Why did Chubb Institute fall on hard times. The most obvious and simplistic answer is they tried to migrate over to an industry that they had no knowledge in. PC Programming. But why is that. Programming is programming. No matter what language your in. The only difference is the environment and I will include Java. With that statement is the footnote that Java classes take a bit of getting used to.
First what made Chubb Institute the Premier school of its day prior to 2001. They taught programmers business specific skills that the colleges did not teach. The college taught more theory then the actual logic and implementation that Chubb taught. They were able to do this because their instructors were from Chubb Insurance and worked in the field every day. They came up with a formula to teach and allow a student to code business specific needs in a relatively short amount of time. Chubb students could hit the floor running with a program where it would take a college student time to get up to speed.
This formula worked for decades.
Let me go back a few more years in the same environment with 2 different companies. IBM and Microsoft. There is a lot more to the history of these two companies that affect what I am about to say but this is a summary.
IBM was mainframe. Microsoft was designing new software for the PC. Both where in competition for the PC market. Why did Microsoft win? Microsoft designed their applications for the user. They did not go according to standard as IBM did.in doing so, IBM came out with the slower OS2. MS came out with Windows that was faster and Integrated with word and excel. Excel spreadsheets were easier to use and learn. Why? IBM had many more years experience in software then Microsoft but Microsoft was making a big strides in the market. Because IBM put mainframe practices to the development of their PC software and Microsoft developed solely for the PC and designed software for the users (companies).
Now, in the early 2000s the market was changing from Mainframe to PC and Chubb had no experience in it. Further, one of the key areas that made them a success in the Mainframe Schooling of students they completely ignored. They stopped listening to the industries that were hiring Chubb students and did not provide the skills that the companies demanded.
Chubb was loosing their customer base for graduates and loosing students to Devry and other schools. They began to research what they could do to fix the problem. Rather than doing the research and ask the companies what they wanted in students they researched what made other companies successful. They began to change their formula.
What IBM and Chubb both failed to do was take what they new best and transform it into something new bases on a new technology.
For those of us who graduted before the fall the fix is so simple. Go back to the grass roots. Teach logic before any PC language is taught. Once you have the foundation of logic then teach the environment and the PC skills needed based on what the industry needed. Teach industry needed skills in a way that will enable students to be successful in their careers. Both the students and the industry succeed in this formula. This is what made Chubb Institute before 2001 great.
Because of Chubbs fall from grace I too am finding it difficult on job interviews because the HR departments dont recognize Chubb was once the premier school for programming.
Chubb Institute lost direction before Chubb Insurance sold the school. Chubb Insurance had no clue of the gold mine they had and did not nurture it into the PC environment. They did not research their customer needs. They looked at competitors and tried to copy their success rather than to build upon and modify their own success. The new company, Great Hill Partners, took on this lost direction at the school and has no clue what made Chubb Institute great and are also trying to copy its competitors. As long as you try to be a copy, your not going to be successful.
Now if you look closely, the same thing is happening to Chubb Insurance. It is a company that has lost direction. It is a mainframe company that is migrating over to PC and does not know how to do it. They outsourced their Networking department and are slowly shaving off their programmers.in addition the top management has changed and the upper execs are leaving a sinking ship in droves since Dean OHare was replaced as the CEO. Chubb Institute was only the beginning. What else does Federated Insurance Company have up their sleeve?
From
A former Chubb Institute Instructor, Former Chubb Insurance Programmer.
Here is a link to the recent history.
Http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/08/12/AR2007081201029.html
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