iCarnegie Student Success Story

Student Overview

For Current Students

Enrollment Information

Student Success Stories

What Students Say

iCarnegie Student Success Story:
Becoming a More Modern Software Programmer After Taking (and Teaching) the iCarnegie Courses

To students considering the iCarnegie curriculum, Maya Varadan says: "If you don't take these courses, you are missing something in life."

Student Mrs. Maya Varadan

Why iCarnegie? She wanted to improve her position as an IT developer by working with the latest technologies and software design principles.

Partner School Sterling Infotech, India

iCarnegie Alumni Status Took five iCarnegie courses; Certified iCarnegie Instructor

Profession & Employer Programmer/Analyst for a leading e-business integration company in the USA

Taking the iCarnegie Courses
Ms. Maya Varadan had been working in an IT development organization for several years, but she was looking to modernize her skills by learning the latest computer programming and software design technologies. When employer Sterling Infotech offered the iCarnegie courses to its IT professionals in fall 2000, she enrolled because she saw that the course syllabus covered the technologies she was hoping to master, such as Java, object-oriented programming and design, user-centered design and testing, database development, and e-commerce application development.

"The experience with iCarnegie was one of great value", she said. "It taught me to use my analytical and new technical skills to successfully complete the assignments in each course module." The aspects of the iCarnegie education she most enjoyed included:

The assignments: "It gives the student a feel of the real project, like in the database systems course where you build a real web application using database connections and front end tools -- you don't face any difficulty when you are in live projects."

The practical quizzes and multiple choice quizzes: "They made me more familiar with the concepts, and the high standards to pass the tests made sure you put forth the effort and proved your skills."

The iCarnegie web-based curriculum delivery system: Complementing the live classroom training at Sterling Infotech, she found the iCarnegie system was very effective. "You could study anywhere, anytime."

Ms. Varadan completed three of the iCarnegie courses, and was taking two additional courses when she married and moved to the United States.

Becoming iCarnegie Certified
In the process of her new skills development, she also became a certified iCarnegie Instructor for several of the courses. "Adding the iCarnegie certifications to my resume has produced tremendous value, because any company that sees my resume asks about the courses and certifications", she said. "It gives me an opportunity to explain what I have learned through the program."

Achieving Professional Advancement
After moving to the United States from India, Ms. Varadan began looking for employment opportunities. On her resume, she included her iCarnegie instructor certification, listed her technical skills, and described her project experiences in detail. She also had a list of the iCarnegie courses she completed, ready to present during interviews.

She responded to an online job opening for a leading and publicly traded international system integration consultancy that provides IT services for Internet strategy and development. She was first required to pass an online technical exam to be considered for an interview. After passing the exam, she had a technical interview first, during which she encountered questions about her prior projects and the iCarnegie instructor certification that she held.

"I gave a brief description of each course module, and they were very much impressed", she said. "It became clear to them that a student of the iCarnegie courses gains knowledge in a range of technology skills and platforms."

Ms. Varadan was hired in August 2003 to work in the company's Harrisburg, Pennsylvania USA office as a Programmer/Analyst. Her salary now is about 50% more than her previous job. She was hired for the Java programming experience she gained after taking - and then teaching - the iCarnegie courses.

Working in the Industry Today
For her employer, Ms. Varadan is involved as a designer and programmer for a major J2EE (Java 2 Enterprise Edition) project for the State of Pennsylvania. As part of her employer's e-commerce team, she finds she most routinely uses her iCarnegie training and experience in user-centered design, database systems, Java programming, and object- oriented programming.

" The practical, hands-on training that is part of the iCarnegie curriculum has significantly prepared me for my current career", she said. "Since I had that practical experience, I feel comfortable today with the concepts of the workplace and the development work becomes much easier."

(reprinted with student's permission)