If you are thinking about studying at computer power, obviously the first move would be to check out the main website, which is located at http://www.computerpower.ac.nz
You will find out most of what you will need to know there such as which courses are available, the qualification gained, and what kind of job you would expect to get upon completion.
The great thing about computer power is that most of their courses are relatively short. Most of them would fall within one year ranging from a level 4 certification up to level 6. They are all NZQA approved.
The courses offered fall broadly into two categories. Firstly you have programming, learning the basics and then progressively moving up into writing the code in various different languages.
Secondly you have networking and administration. This is where you will learn how to fix computers,network and diagnose problems software and hardware faults.
I cant say much about the programming side of computer powers courses as I did the diploma of systems technology, which was primarily based in hardware faults, administering windows and networking, so the tone of my review will be covering that side of things mostly.
So what happens when you first visit computer power institute?
When you first contact computer power, they will make an appointment to see one of their careers consultants. What this means is that someone will introduce you to the institutes methods of learning, what to expect and what qualification would be best suited to your personal goals.
The careers consultant will show you what courses there are available, give you the costs, the time frame, and administer a test (which is a basic numeracy and literacy test to ensure that you suitable for study)
At this point you will need to make a decision. I do have one criticism here. The careers consultant is really just another name for a salesperson. They WANT to sell you their course obviously, but I do feel that they dont take into account a persons capability or experience. The reason I say this is because whilst i was studying there, i did notice a LOT of people either struggling, moving down to a course that was not so advanced OR dropping out all together. This to me suggests that they are not putting enough thought into the capability of their prospective students, and simply want to make money.
Now that is not to say that they are cold money grubbing monsters. No its not like that, I do feel though that based on the methods that they use to teach their material, more thought needs to be put in for the students benefit.
