Today, I spent an informative afternoon touring The Learning Center with owner Linda Montgomery. Linda founded this IT technical training center 26 years ago. Her impressive facility, housing over 250 computers, has been located for 3 years at 777 N. Rainbow, just past U.S. 95. TLC provides IT certification training to many of Nevada’s largest corporations who need staff training. TLC also provides training for many government employees, including computer security training for the armed services. Individual vocational retraining is also provided for veterans, people looking for a new career, and for injured workers entitled to vocational rehabilitation benefits on their accepted workers’ compensation claims.
Linda shared her detailed research with me regarding the expected employment outlook for various IT careers. She is particularly excited about two certification programs the center offers in career fields with exceptional growth predicted in the Las Vegas employment market: Green IT, and Health care IT.
Green IT is a career field focused on saving employers energy dollars and reducing toxic emissions from IT equipment. (I wasn’t aware that all our computers release as much toxin into the environment as the aviation industry.) The Computer Support Specialist in Health care IT is a 200 hour certification course that can be completed in six months. Given the current mandate that doctors’ offices and other health care facilities update their IT systems, this should be a very promising career field for injured workers. As with many of the certification courses offered, Linda recommends that the student also complete an internship so that the student is job-ready, with experience to offer potential employers.
TLC’s corporate clients are a valuable source of job leads for students. TLC provides job placement assistance. With heavy emphasis on practical employment skills, job placement efforts actually begin at enrollment Linda told me that her students are carefully monitored to assure that each student not only obtains timely certification, but that each student is a competitive job candidate for employers hiring locally. Linda promised me that she will personally oversee the retraining program of any injured workers who choose an IT certification career at TLC. For more information, please contact Linda Montgomery at (702) 320-8885, or visit the school’s website.
