Contract is definaely legal. Above 18, signed with a witness, booya! Legal.

But I don't find anything wrong with signing the contract. First, they give you free education. Second, they find a job for you. Third, they pay you every month to study. When I was in college, it's not free, I'm on my own to get a job and I paid over thousands.

I don't see why the RM500 thingy is not enough. Remember, this is an allowance, not a salary. Unless you are making huge bucks for the company, then you can demand a salary.

The OJT thingy is optional. After the course, you can go for an OJT which gives you very low salary. I did not take the OJT path, so I don't really know what's the job scope. But according to my friend, it's very simple and they offered a high salary after the OJT. If the OJT is not to your liking, you can always get a job (provided that you've completed the INSEP course). For me, I applied as a permanent worker and got hired. I don't have to go through the entire OJT process since it's a permament employment contract.

Whether the training is worth it or not? Well ... you need to ask yourself. For the one I took, SHRDC spent alot of effort in getting the best equipment and tutors. Some of them are even qualified experts from Australia. When all resources are laid infront of you, it's up to you yourself to benefit from it. There are some who slacked off in class. They ended up learning nothing. If you work hard enough, you'll learn alot from here. These are all actual industrial stuff, not some kinky theories from college. At one time, we even laid the entire classroom with Cisco devices.

To be fair, there are some subjects which irritates me. Before the actual course, you need to go through something called 'softskills'. Here, they train you on teamwork and communications. As I've previously worked in the computer industry, I find it very cheesey. It's like Michael Bay (the Transformers director) watching a Japanese Ultraman show.

There's a final project you need to go through. If you can nail it perfectly, the world will be waiting for you.

Whoopsi. The phrase "unless you make big bucks for the company, then you can demand a salary" is just a figure of speech. During OJT, you don't need to hit certain quota or sales target before they pay you actual salary. The phrase simply means that when you are in the INSEP course or OJT, they give you such a low pay because you are not part of the organization's blood. You are there just to get experience and training. That's why they don't pay you much. Just like if you own a company, if you know someone who is here just to learn for a few months and has an uncertain future with the company, you won't pay him much.

Again, as I mentioned, once you've completed OJT with the company, they can have the option to sign you as a permanent employee. THEN you can demand for a salary. Oh, by the way, OJT works this way - you still get RM500 from INSEP plus another allowance from the OJT company. It's not much. Highest I've heard is RM1000. So, RM1000 + RM500 = RM1500. Lowest I've heard of is RM300.

Joining INSEP is not so simple. It's simple to get in but they need to get a certain number of students before they can start the course. I won't comment too much on that right now.

Diploma? I went to SHRDC in Selangor and they accept only:
- Degree holder
- Currently unemployed
- Aged 28 and below

I was previously employed for 3 years before I joined. I actually applied for fun since it's free and I'm financially stable.

Was in the SHRDC INSEP course for ICT Security few years back. Eventhough I took a slightly different path, some of the OJT stuff and info might be the same.

For OJT, some companies will actually hire you full time after the OJT. I had a friend who did OJT in a company with low salary. After OJT, high salary. I can't remember how high the salary is, but it's darn high for someone who does not have industrial experience.

As for the interview, it's more or less like a common job interview. To me, it's less much easier coz' the company already expects a non-experienced person.

OJT is not a must. For my case, I was immediately hired as full time. So, I skipped OJT process.

You can PM me for more info if you want.

Huh? Technical writing test? I couldn't recall having any technical writing test. Here's what I experienced in order:

- Went for 'interview' with SHRDC. Received call after 2 hours to join INSEP ICT Security
- Briefing on ground rules and signing of contract with government
- First subject a waste of time. Intro to computers and desktop OS
- Have other subjects like English, bootcamp and report writing which is a waste of time to me. Might be useful for others
- After a month of wasting time, came the core subjects
- Started with Windows and Linux servers. More towards administrative controls and enabling web service
- Exam for these topics. Practical ones
- Then comes CCNA 1 - 4. Very useful. Far better than the ones you paid in private classes
- Practical and paper exams for CCNA 1 - 4
- CCNA finish, then comes VOIP (Cisco call manager) and network security (Cisco firewall and hacking)
- Lastly, there's a final group project for all the core topics. Eg: Set up a network with firewall, VOIP and web server. Then do demo and presentation

Towards the end, many companies will drop by to look for interns (OJT). For those who managed to get permanent employment on the spot, no need OJT. But still need to wait few months to get the cert coz' other students have OJT. For those doing OJT, there's something like a daily report. You need to write down what you have done during the OJT period into a log book. At the end, the company will sign the log book. No such thing required for those who get permanent emloyment.

I guess 'Eng' would be the English course. Yes, you have to complete it. The first few weeks is torture because apart from the Eng course, you have other weird softskill stuff. Once you start the core stuff, then it gets fun.