I sent three of my techs to a "training and certification" class for satellite installs over in Alabama earlier this year.
The instructor never even went over the basics of installation, he just gave them a short history on how he single-handedly started the whole industry, told them to use their manuals for the test, and then gave them the test (which they all passed because they had the answers right in front of them)! After they came back and told me about the training course, I called the President of the SBCA and told him about our experience. He said that this was happening way too often, and that he would look into it. I get a call later that day from the instructor cussing me for all I was worth for ratting him out!
He said he gave his course like he did so that he could put money in my techs pockets and that I was a sorry excuse for an employer because I was trying to take money away from them by causing trouble
. All I wanted was to pay someone to correctly train my guys so they wouldn't be just another hack or poser out there providing crappy installs, but it's just not geared that way with these guys. As a result, we decided not to start doing satellite installs, even though I have three beautiful SBCA Certified Installer Certificates on the wall and another $1000 bucks down the drain.
