LANWAN Professional review: Training scam 44

I went through the program and for my CCNA and CCNP with the help of there website they told me to study the answers and questions to pass the test. After I got my certs and I had my first job they did not help me get I lost it because I did not know what I was going. And now they still did not help me get a job after years having a few contracts. Yes they did try to help but never got a job with there help. the Contract did say I did not have to pay anything as long as I had a job. Now they want to file to collections. They are just money hungry. They did not even for full the contract.

This is Patrick Pule, Director of Member Services. As mentioned on previous responses above, my job is to ensure that all potential and new members receive accurate information about who we are and what we do. For this reason, I will occasionally visit blog sites and provide a response so that potential members have an accurate understanding of our membership organization and services.

It has been almost 2 years since I last responded to blogs as on this site. Just as important, we are proud of the fact that we have so few negative blogs on websites such as this one, compared to the thousands of applications we receive every year. In fact, in the last 2 years it looks like there has been 5 blogs from just 3 individuals making either misleading or incorrect statements.

During this same period of time, we have received over 10, 000 applications and serviced over 1, 000 individuals. This is the reason why we have an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau.

In terms of some of the comments mentioned above, please note that most of our members work for major fortune 500 companies and government agencies that require an extensive background check including making sure that anything on their resume is factually correct. In addition, we are very proud of the fact that our members not only get quality employment in LAN/WAN, but typically acclimate and get promotions and pay increase much faster than other professionals in LAN/WAN.

With that stated, membership with LAN/WAN Professional is not for everyone. It is not as simple as whether you possess technical aptitude. You also need to possess transferable professional skills and be able to learn efficiently and have a consulting perspective/approach to your career including job search.

To ensure that only qualified candidates who are FULLY AWARE of both the benefits and SACRIFICES that will be required to be a successful member of LAN/WAN Professional, we allow all qualified candidates to personally test drive and experience our service prior to making any commitments.

We have recently updated the qualification process to allow for a more streamlined process. This is possible through 2 grants including a $690 grant that covers 100% of the value of a 1 to 2 week remote hands-on that you can do from anywhere in the United States and allows you to personally experience how we help you acquire LAN/WAN skills 20+ times faster.

After experiencing us remotely, we offer a second grant that covers 100% of the value of additional services including a 2 day LAN/WAN Job and Career Advancement Camp. The purpose of this camp is to ensure that you have a FULL and THOROUGH understanding of who we are and what we provide as well as the exact process and what you are paying.

At the end of the day, we are seeking a long and mutually positive relationship which will last the rest of your LAN/WAN career. For this reason, we want to ensure that you are fully aware and committed prior to accepting you as a member. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at [protected] or email me at ppule@lanwanprofessional.com.

To Test Drive our service, please visit www.lanwanprofessional.com.

If you make the mistake of falling for their scam and are accepted as a "member", by the time you figure out you have to essentially lie to get a job using their "methodology", they have you are already indebted to them for $50k+ for their dubious "services" rendered. If you balk, the president will threaten to ruin you and your credit. Meanwhile they force you to stick to their methodology and if you don't they kick you out and demand payment.

Their methodology includes recording phone calls (illegal in some states), mis-representing yourself and your background to come off as a seasoned IT professional with years of IT experience (even if your only experience is with them) with recruiters and hiring managers, and totally making it up as you go along while talking with these companies.

The resume they craft for you (for about $3k) gets a ton of traffic and calls from recruiters because it is filled with every single keyword recruiters are looking for. It looks the same as everyone else’s in the program and some recruiters have figured out that people with LWP on their resume are making it all up and lying, because they are.

I did very well in the program at first, they claimed I was a top notch member who could be a developer because of my technical aptitude. I was kicked out for not following their methodology for job searching. I felt sick to my stomach every time I had to talk to hiring managers, because I knew I was LYING. Once I wouldn’t lie anymore, I was kicked out, and they started demanding payment, and it was A LOT. I had to refinance my house to get them off my back! My wife damn near had a heart attack over the whole process. I can’t believe she stuck with me though the whole ordeal, she’s a saint.

If you have no problem LYING to get employment and violating Cisco policy when you try for your certs and don’t mind being $50k poorer in the end, go for it. You’ll just be another member stuck in their contract owing them tens of thousands of dollars. It is like being in debtors jail, the only way out it to pay them or ruin your credit. From what I have read on this board, if you do get a job, they keep after you for more money to help you keep the job. You’ll need the help, because you won’t be prepared in the slightest.

I don’t know how these thieves sleep at night.

I see that Patrick Pule still comments on here. He works for Lanwan Professional Scam and has for about 10 yrs. Here is my question...if this isn't a scam are you legally allowed to run the business and your camps from the residential homes in Anaheim California? If you are legally allowed to do this why don't you have a business license with the City of Anaheim Ca? The City of Anaheim prohibits the use of residential area's for business purposes where the business has employee's coming to the home to work. The two homes used are rented by the company and at least 10 people come to the homes to work on a regular basis. Some of the employees even sleep at the homes. This is a violation of the bylaws. This is also why Lanwan Professional Scam does not have a business license in Anaheim.

I hate to say it but LANWAN Professional is one company that promises more than it can provide. Once they have their hooks in you they will suck your bank dry. Eric Choi will say anything to get more money from you and if you try to get away he will threaten to ruin your credit. Stay away! Their grants are nothing more than bait to lure you in.

Why if this company is bad are there no negative customer reviews at the BBB site: http://www.bbb.org/sdoc/business-reviews/employment-training/lan-wan-professional-in-irvine-ca-100102804/ The BBB site shows 5 complaints, and no one has bothered to fill out a customer review there. I am not saying anything good or bad about this company. I know networking takes times and effort to learn. I have been in the field 15 years. I still have to work hard to learn aspects of the field.

This company was founded by a manipulator

The owner Eric Choi has practically ran this company to the ground from the start.

From the looks of it, he over works his employees and pays them in peanuts and lies.

From speaking with one of the employees about the history of the company, it sounded like things were looking up for this company but then the owner decided not to pay rent at the old building and was evicted and was sued for it. Not so smart right?

Now when I came to test-drive the camp I had to pay up the wazoo for airfare, and when we were picked up it was great customer service. Then ad we reached our destination...it was a house with outdated equipment and bunk beds...I came here for training not a sleep over.

The owner then comes in and gives his elevator sales pitch that should've lasted an hour but went on for almost 8 hours. just they way he talked felt like a lie.

His poor employees work day and night for almost for 15 hours straight. These guys look tired and beat up. I heard that they severely underpaid for what they are actually worth.

The place over all is just depressing that someone could get away with running a company this way.

Don't waste your time with this company. Unless they get their act together and change the atmosphere and philosophy of this company. this company will continue to stay where they are for a long time.

Hi, i almost get into this, today i will take the assesment, i´m CCNA and CCNP certified but with no hands on experience, i´m wondering if to take this risk worth for me, since i though they would find a job for me, and i didin´t have to pay anything until a get a job, now i´m reading differen story, can someone help me with a good advise?

I was going to remain silent on this as it is not technically a scam as they use the law and legal contracts to protect themselves. Then I read gfunk7771's post. This is not a measly $1900. I am paying over $24, 000 over 2 1/2 years. This is almost 20% of my earnings. The point of making the 20% feasible is that supposedly they will get you a job that pays over 20% more then what you are currently making.

After going through the 3 day camp, I received my CCNA, CCNA-Security, CCNA-Wireless, and CCNA-Voice. Most of this was due to brain dumps, which I don't have a problem with as long as they are accompanied by actual learning and trianing in these areas.

The 11 day camp, I had to sign contracts and pay deposits before I went to it, but with promises of 80K starting, how could I lose. During the 11 day camp, before we even started, there was a contract to sign that stated we would spend 40 hours a week actively looking for a job, and if we didn't spend that amount of time each week looking, they would sue us. I had just signed a lot of contracts before going out there, and paid a deposit and flight out for the 11 day camp. Why wasn't this contract in the mix, obviously because they know the chances of us going to the 11 day camp would be deminished had we known we would have to sign this contract. Of course we have already paid all this money, and they wouldn't let us train, we would have had to pay to get flight changed to go home and would have still been out the money for the deposit, so of course under duress I signed it.

The 11 day was nice, the house was nice and they have snacks and provide meals, at the end of the camp they had some of the employees come out ot the house and had a party. The training was good, we got a lot of hands on experience building networks from scratch, but not much in the way of troubleshooting except to study for the CCNP-TShoot.

After the 11 day camp, I was on my own. They had trained us in some interviewing techniques, gave us the basics on command line configurations and some theory for networking. It took me over 2 months of searching for a job in multiple states. I had to find a job to tide me over until I could find gainful employment. I told them this, and they started talking about how we will need to work something out to pay them back. Of course the day after I get that call, I get a job offer. The job started at a little over $25/hour. wich was a 20% increase over the previous job I had. I had to move 120 miles away and rent a house, plus pay for moving. So basically for 2 1/2 years I am making the same amount of money I would have had I stuck with the other job. The company I started working for actually trained me and got me prepared for answering calls. I still owe them for almost a year, and today I tried logging in and I don't have access to the Lanwanprofessional site or email. I will give them a chance to figure out what is wrong, else stop payments to them. All and all the experience while "training" was good, but the after experience, and finding that I could have gotten the same trainging for hundreds of dollars, and the brain dumps were free sites, so could have passed the tests for a lot cheaper. Over all I would say find another way to get the training and save yourself a lot of money. They will not help place you, and they do not have a paid internship program. There are a lot of camp programs out there that corporations pay for to get their employees trained, that do cost as much or more than LAN WAN Professional, but employers pay, and they pay for training, not for the answers to pass a test.

As for Eric Choi, he is a salesman and he will hard sell you and make you think you can do whatever he says and the emplyers will just all have a bidding war over you, but don't expect that to happen as he won't be there in the interview to help you answer the questions, and they don't even teach you about the one thing every employer will ask you in an interview. STP. Know about STP and OSPF as well as you can, and you can usually impress an employer enough to give you a chance.

The owner of LanWan Professional ERIC CHOI IS A SHYSTER MONEY HUNGRY shady man. He tries to get every penny he can from anyone he can take advantage of. If you are thinking about going through the training program DO NOT invest your money or time. ALL ERIC CHOI cares about is how much money he can get from each candidate that goes through the program and will make you pay 19.95% out of your pay after job placement for about 24-36 months. The total cost of the program is valued at about 50, 000.00. You will have to pay this back through a percentage of your pay check which can be 19.95 %. You will also have to pay a security deposit which ranges anywhere from $500-$1000 depending on your credit check and work experience, not including meals and lodging and air fare to get to camp. Meals and lodging fees vary depending on what Eric Choi decides he feels like changing it to that week. Also, after attending a 3 day camp, and you decide you want to move forward into the program and are accepted you will be responsible for a larger security deposit towards the entire program which can vary from $1000.00-$7000.00 and have to pay for the 11 day camp meals and lodging and air fare which usually costs about $149.00 a night for lodging for 11 days. You also have to pay for all of your CCNA Exams which start at $250.00 for each. After completing the training program then you are expected to start searching for a job and start working within 2-4 weeks.
Basically he is charging people way more than he should and is making a lot of profit. The training camp does not cost him that much money to have the computers, routers, switches, and training material for each candidate.
From personal experience and working for the company, I wanted to obtain my CCNA Certifications and get more training. After discussing this with Eric Choi, he actually had the audacity to tell my that he would come up with a price for the training program...REALLY? I was working for the company and he was more concerned about the cost of training and needed to have a deposit that weekend and only gave me 1 or 2 days. He wanted to charge me $6, 000 to go through the training program and also take $1000.00 out of my monthly pay to pay back for the training. I was working for the company and not making very much, but somehow he thought he could get me to pay $6, 000.00 an then payback the total value of $20, 000.00 through my paycheck.
VERY SHADY MAN WHO TRIES TO PINCH EVERY PENNY. DO NOT WORK FOR THEM... he will hire you as an independent contractor which means you are responsible for filing your own taxes. Also when you work as an independent contractor you make your own hours and are not on the companies W2. Well when I filed my taxes I was told by the Tax specialist that and independent contractor works their own hours and come and go as they please and are responsible for paying double taxes meaning I had to pay for my taxes that were not taken out and also pay for what the company would have paid for if I was a regular employee. Eric Choi hires people as independent contractors so that he doesn't have to pay taxes on each indivual, but makes you work as if you are a regular employee and be at the office everyday and by a certain time. Again trying get as much money as he can.

Please do not waste your time with this scammer...he is very sneaky and I can't believe i worked for this company!
I found out the hard way!

What srinks is they are still all over the job boards displayed prominently.

What stinks is I still see them prominently displayed on job boards

I live in Massachusetts. I was very nervous about this company at first, however, I did exactly what they asked and I passed all of my certs. I currently have 6 Cisco Certifications through LanWanProfessionals and I am telling you, this company is the real deal. If you work hard, you will pass. I studied 400 hours to pass the CCNA exam. Without this company, I would have never made it. My name is Tom Stevens at my telephone number is [protected]. I am a real student from LanWanProfessionals. Call me directly and I will straighten your ### out regarding the credibility of this company.

I retract my previous comment due to some incidents that have happened recently. The training is good but the owner is the reason for all the blogs. He has an inflated vision of what the training is worth. Don't get sucked into a contract because it will most likely be one sided. Also, I know for a fact that some employees have posted good things on here. I was one of them but I can see through all the empty promises now. While I wish the employess at LWP the best, I think they know the end is near. Got your paycheck yet? How about those stock options, benefits, 401Ks? Eric Choi promised you so it must be true, right?

1. was working in some dinky help desk position after graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Security & Information Assurance (paying as much as i did for college and all of that leading me to working in a help desk position... this was such a bummer)
2. nearing the end of 2009, i saw the ads that LANWANProfessional posted either on gmail or on a job site (can't exactly recall)... and I applied
3. i had a bad credit score (student loans and credit cards that i couldn't really afford to pay after graduation) so I had to pay a security deposit prior to coming to camp since i posed as a liability to their company... it was tough to come up with the money... but once i did, i was psyched about attending camp and was able to get the necessary days off from my company where i was working in the help desk position.
4. went to camp (it was 10 days at the time). Left camp having a ridiculous amount of hands on training along with a CCNA certification. They took us to a local testing center to take the exam and I had finally passed my CCNA! (the reason i say finally is because i took the ICND1 exam twice before this with the training that i received from New Horizons Computer Learning Center, which alone cost me $5000 and i failed both of those attempts... ) so yea... when i left camp i was definitely happy because along with getting my CCNA, i also took a lot of hands on exams while at camp that really proved my hands on proficiency with the CLI of the Cisco IOS.
5. once i returned to work, within a couple of months i ended up being promoted from help desk into a LAN Analyst position and received a $10, 000 jump in my salary. there's no way in hell i could've gotten this promotion without having attended camp and getting both the hands on training along with my CCNA certification. Plus my company also was aware that i was continuing to work on getting additional Cisco certifications remotely with LAN WAN Professional.
6. today... a year and half since i first started as a client with this company, i'm CCIE written certified and on track to take my lab exam by August of this year.
7. there is only one person from the camp that i attended that is in a similar situation as I am but he might actually get his full CCIE certification even sooner than me. the rest of the people that attended my camp basically just didn't last and got washed out. Getting this far took A LOT of hard work and sacrifice, but I never imagined that at the age of 25, I'd be so close to attaining the most prestigious Cisco certification that Cisco offers: CCIE. And having been a client for this long with this company, i learned first hand that they weren't kidding when they said that they only want SERIOUS candidates to apply; it just won't workout otherwise. Funny thing is... i saw some of the negative blogs before fully signing on with LAN WAN Professional and immediately all the red flags went up... i decided to call them up and after exhausting one of their representatives with all of the questions i had on my mind after reading the blogs, i felt confident enough to take the risk and sign up. Having made it this far, I'm so glad I made that decision to ask them questions instead of just making a decision about my career only based on blogs that basically anyone and everyone can post to. Plus i figured, i had nothing to lose by at least asking more questions... If you are someone reading this and you are serious about putting in the effort it will take to succeed, whether it is only in getting your CCNA or CCDA or CCNP or CCDP or even the crazy CCIE... and you are considering this company, do your due diligence in your research... read through all the blogs, check out their ratings with the BBB both with this current company name "LAN WAN Professional" (A rating) as well as their previous organization name Tech Pros Group (C rating) and call them up yourself and ask them all the questions in the world and read all of their explanations and service details before you sign up for anything!
8. to anyone reading this post who is also working on attaining their CCIE cert... BEST OF LUCK TO YOU AND DON'T GIVE UP ON GETTIING THAT CCIE NUMBER! :) (if your are someone who has no clue what a CCIE is or why it's even important, just go to any job site and type in CCIE and check out the range of salaries)

Only If I would have found all this complaints before I signed with them...I wouldn't be owning them any money. At least is not that much but still, getting scam is not funny at all. The way they advertise things its wrong, they don't tell you that It has to be you finding your job, being in the computer for 40 hours online uploading your resume on every job search webpage. Believe me when i say YOU DON'T NEED THEM. You can invest your own money in a better way, you can buy the books to prepare you for the CCNA for about $75.00, you can also pay for preparation test to make sure you'll pass it...and then the Test itself its $250. Sum all that and it's not even close to the $1, 795 that they ask for their "Training", that you are doing with the Lab guide that they send to you and at least in my case, when i actually had a question to my mentor, instead of explaining me or troubleshooting he just gave me the answers for the Lab...The word professionals is too big for them, just take the courage to read the books and your set...This company doesn't do anything for you but take your money! After you pay the first amount the calls and emails stop till you go to the camp and they take the rest... Once again DON'T TRUST THEM!
I wouldn't be surprise that the good comments for this company...specially that last one would be from one of the owners of the company, you can not even trust BBB, how is it that this company has a A raiting,

I am currently a client of LANWAN Professional. I attended a camp back in Sept. 2009 and loved every minute of it. I learned so much at that camp and fell in love with the hands-on training. I'm a career changer with over 13 years of professional graphic design experience. I did go to college as a computer science major but never completed my bachelors. Because of that I found it extremely difficult to get into the IT industry. LANWAN Professional was the answer and the way for me to break into this industry. Unfortunantly, back in 2009, it was not the right time for me to join the program. I got a job offer in my graphic design career which looked extremely promising so I went back to it. Almost one year later, I got laid-off and was back on the market hunting for a new job. That's when I decide to change careers and I contacted LANWAN Professional and re-applied for the placement program.

I attended another camp in Dec. 2010, extremely excited to get some more hands-on training, but was pleasantly surprised with the changes they had made with the program, especially the placement training. I was able to get my CCNA certification 2 weeks after attending camp, and was also able to pass my CCNA Voice, CCNA Security, and CCNA Wireless all within 2 months. I'm now currently working as a Network Engineer and I am able to support my family the way I have always wanted to, comfortably. I am currently in Stage 4 of the placement program and have a goal to attain my CCNP by end of April.

I read alot of these negative blogs, and laugh at how ridiculous they sound. Most of them are based on half-truth and opinion. True IT Professionals are smart enough to tell what is real and based on facts. Do some real research for yourself, I did. I went to the BBB website and looked up LANWAN Professional and found that they actually have a great rating. I also visited the www.lanwanprofessional.info and www.lanwanprofessionalscam.com, what a joke. Are you kidding me? Those sites look like scams themself. My 10 year-old could build a better website, with the cheesy graphics and false claims. I clicked on the BBB link on one of the websites claiming an 'F' rating and I found that not to be true. I also watched the video hosted by youtube on the same site which was supposed convince me that LANWAN Professional was a bunch of scammers, I guess with Facts, and what I found was whole lot of animated graphics (no facts). What is funny though, is that if you watch the video all the way to the end, Youtube automatically lists "related" videos, and quess what videos pop up? Actual videos of past candidates that have gone through the camp. I was expecting the see a bunch of candidate that were not happy with the program, but to my surprise, they had nothing but good things to say about LANWAN Professional!

Based on my research and my personal experience with the company, I would have to say the true scammers are those individuals that did not have what it takes to be successful in this program. And instead of owning up to their own failures they have decide to blame someone else for it, and in the process have devoted way too much time trying to lead away those people who could really benefit from the program.

Here are the facts:
- LANWAN Professional helped me to get the training and certifications to be a successful IT Professional.
- Nothing they told me was false.
- I was able to get my certifications with the training they provided.
- I was able to begin my career using their placement training.

If LANWAN Professional was truly a scam, then they wouldn't be in business right now. Plus if anyone has experienced Stage 1 of their program you would be able to see that there is just way to much work involved for it to be a scam to get what? a measely $1, 900 for exam fees? Give me a break. I paid my $1, 900 and so far have used up $1, 000 of it by taking my 1st four exams and passing them. Did LANWAN steal that money from me? NO. 3 more certs and I will have succeeded where I guess everyone should have failed (because it's a scam!) Sarcasm fully intended.

To all those who are researching LANWAN Professional, don't believe what you read on the blogs and a couple obviously non-legit websites. Do some real research based on fact from legitimate websites like the BBB, etc.

If you still think the blogs are true then I've got some tabloids you may be interested in reading.

I'm not downplaying your experience with them. I understand the frustration involved when you have a bad business experience as I have one with another company (CBT Direct to be precise). All I'm saying is MY LAN/WAN Professional experience was positive. CBT Direct, on the other hand, can KMA.

They just keep sending their minions to this board to try and offset the amount of dissatisfied customers they have created. Nice try, but we're on to you, dipwads!

I recently signed up for training and finished the CCNA bootcamp last week.
I found the training to be very useful and relevant.
I've not been asked to lie on my resume nor anywhere.
I am very satisified with the services I'm receiving and I look forward to their further services.

I went there and made a big mistake. You don't learn nothing new but pay or will pay a lot of money for it. From the practical standpoint you do one good lab and that's your "6 month experience". The rest of the camp are the lectures how to get a job but those are just the most general information that everybody already knew. Be on time for an interview, dress nicely, be confident, ..etc.. No inside info, nothing that will give you an advantage in getting a job. " Job placement" consists of telling you to apply on monster.com and similar sites. All in al, l you are exactly where you were before the camp, but now you owe them a lot of money...

I think the lanwanprofessional staff just found this page and decided to do damage control...

I was one of the few who was part of lanwan professional engineering camp. It was basically a camp that was all about getting your certs. About the job placement they claim to provide, it isn't just handed over to you. You have to put your time and effort into it, but they give you specific directions on what you need and even create a professional resume for you. The payments are made after you find a job, but caution you have to exactly put in the amount of time they ask you to with finding a job. So they don't charge you for your services until you get a job, but you have to do exactly that they ask you to. You can also get a one-time settlement which is a lot cheaper than the taking a cut out of your salary. I took the settlement fee because I found a job.

There's some value in it with the money you pay, in that you also get a pretty sweet e-mail address that uses a virtual Microsoft Exchange server which ends in @lanwanprofessional.com for marketing yourself on your resume. You also get a lifetime membership where you get to read new tech books and get additional training that pros use. You get cert preps for the Cisco and Microsoft exams all the way up to CCNE which I easily obtained- the questions that prepare you for certs are pretty dead-on, so memorizing answers to those 500 multiple choice questions will definitely make you pass.

I have accepted the request and spoken to two members of the company. So far the e-mail and phone numbers work and they are following up. As for the boot-camp, I was told it is free. I have to cover transportation. The company makes money because as a Cisco certified rep. there products and interests are being represented. In other words, they are hoping those who enroll have ethics and won't jump ship at the first sign of a fatter pay check.
I have a problem with landing entry-level work and internships. They do have a department that will educate you in using the correct terminology for the resume. I never agreed with the whole internet employment take over but it was destine to happen. The crawlers sort through resumes looking for keywords. If you do not know them, have enough of them, or place them in the right area the resume will never get selected.
I am pressing on toward the goal and I will check back and hopefully learn from some thoughtful insight.

check www.lanwanprofessional.info and lanwanprofessionalscam.com

They contacted me last night. I read what the percentage they want from your earnings to repay for the training. I'm so glad to find this website telling the truth. It will be a cold day in hell before I do anything with this scam company.

I had a scam recently. From the first moment that they send you a form that you have to fill with your credit card and some other stuff they are scamming you because, if you refuse to finish the course with them they are going to charge 450$ in addition of the amount that you already pay. So, I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS FUC... COMPANY! Beware of this!

I attended ICTP in [protected]. Eric & Ray Choi were running that place. It looked legit, rooms full of routers, switches, etc... But the place went belly up before I was able to get one certification (I blamed myself - working a full time IT job, raising a family, everything else...) and was left on the hook for around $20K worth of student loans. I've actually just come across this new iteration of their 'school', and am supposed to take 'Remote Hands-On Training' starting on Monday. I'm glad I googled 'Lan/Wan Professionals Scams' and came across this page. Looks like it might have taken the wind right out of my sails with regards to getting into the networking trade. I'll keep you posted as to what happens next. I hope they don't read this page, and 'suddenly' decide I'm not serious enough about this training opportunity to attend their 4 day boot camp. I just KNEW this was probably too good to be true (I'm actually still hoping the posters in this forum are all just a bunch of 'Sour Grapes' type people, but the seed of doubt has been planted...

I have been to one of the Grant Camps in Orange County California. I really enjoyed it. I can say that they do give the hands on trainings as promised. For me, they helped prepare me for the CCNA exam but can't find a job yet. So, out of desperation, I'm heading over there again to find out how they can get me placed. And when I say desperation, I mean that I have an impeccable resume with college degree, A+, Net+ and CCNA, including some hardcore freelance work experience. And yet, I can't even get interviews.

Well, I can't say their program is a scam but I can say that I had a lot of suspecions before I attended their camp. By the way, there will be no contract if they are going to fill my resume with lies that I can't backup on the job. As long as I can prove to my employer that the things on my resume are true and I'm able to perform, then I'm not worried about how I get in.

If they have to put themselves on my resume as my former employer, I have to let them know that they are not on my tax return and I don't have their W2. Unless they really employ and pay me. Good luck to myself and everyone!

I am considering attending their training camp in CA though I have not make ant committment. From your experience, I need your advise.

Well, I was a part of the 2004 incarnation of Hardcore Techies. I went to Irvine and took the week classroom labs and workshops and ended it at that. I had the exact same experience as Steve and did no more - it was all too slimy. We, too, were coached to lie on the resume. Our class was one of the last ones of the Hardcore Techies version of the company - a couple of people didn't have to pay for a lot of things because they were too busy going out of business.

Yeah, the scam becomes pretty obvious once they start asking you for your favorite music, movies, websites, etc. I' d like to hear from some actual people who made it all the way to Orange County for the "hands on" camp.

they promised *placement*, they have attempted to redefine placement, such that you place yourself and they provide the incentive via enforcement of a contract you are expected to sign when you arrive at camp, then provide training for placement, the most significant part being "lie on your resume to fill in gaps in employment" They even go so far as to offer their business as your employer.

Company history for these clowns (Eric & Ray Choi)

Urban Networks
ICTP
Hardcore Techies
Tech Pros
Lan Wan Professional

They change their name every two years.