Dart, I know some will call it a waste of money but you got to learn somehow and just going to school won't teach everything you need to know only the basics.
I have gone to other equipment schools where I had already been working the equipment in the field for 2 or 3 years just because someone want me to have certificate. It was like that for several of us SCEs where we ended teaching the teacher a few new techniques.
SCE = Senior Customer Engineer; otherwords, person that repairs anything the company sells. We had to learn of the fly by applying our previous experiences. Anything from simple check signers to cooling equipment at places like 7-11 stores. Very challenging at times.