School Teaches Networking

By OLIA SILEO
Staff Writer

As more companies find it advantageous to link their PC's within a network, the opportunities for technologists are increasing, says Zafar Khizer, director and president of PC Age.  

Zafar founded PC Age in 1991in Fairfield and added an Edison location in 1995. The school specializes in certification for the Novell and Microsoft networking systems. It also publishes and distributes computer training manuals written by Zafar, who holds a master's degree in computer science from the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

Q. What is a computer network?

A. A computer network is a number of computers linked technologically, so that information and resources can be shared among all the people using those computers. The network connects computers to each other and to peripherals, such as printers.

Q. When did PC networking begin to take off?

A. I would say it happened at the beginning of 1990. Before that, companies relied on main frame networks.

Mainframe networks were very huge and powerful­, they could take up an entire room. They connected systems for the same manufacturer but, in general, they did not allow connections between the systems of different manufacturers. Also, they were very expensive to buy and maintain, and only a few companies sold them.

A small business with maybe 10 employees would not be able to afford such equipment. Minicomputers were available, but they also were very expensive.

Then personal computers were developed. The beauty of personal computers is that they are now inexpensive, you can link two or more, and as your company grows, you can add more computers to the network. You don’t have to start very expensively, and you have many vendors from which to choose. I believe that any company with three or more computers has or soon will have a network.

Q. What made you decide to open a training school?

A. I have a master's degree in electronics from the University of Karachi in Pakistan. I came to New Jersey in 1985 to get my master's degree in computer science from the New Jersey Institute of Technology. I got the degree in 1988 and joined a company as a systems analyst network administrator, and programmer.

I found that the work was limiting. I needed more responsibility and I wanted to make more money. I wanted my own business. I started doing computer consulting, but I realized that networking was getting very popular and the people really needed certification training. I took $4,000 and bought two computers to create a small network, and began teaching a short course.

At first it was really tough; sometimes I had only one student. Also, the training manuals were very expensive, several hundred dollars each, which I was paying from my own pocket.

I couldn't find something that I thought balanced good instructional information with cost, so I decided to write my own training manuals for networking. By 1994, I realized I was the author of about 11 books. I started selling them to teaching institutions and training centers, such as Chubb Advanced Training in Parsippany. So far, I have written about 17 manuals. I also publish and distribute them.

Q. Why do you concentrate on Microsoft and Novell certification training?

A. We offer this certification training because these system are the most popular certifications for networking professionals. We do not offer certification testing. The tests can be taken at certification test centers in New Jersey.

Novell started the Certified Novell Engineers designation about six or seven years ago because the company grew so fast, it was unable to provide support for all the people using its network. By “support,” I mean putting the network together, and helping to run it if someone has a problem. Network engineers install the network, which can include hardware and software installation, and then work as administrators, in areas such as troubleshooting or giving advice.

It is about the same for Microsoft, but the system is different. The company started its Microsoft Certified Systems Engineers designation about a year or two ago, when its networking system started getting popular.

Q. How long do your training courses typically take?

A. The courses take six months full time or nine months part-time.

There are many computer technology jobs vacant today. Right now, we have more requests for our graduates than we have graduates. And networking is an accessible field because it’s not like programming, where you need certain analytical skills and where a college degree is required for most jobs.

Network involves connecting hardware, installing software and hardware, and administering the network. A college degree is not required. You learn what you will need to do, and you can be productive on the job the first day.

Q. How would a computer network be used?

A. There are a lot of applications. If you have customer information in your computer, for example, and a customer calls with a change of address, you can change it in your computer. If your other computers are not linked up, the information will not go into the other computers. You will have to copy the information on a diskette and it will have to be copied into each computer individually. After a while, you may not even be sure who has the most updated copy.

Without a network, it’s very difficult to share information. With a network, information would go into all the computers at once, without having to copy from diskette, because the information is coming only from one computer, called a file server. All the information is stored in one server and everyone is sharing it.

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PC AGE Technical Institutes provide certification training in two locations in New Jersey (Jersey City, NJ & Edison, NJ). PC AGE Technical Institutes certification training program is approved by the New Jersey Department of Education and accredited by ACCET.
Copyright © 2008 by PC AGE, Inc.