Company teaches tech skills to women looking for career advancement
By: Gwen McNamara
EAST WINDSOR Like many women out there, Renee Altman has taken a number of twists and turns along her career path.
First an elementary school teacher, then a computer program analyst, she is now helping others through career transition with her company, Personal Computer Training, which offers individual and group training on a variety of computer programs and systems.
An East Windsor resident, Ms. Altman decided to combine her teaching skills and technological interests 14 years ago.
"I started out as a teacher and taught for awhile, before becoming a stay-at-home mom to raise my kids," she said. "I then went back to teaching and had tenure, but decided I needed a career change."
She quit her job and went back to school full-time at Mercer County Community College in West Windsor.
"I already had a bachelor’s and master’s degree, so I went back for an associate degree in data processing," Ms. Altman said. "Computers were really new at that time, and I was looking for a challenge."
With her degree, she started out doing computer programming and worked her way up to become an analyst.
"I did that for about seven years, but I didn’t enjoy it much," she said. "I missed contact with people. I thought, ‘How can I combine my teaching and computer skills?’"
The answer starting her own company.
In 1992 she started Personal Computer Training, teaching Word Perfect for DOS.
"Windows didn’t even exist yet," she said. "I loved it and used to work more for other people as a sub-contractor. Today, I go out and do mostly one-on-one training and can do education for groups."
All her training is done on-site, working with an individual’s or business’s own equipment.
"I never dreamed I’d work with computers," Ms. Altman said. "When I got my first degree, there weren’t many fields open to women. Most women I knew were teachers, secretaries or nurses. In my husband’s graduating class, there was only one woman engineer. That was the mid ’60s.
"Now, of course, it’s much different," she continued.
Having gone through career transitions herself, Ms. Altman says she understands what many of her clients are going through.
"It can be tough to follow your heart," she said. "When I left teaching, I loved the kids, but not the curriculum. It wasn’t enough of a challenge for me intellectually. And programming was great, but I didn’t like sitting in front of a computer all day.
"Many of my clients are women going back into the workforce. Stay-at-home moms who need to brush up on their computer skills," she continued. "What’s great about my service is they can pick and choose what they need to learn."
Ms. Altman can offer sessions as short as two hours, or come back for multiple visits.
"It’s whatever they need," she said. "Some people don’t need to learn an entire program, like Word or Excel, from scratch, they just need to know certain functions."
For example, she recently had a client who changed jobs. At his old job, support staff handled all the computer work for him at the new job, he has to do it himself.
"He didn’t need to cover everything, just certain specific activities," Ms. Altman said. "It’s also more cost-effective for my clients, because they don’t have to travel. They can stay in the office, and I come to them. It’s less disruptive."
Ms. Altman charges by the hour, with a minimum of two hours per session.
For specific rates or more information, call (609) 448-3910 or e-mail Ms. Altman at [email protected].