One of New Jersey's best-kept secrets might just be Hasbrouck Heights-based Solartech . While the small, local computer and IT training school might be off the radar for some, praise from former students is helping the school gain a reputation as an institution with high standards, attentive educators, and a level of personal attention that's become something of a rarity at larger training schools. We recently spoke with CEO Victor Liang about the up-and-coming training school.
What does Solartech do?
Solartech is a Microsoft Certified Technical Education Center and licensed vocational school focused on computer training. We offer training to both corporate IT professionals and individual learners.
When and how was the company founded?
Solartech was founded in 1996. I joined the company in 1998, and it was after that time that we started focusing on computer training.
How many students attend Solartech?
We have more than 1,200 students attending classes and pursuing certification from Solartech.
What makes Solartech unique among training schools?
We are unique because we have one clear focus: the quality of our training. We have developed a top-quality school in terms of our educators-all are top-notch certified instructors. In addition, we have invested in state-of-the-art equipment and learning environments, and we use only Microsoft Official Curriculum courseware on all Microsoft technical training courses.
We also go the extra mile in small ways that make a difference. Our staff is so courteous and supportive of the students. And we provide free snacks and refreshments for both our day and evening students, which they are pretty pleased about.
What other things do you offer students, in the way of scholarships or job placement/career services?
Solartech gives out three $1,000 scholarships every month. We select the recipients of these scholarships from candidates who have registered for our courses on the Solartech Web site.
We also offer blended training courses. These combine instructor-led classes plus computer-based training (CBT) e-learning. Finally, we provide a wide variety of career and placement services.
In what areas of IT are you seeing a strong demand for workers?
Right now we are seeing a high demand in programming, Web development, and technical support.
What's the future of the .NET platform?
We have been working extensively with Microsoft to educate both corporate clients and individuals about Microsoft .NET platform, so overall awareness and acceptance is increasing. In the past months, we've seen more and more .NET training demands from the corporate sector, as well. So it's definitely a growing trend that's starting to pick up speed.
For students, the good news about the .NET platform is that from a programming perspective, the newly released VS.NET programming tool dramatically simplifies the programming process and as a result, programming in .NET is a lot less intimidating. So I think we will see it become pretty popular with people who want to program, but who think programming is too difficult.
Because of Microsoft's effort to adopt industry standards like UDDI and XML as an important aspect of the .NET initiative, I strongly believe that it will receive wider acceptance from corporate and IT professionals.
What else will we see from Solartech this year?
We just moved into a new 13,500-square-foot facility, which is almost three times the size of our original location. So we have a lot of room to grow. Our goals for this year are to expand our corporate outreach and to seek national accreditation.
do you know a local company we should cover? Let us know about it. Send your local profile candidates to Christy Mulligan.
