I can only write about my own experiences here as a student in the Software Development course from one of DCI's centers, so take this evaluation with a grain of salt from someone with a tendency to be unsociable and losses all feelings in their legs during a test.
First off, from what I have seen when I first began the program, it was a bit of a mess. Instructors who seemed to have little coordination between themselves and students, some assignments that took a general account and assumption that everyone had the same level of experience within a singular programming language (I had C++ experience but had to learn C# from scratch), little interaction whenever a course had been updated and little to no cohesive resources for students. Of course, things got steadier over time quite fast within the first few months with new instructors, new methods for general contacts, consolidated study resources and even projects integrated for the course you are taking i.e. Software Developer students working on web pages from scratch or working on individual projects that can be presented to potential employers. As someone who prefers to work alone and interact whenever something important needs to be said or done I appreciate that I am not constantly hounded by instructors treating me like I do not know how to turn on a computer (true story, college was and still has instructors that bad). While there is at least one instructor who is almost this invasive he at least has good intentions to help students, even if he oozes pretentiousness.
Secondly, while still on the subject of the courses, they are a rough outline of what you can expect to have to study for. Just as tech keeps changing, so too, does the outline for each course as well as which courses are available. Before I joined they actually had a game development course, which I would have taken at the drop of a hat. Unfortunately, they most likely did not have anyone interested in it at the time so it was removed and I ended up taking Software Development. Not much of an issue since I have experience in scripting and game design. If only I had known it would be C# I could have braced myself for impact. Not my best first impression for DCI but, I managed to pick it up fairly quickly nonetheless since it shared many similarities to C++. Live and learn, c'est la vie. As it turns out, the next batch of SD students had a more refined outline than I did when first starting out so it showed me DCI takes feedback seriously. They even give you the option to take any new parts that were added to the course i.e. when Javascript was introduced in the new course I was given the option to do it as well.
Third, when it comes to test taking, I did have one issue early on where it was not made clear that the Test Vouchers give you two attempts and that the second attempt expires within the same month the voucher is used. Of course it was not mentioned we should go over the rules for the voucher on Pearson's site. Hence, when I failed my first attempt I did not know this and to my own detriment did not think of going over the FAQ myself. Thankfully they did give me a new voucher and DCI paid for it out of their own pockets. Although, I should mention that the Pearson VUE site had a tendency to freeze sometimes (thankfully it also froze the timer so I lost no time... which did help me calm down a little). Now, there were times early on when the vouchers got mixed up or lost but, DCI managed to set things straight fairly fast. If memory serves correctly the longest someone waited to get a new voucher after a mix up was two days due to a holiday.
Overall, these have been my experiences from time spennt in the program right off the top of my head. Was it perfect when I first started? HA! AHAHAHAHAHAHA! (think of J. Jonah Jameson laughing) Did it get better and they actually improved the courses and resources as an IT program? Definitely. read more
