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Why India?
That was the question that I got the most when I said I was going to India take MCSD C# courses in order to upgrade my skill from a mainframe
developer, as Microsoft headquarters is literally an hour flight from Victoria, BC, Canada to Seattle to which my reply was cost and the timeframe.
 I investigated taking the courses locally only to discover that I would have to travel to a larger city, Vancouver to take the courses and was forced
to use the training company's schedule, so that the same training I have received at Koenig would take about a year rather than the 6 weeks that I will have
taken.
Also these classes generally have 6-10 students whereas, I was able to get one - to - one training from my trainer. Who would quite often create
extra examples of code when I was working on my labs and then go over them with me in order for me to get better understanding of the covered
material.
After pricing everything out and factoring in having to spend time in hotels in Vancouver all the courses would have cost me approximately $20,000
Canadian. So, with this figure in mind I started looking over the internet for cheaper solutions and discovered Koenig Solutions. I thought about it for well
over a year but when I saw that they had established a training facility in tropical Goa, I became serious about taking training in India.
As a single parent of two children, Ben and Chloe I was going to have do something with my children during my six weeks of training, so I started
making inquiries to Koenig as to whether it would be possible to obtain a tutor for them and what the cost would be. After many emails it was
discovered that I could rent a lab for them, get basic math, reading and arithmetic in the morning and some basic computer instruction in the afternoon for
around 250 US a week. Well this further cemented my desire to go on this trip and training adventure.
As I thought a hotel room would not be suitable for the 7 weeks that we would be in Goa, the office manager Maria was able to arrange a very nice two
bedroom apartment at a very reasonable rate. As my plans further developed the children's mother, Eva, decided to come over for a 3 week visit and has
been able to escort the children on a couple of expeditions such as a "Crocodile Dundee" and many visits to the pool at the local 5 star resort as the pool
in our apartment has yet to be filled.
 So with my $20,000 Canadian, I have been able to take myself and my children on a twelve week tour of the world. 8 days exploring London, England, the
Chunnel trip to Paris for a 2 day layover, a flight to Malaysia with a 2 day stop in Kuala Lumpur, 4 days in Delhi where Koenig's representative met us
at the airport and escorted us to our hotel and Koenig's representative gladly arranged for us to take a tour down to Agra to see the Taj
Mahal..then onto Mumbai for a quick tour before heading onto our final destination of Goa where we were met again by a representative of Koenig at the airport and
escorted to our new home for the next 7 weeks. I have added an extra week to the 6 week course duration as I want to see more of Goa than the inside of
fluorescent
lighted room and this past weekend went on an expedition to a local game reserve and went on a elephant ride which was thrilling for all
of us!
I have also arranged on our homeward leg back to Canada, a week stay at a resort in Penang, Malaysia and a two day layover in Frankfurt, Germany
before arriving back to Canada mid-December. In all this trip has been a wonderful experience, not many people can say in the space of week they were in London marveling at the history there,
looking at the view from the Eiffel Tower, see the second tallest buildings in the world while in Kuala Lumpur and then go onto to see the wonderful Taj
Mahal.
Also to receive world class training (currently a 90% average in exam taken to date, fingers crossed) in order to have more career options in the
future. To anyone considering taking boot camp training I would whole heartedly endorse taking training at Koenig Solutions as their staff has been very
professional and courteous (it only took me a couple of weeks to convince them that they could call me sir when I hit my father's age of 75 and that my name was
Steve (still working on the Mr. Steve). My instructor is extremely knowledgeable of the subject matter and from talking to other students they feel much
the same way about their instructors. All in all a well spent $20,000!! |
