Case Study
How Howard County Defends Its IT Training Budget Year After Year
The Challenge
What was holding Howard County Department of Technology back
Before CBT Nuggets, Howard County's Department of Technology was paying $3,000 to $5,000 per bootcamp seat — and pulling each staff member off their desk for a full week per session. The deeper problem was effectiveness: even after a five-day bootcamp, retention was inconsistent. The department also spans eight distinct technical disciplines (service desk, network, fiber, server, GIS, PMO, and others), each with its own certification track and training needs. Elizabeth Nwadiuko, the Technical Services Manager, needed a single platform that could serve a network engineer and a service desk technician equally well — without sending either off-site for a week.
Switched from In-person bootcamps
Bootcamp seats were $3,000–$5,000 each and pulled staff off the desk for a full week, with inconsistent retention. The department needed a platform that could serve eight technical disciplines without sending anyone off-site.
Why CBT Nuggets
Howard County Department of Technology's solution
Howard County standardized on CBT Nuggets across the full 80-person department. Engineers got on-demand, modular video lessons that fit into a workday, browser-based hands-on lab sandboxes for Microsoft and Azure work, and timed certification exam simulations that mirrored the real testing environment. Two members of the network team passed their CCNA exams, and the service desk team pursued CompTIA A+, Network+, and Security+. Elizabeth manages license allocation directly from the admin dashboard, rotating 20 seats across the 80-person department and reassigning licenses from inactive users to staff actively studying.
Certification exam simulations
Timed practice exams that replicate the actual testing environment, so learners walk into exam day having already experienced the pressure.
Hands-on lab sandboxes
Browser-based environments where learners apply what they just watched in a real-world setting — particularly valuable for Microsoft and Azure coursework.
On-demand, modular content
Short-form lessons that fit into a workday without pulling staff away from active responsibilities for days at a time.
“The network team, the server team, the fiber team — they've all expressed that it has worked to help them pass their certifications.”
The Stakes
For government IT, cyber threats can be life-or-death
Long before she became the Technical Services Manager, Elizabeth was hired on as a service desk technician. She worked her way up over 18 years — and that experience shapes the way she thinks about what her team actually needs. She also understands, better than most, the real stakes of keeping a government IT team sharp. Outages and downtime on government systems mean real costs for constituents. For Elizabeth, the training question was never just cost — it was whether the training would actually work.
“People don't understand how stressful it is. If there's a Trojan attack or something like that, people's jobs and lives are on the line.”
Results at a Glance
~600
Servers migrated to HyperV
Physical-to-virtual migration over multiple years; team now maintains hundreds of HyperV servers and is working in Microsoft Azure
100%
License engagement
Across all licenses; reported monthly to department leadership
2 yrs
Consecutive budget approvals
Approved on the strength of measurable usage data
“I love that you give us a sandbox so we can practice what we were just taught in the class. The worst thing is to fail in front of your leadership. Why not fail in your cubicle or your test environment, and then go back and fix it?”
Capabilities the team used
- CCNA
- CompTIA A+
- CompTIA Network+
- CompTIA Security+
The Outcome
Outcomes
Got a migration, refresh cycle, or compliance deadline coming up? Let's talk about how to get your team ready.
Talk to Sales“I include our leadership, so they know that we're engaging with the training. When the budget comes and they see CBT Nuggets, they say: "Oh yeah. We keep that."”
— Elizabeth Nwadiuko
Technical Services Manager, Howard County Department of Technology
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