Disappointment all the way!. Review on NIIT Ltd

Hi. The following review is based on first hand true life experience. I am very interested in computers & developing softwares for the past 4-5 years. I have an experience in programming for the past 8 years. All the knowledge I gained about computers was through self learning. I am writing this just to inform the reader about my caliber. I thought I could enhance my knowledge by joining a good computer course but I was proven very wrong...

Back in 2002 when I got my 12th std results I was disappointed at getting only 90% and I thought I wouldn’t get admission to a decent engineering college in Bombay. So I decided to take up BSc and join NIIT as I had heard so much about it. At first I was very excited to hear that they had 2 rooms full of computers, just for us. I walked into their office on a Sunday afternoon and enquired about a course in VB. The 'councilor' suggested that just a VB course would be useless so I should do a complete 1 year DIT course. I don’t know how she talked me into it but I enrolled for it.

Now I am going to cover 3 main aspects of NIIT centers:

1) The non-teaching staff: Includes all their departments - accounts, recruitment etc...

The NIIT center is a wh house! Yes literally speaking! Majority of the staff is female. I don’t have anything against women but after speaking to some of the 'honest' staff they told me the real reason why I was seeing so many women in the NIIT centre! They said that people are easily talked into joining a course at NIIT if they have more female staff which seems perky, warm and helpful at first! But behind their smiles they hide their vicious motives! They dont seem so warm and helpful after you join. Their staff is concerned only about extracting money out of you! Yes they view each student as a money minting machine which will pay them whatever they demand, whenever they demand!!! I pity the poor(financially poor) people who get trapped! I will clear this point up using my experience:

From the very first day they started hounding me for money! I tried calming myself that the 'accounts' department was bad while the rest staff was good. But it wasnt long before I discovered that not only the whole centre but NIIT in general was fing bs!!! They didnt issue us our 'icards' didnt give us receipts! They always kept giving some s about their servers not maintaining records for individual students for the previous financial year! When I got my payment structure(fees to be paid / month) I noticed there were several errors in it! The fees should've added upto 26000 but they added upto 32500!! It took me 2months and several trips to their accounts department to get it 'corrected'. They finally stuck me with 28000 fees. Their explanation for it was - ''Rs.1000 was for your enrollment and Rs.1000 for 2 graphics CDs we are going to give you''. They just expect you to pay, pay, pay! Dont ask why and what for - just pay us!

2) The faculty: Includes teachers, machine room co-ordinators etc...

Unqualified, incompetent, bungling, hopeless, brain-dead idiots! They are x-NIITians who have done B.Com. Yes! All teaching staff at NIIT is no more than a BCom graduate with some NIIT certificate!!! While enrolling I was told that the staff was a minimum BE with some ME in my centre! Lies they are all lies! My faculty was hell! She(again a female, heh) didnt know anything! After just 2 sessions I was sure that I was better qualified at teaching then that bt!!

3) The facilities: Computers, Toilets, Seats, Lighting....

There is only one word for it - absent!! I wont elaborate on this. Check it out at your nearest NIIT wh house! This is my experience regarding the facilities:

When the 'lectures' began we were supposed to sit in the theory room. But there was so much of mismanagement that noone knew where/how/whose lecture to schedule. So we ended up sitting in the machine room(used only for practicals). The rooms were filthy, that’s a mild word for it, the ACs never worked, the rooms smelled worse than the public urinals on the railway stations!, the computers would never work! They were always out of diskspace and they were ancient! We were taught among the noisy environment of the machine room. Since we were being taught in the machine room, people who actually had practicals wouldn't get PCs to work on! Bs!

My ordeal continued for about two months. My parents weren’t very happy and neither was I. So I decided I would cut-short my course. I wanted to opt out of the course after I finished my Sem-I. So I talked to my faculty about it. She said she would speak to her senior and tell me. As expected the reply was a flat NO! I realized it was time to call in the cavalry. My mother [my father is called in only if its the worst case scenario ;) ] met the centre head. She talked to her and told my mom that I should take a break(i will elaborate about the 'breaks' later on) as if I would discontinue the course I wouldnt get the certificate for DIT and they wouldnt reduce my 2 Sem course to a 1 Sem! When I asked whether they would extend it they happily replied yes! B!

Now that you get the basic picture of NIIT I would like to tell you about a few more details:

1. The infamous break: As most students are pursuing their degree/post graduation along with a NIIT course, they have kept a facility which allows you to 'pause' your course. What it means is, suppose you are enrolled for a 1 year course and you have your exams, you can stop your course and attend you exams. After your exams end you can rejoin and continue with another batch which is doing the same course and has finished exactly same portion as you had when you took a 'break'. They charge you a 1000 bucks for it!

2. The calls of NIIT ;) : Your NIIT centre will call you any time at your place and ask you why aren't you attending a certain course, even if you havent enrolled for it!!! I have a suspicion that they are falsifying student records! As an unsuspecting person will fall into their trap and later on will be charged for it!!

3. Nothing is free: As a 'thumb rule' you should remember that anything in NIIT is not free! You are charged 1000 bucks for anything you want them to do! Whether its a break or you want to change your centre or anything! They will drain every penny out of you!

4. Insider information: As you have read my review you have understood that the people running NIIT or their franchisees are unprofessional and unethical. I have talked to many ex-teachers/instructors and they have told me things which made me sick to my stomach. I am pretty sure it will make the reader of this review sick to his stomach too!

5. Placement: The jobs are mostly call centre jobs or marketing jobs like going door to door selling stuff!, heh. You can get them even without doing a course at NIIT.

My recommendations: Whatever you do dont join NIIT, Aptech or any other private course! Always join a government recognized or government course. NCST(National Center for Software Technology which I think has merged with CDAC) or CDAC(Center for Development of Advanced Computing) are very renowned institutions in the country. Trust them!(even if you dont trust the government, lol)

Finally I would like to clarify to the reader that at no point in this review have I become sarcastic or lying about my experience. As of today I am doing very well in Mumbai University and on the right track to become a Computer Engineer.

REMEMBER: NIIT IS NOT AFFILIATED TO THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA IN ANY WAY! THEY AWARD ONLY CERTIFICATES AND NOT DEGREES OR DIPLOMAS EVEN IF THEY CALL THEIR COURSES ''DIPLOMA IN ...'' OR ''DEGREE IN ...''