They approach college graduates with technical degrees. The recruiters reach out to new college graduates with degrees in Computer Science and Business. This is a problem, because they are approaching people who are already qualified for the jobs. We did introductions the first day and almost all of the trainees had degrees in Computer Science. So these people are already qualified to be consultants, and some (based on experience) developers.
The contract is UNACCEPTABLE:
1. The salary is bad. The fact that you have to be "open to relocation" and the salary doesn't change based on the location. The salary is definitely not enough to cover the cost of living in cities such as NYC or DC. This is bad enough. Also during training, you're payed 12/hr.
2. You are contractually obligated to work for them for 2 years. You are pigeon holing yourself to a low salary for two years of your life. The biggest issue with this is that you are placed in a company to do a job that usually pays around 70-80K. Yet you are being payed about 40 percent less. They start the class by saying "you are our products".
3. Let me spell it out for you. They are offering you low pay, to do a job that pays pretty well normally. Not only that, you have to be open to moving for this job.
4. If you have a computer science degree and are taking the java developer trainee program, you should already know most of what is being taught. Not only that, if you made it through an undergraduate CS program, you should be able to learn all of this stuff through online resources.
4. The bottom line is, if you have a degree in tech or business, you are already qualified for these developer/consultant roles. Send out a lot of applications and prep for interviews. If you're going for developer roles, learn those data structures and algorithms. If you're going for business consultant, read business books. If this is you, don't lose confidence because of rejection.
I was so angry when I left the trainee program the second Monday. I went to my computer that night and filled out 25 applications. I got an interview for that Thursday and had another offer, paying nearly twice as much the following Tuesday. Believe me, if you have one of these degrees, you are worth a lot more than what FDM has to offer.
