Every brochure looks the same. These six questions, asked before you pay, separate the serious centres from the rest — us included.
Every brochure promises the same thing: experienced trainers, modern equipment, a recognised certificate. You cannot verify that on a leaflet. But you can ask six questions — and the way they are answered tells you everything.
Ask them everywhere, including here.
1. “How many hours at a keyboard?”
The most important question. An IT trade is not learnt by watching a board. If the answer is vague, or if you mostly hear about “theory modules”, be careful.
The right answer is precise and leans heavily towards practice. Also ask: how many learners per machine? Two is defensible. Four means you will watch other people work.
2. “What will I be working on?”
Ask to see the room before paying. A serious centre shows it without hesitating. Look at the state of the machines, the connection, and whether the software is what companies actually use.
Ask too whether you can bring your own laptop: for many people that is where they will keep working.
3. “Who is the trainer, and what do they do the rest of the time?”
A trainer who no longer practises teaches what was done five years ago. In a trade where tools change yearly, it shows immediately.
The right answer is someone who still delivers projects. Ask which ones.
4. “What do I leave with?”
The certificate matters — check that it is approved by the ministry responsible for vocational training, MINEFOP.
But what matters more is work you can show. An employer looks first at what you built with your hands. At the end of the course you should leave with finished pieces, not only a piece of paper.
5. “What happens afterwards?”
A centre that says goodbye on the last day has not finished its job. Ask what is planned: follow-up, help finding a placement, introductions, the option to come back with a question.
And ask whether they still answer your messages three months later. It is the question that makes people most uncomfortable, and the most revealing.
6. “How much, and how do I pay?”
The price must be clear: what is included, what is not, course materials, the certificate, equipment.
Ask whether payment can be spread over instalments. A centre that refuses any spreading closes the door on a large share of the people who need it most.
The three signals that should make you leave
“Guaranteed job at the end.” Nobody can guarantee that. It is the sector’s most common lie.
A price far below everyone else’s. There is a reason, and you will find it in the classroom.
Refusing to show you the premises. There is no valid reason to refuse.
Our answers, so you can compare
At All Techs: practice dominates, sessions are in small groups, the trainer still delivers projects for real clients, you leave with your own work and a MINEFOP-approved certificate, support continues afterwards, and payment can be spread over instalments. Enrolment is open all year, on site in Douala and Yaoundé or entirely online, with no prior level required, from age 15.
Come and see the room. Ask the six questions. And ask them elsewhere too: if another centre answers them better, go there.
