A few years ago I was working as a clerk in the taproom at a local brewpub. Realizing that I would never get into the brewery without some kind of leg up, I started looking into pro-brewing courses. Having no background in biology or chemistry I ended up taking the web based concise course at Siebel. It was an OK course but I really did it only to get into the diploma/master course. To be fair though it gave me a base understanding of many important concepts that I might have otherwise struggled with.
I finished the Siebel Master Brewers' course about 13-14 months ago. In some ways it was a really great course, in other ways it had a lot of room for improvement. I found that that classes taught in Germany were MUCH better than those in Chicago. The teachers were far more experienced, and knowledgable. More importantly though, the school had a 5HL brewery, a packaging line, and multiple laboratories. This allowed me to do lots of actual hands on work like: brewing, cellaring, filtration, packaging, chemical titration, and recipe formulation.
I found that the American teachers seemed to be concerned about different critical process control points than the Germans. Some of the American teachers made a big deal about "hot side aeration" and other issues that the German brewers (and most pro brewers come to think of it) are mostly unconcerned with. In contrast the Germans were much more concerned about mashing schedules, while the Americans seemed to think anything more than a basic infusion mash was a total waste of time.
All in all the course was a great experience for me, the long periods of total immersion in the beer culture made me feel like a real expert. We got to visit some incredible breweries (Rodenbach, Fullers, Orval, and La Trappe), and make some great beer. Best of all, when I returned home and started handing out resume's breweries actually started calling me in for interviews. 6 months after completing the course I landed an assistant brewer position at MolsonCoorsCanada where I currently am working. I've learned much more here than I could have possibly learned at school, however I'm doubtful that I could have become a real professional in this industry without the (admittedly expensive) help I recieved at Siebel Institute.