Computer Job Training Schools: Who's Laughing Now?

The commercials might be familiar to anyone who's ever missed a day of work, skipped school, or found any other reason imaginable to watch daytime television. Between showings of Judge Joe Brown, Andy Griffith, and As The World Turns, the commercials appear, ones that seemingly don't air at any other time. These are the ads for debt,relief attorneys, dirt cheap auto insurance, and obscure colleges. They are the businesses that maybe don't have the money or prospective customers to advertise at any other time, save perhaps for the dead of night or Saturday afternoon. And yet the ads are there for at least one good reason: Seemingly, they make money.

Sure, the preceding statement is a generalization, and it's not to say that every obscure commercial that airs is a success. Nothing's perfect in life, of course. Countless deb,relief firms and motorcycle accident attorneys have probably fallen by the wayside, TV ad or no, especially in this economy. Other firms had ads that were laughable 20 years ago and still do today. Cheese can be a timeless factor for some companies that favor the daytime market. But in general, the commercials these companies have made for them have come a long way and become increasingly sophisticated. Again, there's a reason for that.

Take the commercials that appear for the would-be colleges. These are the types of schools that appear in strip malls sometimes, office parks others, maybe abandoned buses for all we know. If one of the graduates of one of these schools were interviewed, their yearbook quote might read something to the extent of, "I went to Western School of Design and Aluminum so that my daughter didn't have to." All the same, the schools have become places in recent years where students both fresh out of high and years removed find themselves getting the necessary skills, computer vocabulary, and other key things they need for a better working life, something better than working at a fast food joint, selling hot real estate, or being unemployed. In time, that better working life might lead to a better life in general as well.

It goes without saying that it's important for these schools to deliver measurable results, be it IT jobs training, massage certification, or some other area of expertise that can be used to land a decent job. A lot of these schools have the same cost of traditional universities, and one of the sad stories of the past few years of economic turmoil has been unsuspecting students getting themselves heavily into debt attending these schools. It's an unfortunate price for a job market that remains unforgiving and still ultimately rewards individuals (or does not reward them) sometimes irrespective of their credentials. The world isn't always fair.

But the hope of course is that these commercials and the schools they promote help people get out of debt or land that better job. After all, no one should be home watching daytime television if they are not choosing to do so.