WIA advice Laid Off

[Zerotact]

Hi all,

    In the  middle of my being laid off I heard about the WIA, Workforce Investment Act of 1998. I basically allows Laid off people  elgibility for a $3000-$6000 grant for job training to get back into the work force. I was woundering if anyone had taken advantage of this, and what tehy utilized it for, and how sucessful they thought thier training went. I was debating on welding classes or cisco certifications.

 

 

[billtx]

I'm in Telecom, I would beware of the Cisco certification. It really depends on your area. In Dallas, there have been thousands of Telecom workers shown the door, many either have or could easily have Cisco certification - it's not doing them much good right now. Check around and see what folks need.

I don't know much about the Act, but have heard of it. Why not start the application process now and get the money

 

[Danman]

I was laided off and did take advantage of it. It was called the JPTA (job training partnership act). I took a associates in Telecomunications from Texas State Technical College. I entered the T-com industry during the boom. I'm lucky to still have the same job for 6 years now considering the economy. I have servived three or four rounds of lay-offs. There is realy nobody to lay off that does what I do in the company. There is no telling were I would have ended up had I not done it. I new several that were in classes for welding and some were even in the funded by the JPTA. I talked with one of the welders not to long ago and he was doing well. Welding is a trade skill and will always be needed. I don't see how you can go wrong with that especialy if somebody else is sporting the bill. :thumb:

In exchange to for paying for it (books, supplies, and tuition) they made you sign a few papers saying that it could possibly put you in debt and that your full time job was now school. They also required you to fill out a servey after you had been working in your field that your trained for after 6 months. They don't pay for your living exspenses.

It took me just a little over 2 years although I don't think the welding class took that long. I was 21 then and saving for school so I did not have much to loose. I had a student worker job and did custom picture framing on the side while maintaining a full time class load. I also got a Pell Grant my last semister (very easy to score if you have been in the military or you are over the age of 23). I realy wanted to follow it up the a batchlers in Electronics Engineering, but I'm not so sure now that I have 6 years experince in the field. I work for a consulting engineering firm. They got me cheap right out of school.

One of the best feelings in the world was snagging a job before I left school and leaving the campus with all of my stuff packed in my car. I owned my car, I had a job, I had a small apartment, I had 100 bucks in my pocket, and best of all I owed nobody any money. The crappy part was I only had money to buy a air matress to sleep on in my living room floor. I was happy though.

 

[Zerotact]

Thanks for the advice, My thought was I really didn;'t want more taining on computers or technology as I already know a lot and none of it helps me get a job. But learning to weld would always give me something else to do if I needed a job. But I did concider Cisco Certifications, but not a crappy CCNA, but something more serious Like a CCDA

 

[truespode]

I have a CCDA and the CCDA is easier than the CCNA. Both are entry level certs for Cisco.

From my perspective I think that the infrastructure support area is drying up with jobs. There are some but not a lot that pay what they used to. It used to be if you could pronounce Catalyst you got a good job. Now it is much tougher.

I enjoyed working with Cisco routers and switches and still play with them a little bit but honestly unless you get in with an outsourcing company or a vendor who needs your services it is very hard to get a job doing just Cisco work.

Once the economy started its downturn I was able to stay employed b/c of my M.A. more than my CCDA and years of experience. My M.A. allowed me to get a quazi-team lead position dealing mostly with a small server support team even though I have less experience in the server arena.

Ivan

 

[NVR FNSH]

WIA is paying for me to go the Police Academy - my previous profession was/is mechanical engineering. The other thing you may look at is TAA/TRA - it's basically for people who have lost their jobs due to production going overseas. You have to be classified as TAA/TRA eligible (talk to the Unemployment folks in your area) to be eligible. In my case, the production workers initiated the TAA/TRA claim and the engineering/support/everybody else got to ride along on the coat tails so to speak.

WIA doesn't take much on your part - it's 'free' money for re-training so go for it.

Brian

 

[Zerotact]

I think I am gonna go for it and take some Welding and Some machining classes. That way I can make stuff for my bike, even if it doesn't land me a job