My name’s Alex, and I’m a Calbright student and a lifelong learner.

I have a family, my wife and son, so I’ve been trying to get a good stable income so that I can support us and we can live a more prosperous life.  Education has always been a key to that, so I’m always taking new classes and trying new courses, which is how I know that not every online education is the same.  Not at all.

I’ve been an IT professional for over 10 years. I’ve worked in a variety of different fields in the industry, and a few years ago even started my own business as well, doing IT Consulting. Keeping current, having the right certifications that tell employers I know how to do what they need, is very important to me. Especially when the pandemic hit, and so many jobs and contracts dried up. The competition due to everyone looking for work and contracts increased making it more crucial to improve your background and show you’re different than other candidates.

I’m one of the people they talk about who got burned by a for-profit college. I got an associate’s degree at a for-profit college, and it was expensive, and I don’t feel like it’s been very helpful.  Traditional non-profit colleges are great, even online, but they’re expensive too and have a lot of requirements and complications. Everything has to be done in a more traditional and old way.

I’ve also tried a lot of free online courses. But the free portals don’t provide much support. They’ll put the material on their site, but they’re not there to help you go through it, the way Calbright is. Another amazing aspect I like is how easy and seamless it is to go from one program to another after completing a program, though they do require doing one program at a time.

I’ve tried everything, and Calbright is up there with the best. The service and support is as good as a full university with degree programs, but it’s free and easy to use. Calbright provides a lot of their own material, but they also utilize a lot of a specific certification’s course material as well, so you get everything and it’s a well-rounded learning experience. Not to mention their courses are aimed towards getting you high-value certifications which are highly pertinent in the field of Information Technology.

The people at Calbright have been very helpful. I’m not someone who needs much support, but they schedule meetings, they reach out, they see where you’re at, and make sure you’re on track. It’s a very good support system.  

Someday I want both an MBA and a Masters in cybersecurity. But right now Calbright is a great way to get the skills I need to get where I want to go.  I see programs like Calbright being the future.  A lot of people are going to need education online, because of the future growth of technology, and Calbright is doing it right.