Cybersecurity Specialist Program

Centriq is a valuable experience. Their curriculum is well thought out for the amount of time the courses take to complete. The instructors are knowledgeable and very encouraging. The career services and interview preparation are a standout, they are worth almost a full course by themselves. 

I’ve been in IT for several years and was looking to pivot and further my career into a more technical field. Centriq provided me with, not only the knowledge, but the support to make the transition and land my dream job within a company on the cusp of technological innovation. Caleb and crew are really talented people who are passionate about their mission and are willing to work extensively to help others be successful. 

Centriq Cybersecurity boot camp will teach you how to build and configure virtual machines, analyze security protocols, device security and management. You will use real life scenarios to complete projects. The school will work with you from anywhere to ensure you achieve your dream career in IT. I will recommend Centriq to anyone who is starting with little or no knowledge in IT. 

During my time at Centriq, I gained the hands-on experience and additional knowledge I needed to advance my career in Networking & Cyber Security, as well gained knowledge about the Cloud, Active Directory, Linux CLI, (which I have converted to from Windows OS). I am surrounded by amazing and humble people at Centriq who I know will support me in every way. If you’re looking for, or needing a change - step out of the fog and into Centriq’s brilliant ray of sunshine. You won’t regret it! I don't.

When I got out of the military, I was faced with some cold realities: as a submarine torpedoman there are few transferable skills that I could offer to a company, and that of those places my back could not support me working in them.At a loss for direction, I was informed about Centriq; they offered IT specialist training to even those without any foundational knowledge. I’d always been the one to help with minor issues around the house for my family, and I’m a big gamer, so nervously I contacted them. In just a few days they assisted me with everything I needed to succeed, including the G.I. Bill paperwork.I showed up to class my first day extremely nervous as I had no foundational knowledge on IT and had not been in a classroom setting since I graduated high school, 8 years earlier. All of that anxiety went straight out of the window after about 2 hours, as I realized I wasn’t alone. 4 other veterans who were dealing with the same discomfort were in the class with me, along with 8 other classmates who also had little to no experience in IT. Over the next 3-4 months, we learned the fundamentals of PC and Server hardware, cabling, network construction and management, Cloud management, how to interact with users, answer/solve tickets in ConnectWise, and 4 weeks of Cybersecurity design to help you pass the Sec+.The instructors were top of the line. All of them were willing to field any and every question I had, no matter how basic or complex. They really made me feel that my education was priority 1, and would offer end explanation, examples and analogies until I truly grasped the information. I truly consider all of them friends and mentors.In your first few weeks, their excellent staff will assist with resume and cover letter writing/building, and in the security weeks they’ll help with interview skills, applications, networking with their own connections and they even invite companies in to interview students for open positions. Additionally, the rest of the staff helped to make Centriq a place that I wanted to be. They made each day a great day.I would absolutely recommend Centriq to anyone. I can’t speak highly enough of Centriq and my experience there. 

Early in 2023, I started Centriq's updated cybersecurity course with no coding experience except a few YouTube vids and too much gaming. Though the cost gave me pause, the end results were well worth it. The staff created a positive learning environment, and despite the intensity, I gained a solid grasp of cybersecurity and cloud solutions.
Centriq not only polished my resume but equipped me with practical soft and hard skills I've struggled with in the past as an introverted gamer. I landed an entry level data engineer role at Datadog that couldn't be a better fit.
While the price was steep, the return on investment is undeniable along with the accountability help from instructors. For anyone serious about entering cybersecurity this new year, Centriq offers a transformative experience beyond textbooks and . I'm grateful for the dedicated instructors who made it possible. I 100% recommend Centriq for anyone looking to land a job in tech fwiw. 

Overall my experience with Centriq is positive. I took the Cloud and Security course, so I can not speak for the other courses that are offered. Ill describe my overall experience then have some bullet points below for pros and cons. I started my course earlier this year after dropping out of college, thinking that this will be a better option than 3 more years of college. Throughout the course, you are given an insane amount of information, and it comes at you fast. Taking notes, asking questions, and doing as much work as you can is the most important thing that you can do. Being in person in class every single day is a must, missing a day can put you so far back. The instructors are all amazing, want to be there and to help you, honestly best part of the course. Some of the content has been meh, but overall for what it is and what is says to be, it is spot on in my opinion. If you are going into this thinking that after 4 months you are going to be able to land a $80K+ year job, you are going to fail. The first job you get after Centriq will more than likely be Help Desk, which they do prepare you for when you are learning. I think this is a smart move, as this will get you a lot of experience in the real world, that school simply can not give you. The two certifications that they offered was the MS900 and CompTIA Sec+. I am still studying for these on my off time, but you can 100% get the MS900 done while you are in school. The Sec+ you will not, as the classes for that are the last weeks of the course. While there is not job placement, they do have great career services, sending out your resume, and sending you job listings as well. I was able to find a job a couple weeks after school ended, and I am sure if personal life stuff did not happen, I could have lined a job up for the week after classes were done. I worked a part time job during classes as well, and there are break weeks that if you need to study/pick up extra shifts, there is that option. We did go on a tour of a company, and during the tour the guide went off on a rant about how you should only use your break weeks to study and nothing else. It felt super tone death to me, as I had to pick up extra shifts the entire week just to afford to do the drive back and forth to the city to do this course. I choose not to work there. I will have another comment about them in the cons. Now for the pros. 
Amazing staff, wanting to help and teach you anything you want to know. 
Lots of information, in the form of notes, assignments, instructors, different certs or training websites. 
Professional Development, if you have not worked in a customer service environment, this is a plus for you. Just good knowledge on how to work with customers or in a professional development. 
It is only 4 months long. Compared to a 4 year degree, I think this is the better option if you want to start working and building experience, as everyone starts at the same position. For my current job, the coworker I have been training with has a 4 year degree, and we are starting at the same position for the same pay. A degree does not mean anything, except for some picky jobs. 
My class, this one is up in the air, as this will change for every course, but my class was fantastic. Everyone who goes here is looking for something, and that is a career in IT. We all were able to build each other up, and were there for when we needed each other. Personally better than the college experience, where it felt like no one wanted to be there. 
Know nothing about a computer and want to learn? This is built for you. The first few weeks are very slowly building up very base knowledge, however if you really don't know computers, you HAVE TO PAY ATTENTION. 

And of course, the cons. 
Burn out is real, you will get burn out. You have to prepare for that. 
We went on a tour of a company, and during the question part of it, the tour guide was somewhat rude, and gave an insulting low starting pay, $16 an hour. Whatever you do, do not work for a company that pays that low after going to school. Do not. This tour really ruined my mental image of what I was doing, but when I started to apply for jobs, I realized this was a one off thing, but it was still negative. 
Professional Development. Yeah this is also a con, as someone who has worked in a customer service environment, this was always a drag in the morning to do, because it was just common knowledge. From what I heard, they are reworking the Professional development, so this might be better now, lets hope. 
The price. I payed 26 thousand dollars for this. Comparing this to the degree I would have gotten from college, this is significantly cheaper, and only took 4 months. For me, being able to have some knowledge and being able to get out into the work force is more important then taking the extra couple years to finish my degree, you may agree, and I get that.  
Starting out jobs after you finish. IT Help Desk is not the best job in the world, and that is where 90% of people are going to start their IT careers at. You cant expect to get the high paying senior level job after only 4 months of school, you can go to college for 4 years and end up at the same spot. 
This is an ENTRY level course, so the first few weeks will be a snore fest for people who know more than a base level knowledge of tech and how it works. I have personal experience with computers, building them, ect, so going over was RAM and a CPU was, was incredibly boring, but it does pick up.