I have known for some time that if you are lucky enough to live close to an Apple retail store that you can go there and get lessons on how to use Apple products. I always thought that was a great thing if you happened to live near one. I do not.
This weekend I was shopping for some new electronics and stopped in at best buy. As i was browsing through the store I saw a large Apple display. I made the assumption it was a product promotion or something and kept shopping.
Well as I got closer to the display I realized there where several people gathered around and there was almost every Apple hardware product represented. I inquired a bit further and found that Best Buy was actually holding Apple training sessions for Mac users. They had a schedule of topics so you can plan to attend a subject of interest to you.
This day they where doing a fairly in depth training on how to use Garage Band.
I do not know if this is occurring at all best buy stores but if you live in an area where an Apple store is not close by then give Best Buy a try and you may be able to pick up some free training.
It seems as though we’ve gleaned some good information since my last post regarding the lack of Certified Apple Training in Canada.
A number of the training centers have contacted me and let me know that they are available to train and offer all of the things you would expect from a Certified Apple Training Center.
I’ve compiled a list of training centers below, along with their website and physical location:
Witz Training, Toronto ON
Emily Carr Institute, Vancouver BC
Splice Training, Halifax NS
In addition, Shelley tells us that her company (Business Rules Inc.) will be offering training via Witz Training up in Toronto from time to time in 2008. For more info on them visit Business Rules Inc.
I hope this offers more hope and opportunity out there for those Canadians looking for a place to get trained and certified!
To my horror I’ve recently found out that if you want to become an Apple Certified professional in anything, you’ll have to either fly to Toronto to take classes and/or write the exam… OR, pay to have an instructor sent out to your location to administer the course.
As a Canadian seeking mac certification, this very much dissapointed me. There is a huge mac following in major Canadian centers all over the country, and Apple is really missing the boat here. Unfortunately not all of us are able to pay our way to fly to Toronto for certification.
The sad reality as I see it, is we won’t see Apple training centers in Canadian locales until Apple Stores hit the individual markets.
Apple is planning to open some new stores in Vancouver soon, and in addition to the stores in Toronto and Montreal this could be good news. I’d look for training centers to open up in Montreal, shortly followed by Vancouver once they are settled in.
For the rest of us all the way from Victoria to Halifax, it still means we’re out of luck until the retail biz moves in. That is, unless you’re willing to shell out some coin to go and get your certification.
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