MCT Success Story: Jose Dario Aldana Mendez
MCP Success Story
How do you move to a country a continent away from home and build a successful business? You might just as well ask how to turn a fisherman into an IT pro. To Jose Dario Aldana Mendez, the answer to both questions is the same: Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) certification.
Aldana became an MCT as part of the process of gaining Microsoft certification for his company, Compu Staff. Aldana had originally founded Compu Staff in 1991 in his native Colombia as a training center for consumers. With rapidly growing interest throughout the industry in professional-level training for exams and certification, Aldana decided to seek certification for his company under what was then the Microsoft ATEC program, so Compu Staff could offer such training. Compu Staff became an ATEC in 1995.
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A Successful Business, and Then…
By 1999, everything appeared to be going well for Aldana and Compu Staff. The company had grown to include 32 classrooms in six cities across Colombia, with another five mobile classrooms available for on-site training at customer sites. Working with the country’s education ministry, Compu Staff was helping teachers throughout the Colombian public schools to become certified. The company expanded with the infusion of new capital. Compu Staff had trained and certified about 3,000 people, earning two awards from Microsoft for its work as a Microsoft CTEC and specifically for its training of MCTs.
Then Aldana’s world turned upside down. Because of the political situation in his country, Aldana and his wife feared for the future of their three children. They decided to move to Spain though Aldana had no established contacts there. As it turned out, Aldana had something at least as valuable: his MCT certification. In one week he won six interviews and a job offer as a manager in one of the country’s top training firms, Winmat.
"Microsoft certifications have worldwide recognition that paved the way to my new job in my new country," says Aldana. "I wasn’t required to prove my knowledge; the MCT certification was proof that my employer was happy to accept. Based on my experience, I can say that Microsoft certification provides professional, geographic, and economic opportunities that no other certification can offer."
Another Successful Chapter
For most people, landing a great new job in a new home would be success enough; however, for Aldana it was only another chapter in a continuing success story. After a year at Winmat, he cofounded in 2001 a Microsoft CTEC in Madrid called AulaMCT S.L. The company includes a center devoted exclusively to Microsoft certification and facilitating careers in Microsoft technology, and now numbers 40 employees.
In 12 years as a professional trainer, Aldana has trained some 40,000 people on two continents. His students come to him with varying amounts of technical experience and sometimes with no such experience at all. One such student was a fisherman in Colombia’s Magdalena River.
"I will always remember this man—he was a real inspiration," recalls Aldana. "He came to Bogota looking for new opportunities, with no greater aspiration than to be a security guard or construction worker. He had no idea about technology or the IT industry. And we hired him as a security guard. He greeted the students when they arrived at class—and then, driven by his curiosity, stayed in the classroom to learn along with them. After a year, he began to take on modest technical duties. Then he began taking classes formally and passing exams. His life began to change completely. He earned his certification and today works for one of Colombia’s biggest technology companies as a technical support specialist. We still keep in touch by e-mail."
"My career as a Microsoft Certified Trainer has been tremendously rewarding," sums up Aldana. “I’ve met a lot of friends and have helped them to become successful professionals. Some of my students have gone on to start their own successful businesses. When potential students ask me about the opportunities for them if they pursue careers in Microsoft technology, I point to my own success with great enthusiasm and passion. And I’ve come to see that same enthusiasm and passion in them as well."