Frequently asked Questions about VSBT and Training
- How do I begin Registration for Certification Programs?
- What are your minimum and maximum class sizes?
- What is your instructor-to-student ratio?
- Do your instructors have recent industry experience?
- What qualifications and years of experience do your instructors have?
- What do your current and past students have to say about the training they received?
- Do employers recognize your training programs?
- What percentage of your recent graduates have found work in the field for which they were trained?
- What percentage have found work in the Victoria area?
- If books are included in tuition costs, are they up to current industry standards?
- Does the technology used in the training relate to current industry standards?
- If an unpaid work experience or practicum component is involved, do you have to complete it in order to graduate?
- What about other instructional costs such as books?
- Do your instructors teach classes with lectures, demonstrations and hands-on projects?
- Does your school have qualified technical staff available during classes, to make sure all the equipment functions 100% of the time?
- Does the school sponsor local high-tech associations that are active in the industry?
- How long does it take to find work after graduation?
- How do I begin Registration for Certification Programs? To begin registration please use our online application or call us at 1.250.721.9991 (Toll Free: 1-800-215-6702)
- What are your minimum and maximum class sizes? Our minimum class size is one person, and our largest classroom seats only 12 students. Instructors are often on the premises when they are not teaching, so teacher accessibility is maximized.
- What is your instructor-to-student ratio? One instructor to 12 students is our maximum, though sometimes a course may only have 2, 3, or 4 students depending on the time of year and the course hours that students have selected. Also, even in larger classes, there are still opportunities for one-on-one teaching between the students and teacher.
- Do your instructors have recent industry experience? The Victoria School of Business and Technology is unique in that we are the ONLY computer training center in Victoria that offers classes taught by real, working professionals. When we aren't teaching, we are developing complete websites, designing custom graphics, desktop publishing and developing database applications for our clients. You get the most up-to-date training with VSBT because we rely on the very latest technologies to develop solutions for our northStudio.com clients. We are constantly updating our skills and applying those new skills in the classroom to pass down to our students.
- What qualifications and years of experience do your instructors have? Many of our instructors have 5+ years in the industry. They specialize in the entire spectrum of Internet technology, including animation, web design, database theory, application development, desktop publishing, tourism and lodging and accommodation. For example, our school principal, Chris Boag, has 7 years experience in the industry, and specializes in graphic design and web development. Our lead programmer, Gord Christmas, has 20 + years experience as a programmer using languages such as dBase, Java, PHP, and the granddaddy programming language of them all, Oracle. Go here to learn more about our staff.
- What do your current and past students have to say about the training they received? One of our interns, Amanda Irwin, came to us from the College of William and Mary, the same college that Thomas Jefferson attended as well as Bill Clinton, Oprah Winfrey and more. Amanda turned down a job interview with the NSA (National Security Advisor) to conduct an internship program with northStudio.com. A testimonial from Amanda can be found at the bottom of this page as well as testimonials from other interns: http://www.schoolvictoria.com/internships/index.html
There is a list of testimonials from VSBT Students at this address: http://www.schoolvictoria.com/testimonials/index.html. We also have current interns that would be glad to talk to you briefly about their experience. - Do employers recognize your training program? Employers recognize the portfolio you leave northStudio.com with. Being able to list off a number of skills to an employer is a great way to impress a potential employer, but of course this does not always result in a job. However, being able to show a potential employer a portfolio of the work you created at VSBT speaks volumes to the level of ability you achieved and is vivid, concrete proof of your accomplishments and ability. The programs and skills we teach are the same ones that are consistently being looked for by employers. The software applications you develop your skills on are also the software applications that employers are using. In other words, we don't teach you how to develop websites using software that employers aren't asking for-- we teach you how to build websites on software that employers are asking for the MOST.
- What percentage of your recent graduates have found work in the field for which they were trained? To the best of our knowledge, almost all of our students -- certainly a large majority -- have found employment or furthered their existing employment position directly as a result of the training they received at the Victoria School of Business and Technology. Some of our students have even found work before they finished school!
- What percentage have found work in the Victoria area? It's hard to say, because we don't track student employment by location on a student-by-student basis. We do know that many of our students have been able to find work locally in Victoria sometime after completing their training here. We have also had several students secure employment as independent contractors working out of Victoria but servicing people on a global scale. We have taught our students that Victoria isn't the only workforce they may find employment with. We teach our interns how to market themselves globally rather than containing themselves to a geographic region.
- If books are included in tuition costs are they up to current industry standards? Textbooks are purchased by the student through us at a reduced cost. Software versions are constantly changing, so we are consistantly upgrading our own versions. With every licensed copy of software that we purchase, a textbook goes with it. The textbooks are therefore always current. Some schools continue to teach outdated software versions, but because we rely on the latest software tools for our northStudio business, we always offer the same level of software technology to our students. Textbooks are not always needed for all parts of courses as we supply real-world examples and current market information.
- Does the technology used in the training relate to current industry standards? Absolutely. Everything we teach is up to par with today's industry standards. We wouldn't be able to secure a development contract with anyone if we didn't produce products that were not current and competitive with the market.
- If an unpaid work experience or practicum component is involved, do you have to complete it in order to graduate? A work experience program is not necessarily needed for you to graduate from the program, although we strongly recommend that you apply your classroom skills in a real-world environment before trying to seek employment in the workforce. Many employers require some level of past experience in the industry. By completing a work experience program or internship with the Victoria School of Business and Technology and northStudio.com, you will be going to potential employers with "current" work experience, contacts in the industry, and clientele whom you know on a personal basis.
- What about other instructional costs, such as books? Books are billed at the current publisher's price. We offer no mark-up on our textbooks. There are no other expenses associated with any of our courses.
- Do your instructors teach classes with lectures, demonstrations and hands-on projects? Database theory and design need a certain amount of lecturing to understand the concept of structured design analysis. Web development also needs some lecturing to understand the concept of the internet. Demonstrations are constantly being conducted in our classroom, and references to existing northStudio.com projects are always being shared with the class as real-life examples of the industry.
- Does your school have qualified technical staff available during classes, to make sure the equipment functions 100% of the time? Yes, we have network administrators on hand to ensure fully functioning equipment and systems. Any computer repair or service that we can't do in-house is conducted by Mother Computers, a retail store only 500 feet away.
- Does your school sponsor local high-tech associations that are active in the industry? We have been involved in many community projects where we supply services such as free web design, free web hosting, free email accounts and more. We have even helped the Oak Bay Tourism Association with the installation and deployment of an Eagle Cam at the Oak Bay Fire Hall, and a marine cam at the Oak Bay Marina.
- How long does it take to find work after graduation? Predicting when a student will obtain employment after graduating is very difficult. A number of variables, such as basic level of education, other work experience, skills obtained, level of skill obtained, personal student character, the physical location of the student, and the strength of the industry can all affect the amount of time needed to obtain employment. In short, while we can't guarantee that a particular student will indeed find work in the industry after taking any of our courses, the feedback we have had from past students certainly indicates that attending our school made a big difference in their employability.
