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Job 'network' Meshes
TUESDAY, APRIL 29th, 1997
The Star Ledger
PC AGE Computer School and Students Thrive on Demand for Skills
By Martin C. Daks
Zafar Khizer Guiding a StudentA Fairfield entrepreneur has found a
way to transform jobless men and women into high wage earners.
Using advanced training techniques, Muhammad Zafar says even a
person with no business experience can soon earn more than $20 an
hour after completing a course at his PC AGE computer training
schools in Fairfield and Edison.
While Zafar’s come-on sounds like a get-rich-quick scheme, scores of
former students swear by him, along with a New York City-based
consulting group that has hired his graduates.
The hot growth of computer networking and subsequent demand for
qualified network engineers are key reasons behind Zafar’s stories
of personal turnarounds.
Whenever a firm seeks to gain efficiency by linking its computers
together to share data and resources, it needs qualified personnel
that can not only tie the computers together, but can also sustain
linkage through ongoing electronic maintenance.
People who do this are commonly known as network administrators.
Those with experience can easily command annual salaries of $100,000
or more. Although a variety of software companies produce networking
operating systems, the field is dominated by two giants: Redmond,
Wash.-based Microsoft Corp. and Orem, Utah-based Novell Inc.
Zafar’s school, PC AGE, offers certification training in both
Microsoft and Novell systems. Zafar says his six-month course, which
costs about $5,000, is not for everyone.
A candidate must have some computer aptitude, said Zafar, although
he adds there is no requirement for previous college or computer
training.
Neelum Nawab, Woodbridge, had the aptitude but no computer
background when she signed up in November 1995. "I wanted to get a
job but I had no experience. I couldnt even type," she said
"I checked out a number of other well-known computer training
schools in New Jersey, but PC AGE offered smaller classes with only
one person to a computer. Some other schools had up to three people
sharing a single PC."
Nawab says her six-month training paid off. "Now I’m a consultant,
working with Lucent Technologies as a network administrator," she
said. "And I’m billing out at $55 to $58 an hour."
Zafar, who formerly worked as a database programmer, started the
school in 1991 "after a headhunter told me I was at the top of my
salary range, earning $50,000 a year. I wanted to earn more, and I
saw computer networks as a way to do it," he said.
His background prepared him. He earned a master’s degree in
electronics in his native Pakistan, then moved to the United States
in 1985 and went on to get a master’s in computer science from the
New Jersey Institute of Technology.
"I decided to start teaching a course in computer networking, and
rented some classroom space," he said. "Then I looked for textbooks,
but I wasn’t impressed with the ones that were available. So I
decided to write my own."
He started PC AGE with $4,000. In the beginning, few students
enrolled. "I would sometimes have only one person signed up for a
course," Zafar recalled. But as enrollment grew, Zafar expanded from
two rented rooms with a total of 250 square feet to his current
three locations with eight classrooms, seven instructors, and more
than 100 PCs. Along the way, his textbooks gained a following.
Zafar said colleges like New York University and even competitors
like Chubb Advanced Training in Morristown have used his books.
"Many of my students get well-paid positions with top companies like
AT&T, Hoffman-La Roche, and UPS," said Zafar. There is a great
demand for well-trained CNEs.
Dennis O’Sullivan, recruiting director for Black Rock, a computer
consulting firm in Now York, agrees. "We service the Fortune 500
companies and we’ve used a number of PC AGE graduates," he said.
"They appear to get a very good overview of computer skills, much
broader than what any other schools offer. For the most part, we’ve
been very satisfied with the students that came out of PC AGE."
For now, Zafar's school is enjoying a growth run, but he is aware
the business landscape is filled with competitors. "We compete on
quality", he said, noting that instructors have a Master's Degree or
a Ph.D.
"I called the school PC AGE to reflect the times we are in," Zafar
said. "But I could have called it Mind Age. This is the first time
in history that ordinary people, as opposed to geniuses, can earn a
very good living because of their minds and their analytical skills.
It is a fast-changing field, but a rewarding one. People have
contacted me after they graduated from PC AGE, and told me that
studying here has changed their lives.
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