Speaker: Ernest P. Calloway, Technical Instructor
Introduce yourself! What is your role and how long have you been with ACI Learning?
Ernest P. Calloway: Hi there. Ernest Calloway here with ACI Learning, I'm a Technical Instructor. I think learning should be fun, so I try to bring a little bit of humor into the class and hopefully that'll help you gain knowledge. Take that information and turn it to knowledge. That's what we're here for.
Tell us about your professional journey.
Ernest P. Calloway: My professional journey, I really started out getting certificates like a lot of our students. I started down this path of certification without having any real hands-on experience and what I found was, I took a long time. It was all computer-based training. I had a self-paced course and I took advantage of that self-paced course. I think I studied for close to maybe 7 or 8 months for A+ and then another 6 or 7 months for A+ Core 2. Network+ was probably 4 months and then A+ I took within weeks after Network+. I was so tired of studying, I just took it. Of course one of the nice things about a boot camp environment, a lot of this information builds on those earlier courses. So it's a fire hose kind of introduction into IT, we throw a lot of information on you. The more time you spend learning that information and turning it into knowledge, the better off you'll be. Hopefully we can get you down to more of a 'weeks' study period as opposed to 'months' in order to pass these certifications.
What is your favorite thing about the IT industry?
Ernest P. Calloway: My favorite thing about IT industry, I think it's just the newness, nothing static here. One of the mantras if you will of IT is "the only thing that's static is change". If you're ex-military, you obviously know what that's about, but if you've been in any, professional or even non-professional job where it's just like everything changes all the time. We try to train that into our workforce to expect change. Be a part of it, things are going to get better.
What has been the most valuable lesson you have learned from your education?
Ernest P. Calloway: So the most valuable lesson I've learned from my education. I think the most valuable lesson I've learned personally is not only does it, you know, education be what it be, it gets your foot in the door. I think the main thing with it just never stop learning. It doesn't matter if you're an instructor or you're a student, there's always something. I learn from my students all the time, I learn from other instructors, I learn new ways of instructing new pieces of information that I can help guide my students into a better way to memorize something or maybe a better way to do something where I don't have to memorize something. I'm a big fan of not having to memorize
What's something you want students to know about you?
Ernest P. Calloway: They want to enjoy life. I enjoy teaching other students. I enjoy guiding them down that path hopefully instructing them in a way that they become more proficient in learning. Learning how to learn is a big part of that. I like to have fun, so let's have a good time. Let's learn along the way, but it shouldn't be boring. All this IT stuff everything that we're throwing at you, there should be at least some of it that actually excites you, that makes you want to learn more and whatever that is, perhaps that can help guide you in your path, in your goal. Whatever that end goal is I wanna help you get there and as long as you're willing to take that path, I'll take it with you. Let's have fun!
What advice would you give to students starting out in the IT industry?
Ernest P. Calloway: Don't be afraid to reach out and ask for help, we're here to help. There's plenty of people in your life that will help and we try to make that as easy a process as possible. So don't be afraid to ask, don't be afraid to ask for help for anything.
