Got burned by a fake certification test in Austin

I paid $300 for a 'pro-level' IT cert prep course and the practice exam questions were copy-pasted from free blog posts. Has anyone else wasted money on those shady bootcamp ads that promise guaranteed job placement?

3 comments

3 Comments

jakewhite15d ago

Man those bootcamps are the worst, I've been there too. @barbara_grant4 is right that no preview is a huge red flag, I once paid for a "life coaching cert" that turned out to be a single PDF of motivational quotes my grandma could've written.

kim_ramirez315d ago

Honestly, can we take a step back here? I think @barbara_grant4 is being way too harsh on these bootcamps. Not every program is a scam - some are actually solid if you do your homework before paying. Those "red flags" people keep talking about are just standard business practices for smaller training companies that can't afford to give away free samples. I paid $250 for a cert prep course last year, no preview, and it ended up being exactly what I needed to pass the real exam on my first try. The "guaranteed job placement" thing is just marketing speak for "we'll help you look" which is still more than you'd get from a textbook. Maybe the real issue is people expecting a $300 course to be as polished as a $2000 college class.

barbara_grant415d ago

Yeah "guaranteed job placement" is the first red flag right there. I've seen shops that claim they'll get you hired but the fine print says it's only for roles in some other city or part-time temp work. A buddy of mine paid for a cloud cert bootcamp that promised interviews with Amazon and Google. The "placement help" turned out to be a generic spreadsheet of job boards you could find for free. Those practice tests are the same deal - recycled questions from study forums and outdated material. I'd say if a course doesn't let you preview at least a full sample test before paying, walk away.