SSF Campus by Candlestick

After the statewide RIF (reduction in force) by DOD that affected me in June 1995, I was eligible for retraining at the expense of the federal government.  Deciding what to retrain to was the easy part.  Deciding where to retrain took some time.  It was not until August 14th did I find the ideal school.  It even gave the government a $990 discount.  I would become a student at Heald once again, passing on my alumni "Heald Scholarship".   This time however it was to be in the field of Computer Networking.  I was to be trained in Novell Netware.

All instruction, including books, were paid for.  All I had to do was attend class.  The class material was to assisting in completing the requirements towards certification.  Two titles could be earned after completion of the course and the passing of the certification exams....the titles of CNA (Certified Novell Adminstrator) and CNE (Certified Novell Engineer).

Fourteen years had passed since completing my first curriculum at Heald.  Since then I had grown a bit older, become unemployed for the first time and became a mister mom.  I was always on the move and had no nap time.  It was probably the reason why I had to force my eyes to stay open to prevent myself from nodding off in class.  Not that the course material was not interesting, I was just tired.  No longer the single, no worries "kid".  I was now the guy that had to hustle to get back to the work force.  I had a family to support.

The class material was divided into seven courses with one official Novell book for each course.  We received an official looking certificate after completing each course.  To be eligible to take the CNA test one would have to complete the first course; all seven was required to be eligible to take the CNE test.  The exams were conducted by Drake Prometric.  Although I completed all seven courses, I only took two of the seven $85 exams.  This only granted me the CNA certification.  I decided not to take the other five exams as I was not confident in passing the remainder exams.  I would need to pay for each exam as well as any retaken.

I was offically certified as a CNA on September 14, 1995 and would complete all the Novell Netware courses by February 8, 1996.  Fortunately for me the school had a placement center.  It placed me with a job in the city.