  He needs this to be a happy, productive person in the world.   

Edited September 23, 2018 by itsheresomewhere

[katilac]

My #1 focus would be counseling and job coaching, through the state or privately, someone who knows about dealing with people on the spectrum. 

I think the search for a specific job or course of study that suits him is a bit of a red herring, in the sense that there will always be aspects of a job that one doesn't like, all the more so when you are entry level.  No food, no stocking, no phone, no cash register - that is knocking out almost all of the possibilities. Finding a certain job isn't the solution, at this point - I certainly agree it would be better if he had a job, but just finding a job right now won't address the ongoing problems. 

It's really hard and an ongoing process and I am not at all coming down on you or thinking I have any magic answers. I just wanted to say I think the focus needs to be on long-term change and skills rather than just 'find the next job.' He has anxiety, yes? It might be a good time to evaluate treatment options. 

If he gets started with both counseling and job coaching, it might be easier to suss out what reasonable expectations might look like. When he does find another job or starts school, I think he might be hugely helped by having an outside party to help him navigate bumps in the road and keep going when he wants to quit. 

Get on down to that vocational rehab office, Georgia's office just got an additional $750,000 due to Hurricane Irma! 

This employment toolkit for people with autism might be helpful: https://www.autismspeaks.org/job-seekers-autism

Autism After 16 has some employment info and lots of other stuff: http://www.autismafter16.com/article/09-06-2011/entering-world-work-autism-and-employment

I hope the psychiatrist gets back to you quickly so you can figure out the next steps. It's a long hard slog, just keep stepping! 

 

 

[Lanny]

"One of the instructors called me back. That man was WEIRD! He was asking questions that had nothing to do with what I wanted to know. At one point he told me this certificate would help my son get a job for about 10 years but then the field will dry up so he should pursue something else like programming. It was a very strange conversation. However, he did verify it was for beginners and he told me which classes to take each semester. "

WEIRD?    Maybe HONEST?   Back in the day when I ordered my first PC, with an Intel 486 CPU, I heard that people who formerly worked in a gym or in a McDonalds or a gas station, were assembling and selling computers. Probably there was a lot of truth to that.  Today, one needs smaller hands, because many people have moved from Desktops to Laptops and Tablets and Phones.  And I bet you the powerful server my web sites are running on is pretty small and would require small hands, if someone is trying to replace a component.

So, the PC Repair part of this is pretty trivial.  One can replace a component, or, if one is highly competent, one can replace a component on, for example, the "Motherboard" or "System Board". 

That instructor was probably being honest in that he doesn't see much of a future for PC Repair people.

Networking, on the other hand, will be around for a long time. One thing is to keep the Hardware running properly. Easier said than done, with the complexities of a modern "NOC" (Network Operations Center".   And the Software/Firmware that keeps all of that stuff running on the network needs to be tuned/tweaked and the bad actors need to be kept out of the network if possible. IMO there is much more of a future in the Networking part of the OP than in the PC Repair part.

[Night Elf]

32 minutes ago, itsheresomewhere said:

The testing is not moot at all.  In fact, it will be eye opening to you and your son.  Red flags are waving from all your posts.  I am going to be brutally honest here with you just like I would any friend.  Fire the psychiatrist and get a new one.  Get a complete evaluation and a new opinionated .  You want him tested for learning disabilities even if to you, you don’t think he has them.To look at a different way-  you are setting your DS for failure.  He needs this to be a happy, productive person in the world.   

It's not a matter of who our psychiatrist is but how she can work within the Kaiser umbrella. She told me Kaiser doesn't do the type of testing that I asked about. If we have to go outside of Kaiser, we have to pay out of pocket so we're trying to do all we can within Kaiser that we can.

[Night Elf]

13 minutes ago, Lanny said:

WEIRD?    Maybe HONEST?

He was asking personal questions that were irrelevant. All I asked was if the program was for beginners who had no knowledge of PC repair. He wanted to know where we lived, for how long, how my son was educated (he seemed skeptical of homeschooling), if ds was interested in attending a 4 year college even though I had already told him that ds attended for one year and left because he had no interest in computer science his major. This instructor said since my ds was good at math, he should go back to the 4 year college and get a degree in math. I didn't need his opinion on that. Then at one point he wandered off about how employers want employees to lift 50 lbs. even if it had nothing to do with the job that the person was being hired for. He was questioning the legality of it but told me if my ds encountered that, that he should start lifting weights so he could meet that requirement. All I wanted to know was if the program was for beginners!!

And no it's not a private technical college.

[Night Elf]

2 hours ago, Arcadia said:

If I am not looking at the wrong page, it is four modules (three compulsory and choose one out of two) and the CompTIA A+ is covered in one module.

“CIST 1122 Hardware Installation and Maintenance

This course serves to provide students with the knowledge of the fundamentals of computer technology, networking, and security along with the skills required to identify hardware, peripheral, networking, and security components with an introduction to the fundamentals of installing and maintaining computers. Students will develop the skills to identify the basic functionality of the operating system, perform basic troubleshooting techniques, utilize proper safety procedures, and effectively interact with customers and peers. This course is designed to help prepare students for the CompTIA A+ certification examination.”

“Select One of the Following (3 - 4 hours)

CIST 1130 Operating Systems Concepts

CIST 2431 Unix/Linux Introduction”

Going by the description, the CIST 2431 is covering too little for 90 hours of instruction. Your son might be bored. I attended a Redhat Certified Engineer boot camp which was instruction for four days (Monday to Thursday) and test on the Friday. If your son has some Unix experience, boot camps would probably be less boring due to the fast pace. 

He might be bored with the first two compulsory courses too

”COMP 1000 Introduction to Computer Literacy

CIST 1001 Computer Concepts”

He needs career counseling and with someone who has experience placing people with autism into job training/internships with high chances of success. Some people just has the ability to match people’s personalities to jobs well. The meaningful purpose part is going to be hard, maybe work for a non-profit like SPCA?

The page I'm looking at says this:

Program-Specific Core – Total of 18 Hours

COMP 1000 Introduction to Computers (3) AND CIST 1001 Computer Concepts (4) AND CIST 1122 Hardware Install/Maintenance (4) AND CIST 1130 Operating Systems Concepts (3)

CIST 1401 Comp Networking Fundamentals (4) - OR - CIST 2441 Network Home/Small Business (4) - OR - CIST 2451 Cisco Introduction to Networks (4)

The instructor I talked to said ds should take comp 1000, cist 1001 and cist 1130 the first semester, and then cist 1122 and cist 1402 the second semester.

[Lanny]

OP  I have now read (I believe) all of the responses to your post, up to this point. Someone above here suggested Vocational Rehabilitation of the State of Georgia. That is an extremely sound idea, IMO.  They can probably do testing with your DS and make some suggestions. Possibly they might even pay for the course(s) they suggest that your DS take.  Call them or go to their office, on your day off!

You really do not want to encourage your DS to spend 2 years studying for something where there might not be any job openings.

[Pen]

5 hours ago, Night Elf said:

He doesn't want to do something that doesn't have a specific meaningful

 

Maybe doing something so as to be Helpful in contributing to your family would be under standable to him as meaningful. 

If he goes the “do nothing” (or nearly nothing with all possible things he could do dismissed for one reason or another) route he is going to have an increasingly non-meaningful life.