Dubbed the "Silicon Valley of the South," Atlanta is on the mind of many high school graduates and mid-career changers looking to acquire focused training from trade and technical schools. If this sounds like you, you can benefit from popular trade programs that include training in apparel, chemicals, equipment, food and beverage, furniture, machinery, metals, printing, publishing, steel work, telecommunications hardware, textiles, and transportation operation. City-Data.com lists a few of the top industries that employ graduates of local trade and technical schools:

• Trade. Takes advantage of a robust transportation infrastructure
• Manufacturing. Concentrated in the downtown and midtown districts
• Technology. Covering every high-tech niche in the spectrum
• Finance. Home to several national credit bureaus, such as Equifax
• Personal Services. Including hair styling, manicure and pedicure, and interior design

Atlanta, Georgia Is a Paradise for Fortune 500 Headquarters

According to Atlanta.net, the city boasts more than 5.5 million residents in the 28-county Atlanta Metropolitan Statistical Area, 3,813,700 in the 10-county Atlanta region, and 429,500 in the city alone. With respect to employment, you'll appreciate that more than 1,300 foreign-based businesses have operations in the metropolitan area and employ more than 81,000 residents. Notable top companies in the area include:

• AT&T Corp.
• BellSouth Corp.
• Cobb County School District
• Delta Airlines
• Emory University
• Home Depot Inc.
• IBM Corp.
• U.S. Army Garrison Headquarters
• U.S. Postal Service
• Wal-Mart

During your search for continuing education, you may discover that technical and trade schools fill up rather quickly, for several reasons. Perhaps the most important is that the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts metropolitan Atlanta will gain 1.8 million new jobs before 2025.