A mate of mine.... ;-)

GreenNotM

Hi Intel

If your friend is looking to work in the city (big office/corps) then go for the 2 newish MS Supporting XP MCP exams to boost his confidence about a 100 quid a pop tho. So get hold of the MS Training material and test yourself - sorry your friend - with the exam cram 2 books. Also plenty of free taster test sites around - don't try the real exams till you are getting 80+% - tell him.

Usual way into the corp market is thru first line support - sitting on a phone - if he can take that sit still kinda job. as per the one below.

Doing the contractor/roll-out jobs is normally just pressing buttons all the configuration and planning has gone on before hand but does look good on CV. Look at getting an umbrella company - I know which of these to avoid and who to use - just ask - not sure I can say on the forum..


If he has the customer skills and don't mind handling the cash -esp asking for it etc then going the local support route via small ads is good. Be wary selling kit involves returns etc - just recommend stuff - saying you have good reports about such and such. This work is usually evening or weekend so he can give it a go while working full time.

intel

I will say he has done the MCSE but he didnt like the networking thing
just not his bag I think he would rather get his hands dirty and use his brain aswell.

GreenNotM

the dirty hands come with replacing the hot plug PSU's and SCSI disks in servers that have been in a cupboard, untouched for years. And can't be turned off !

The brain work comes when you get to 3rd line support and dropped onto projects to select/configure the latest toys (s/w & h/w) and you are setting the best practises.

But as with most jobs an apprenticeship has to be served - just to test your mettle.

The new MCSE is more about Design and engineering the MS products into ... Anyway the MCSE did become a paper chase as it was becoming devalued by having hoardes of techies ripping network ports off walls cos they hadn't seen the lil clip on the cable end b4... :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

intel

GreenNotM wrote:

The new MCSE is more about Design and engineering the MS products into ... Anyway the MCSE did become a paper chase as it was becoming devalued by having hoardes of techies ripping network ports off walls cos they hadn't seen the lil clip on the cable end b4... :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Or lets remove this cover.... Ooops the PC is still on :doh:

wolfman

I've been working for four year in industry with a degree Computer Science, but I've never really found it's helped in the commercial world. The path I've gone down I did so by learning myself without any true qualifications. So they're not completely necessary.

However, a course is good for learning the correct way to do things. It's not always necessary, but worth thinking about. Self teaching can often develop bad habits and can take longer to learn.

Also being around people with experience (or who have been on courses themselves) really helps.

Or conferences can be really helpful if you can get to them. I'm lucky enough to get sent to the MS Tech Ed conferences, which keeps me up to date and is a chance to quiz the people that design the systems.

scheming_gypsy

i find it's usually more helpful to go on a course while you're doing the job so you know what's being said and filling in what you don't know.
I went on a telecoms course once and spent the 3 days watching planes land as i had no idea what they were on about.

Rex_Mundi

I've noticed in quite a few modules for my Open University IT degree that quite a few of my tutorial groups are composed of quite high level systems managers that went into the job years ago without qualifications, and only now feel that they want 'paper' qualifications.

A couple of people I've studied with have been managing national, and intenational systems for years without formal qualifications.

GreenNotM

As Intel's friend was after a way in and a confidence boosting qualification to get started ... Paying a few grand to attend the Tech-ed or similiar amount for an official MS Course may be a bit over the top. I have seen many non technical minded ppl working in ICT roles, return from a weeks course totally deflated, as it was way over their heads and not that relevant...

I meant the Official MS Self-paced training packs that MS produce

http://www.microsoft.com/MSPress/books/6469.asp for the MCSE or

http://www.microsoft.com/MSPress/books/7870.asp for XP and then using the XP Exam Cram books under 20 quid to check it has gone in.
MS do give alot of info away on their Technet site After getting the XP exam only 6 more to go before the MCSE. :j :beer:

Or the A+ route using various books to learn and others to test

Just wanted to warn against the myriad of non-MS CBT based courses or expensive "programming" courses as a way into ICT

roswell

I work in It support spent a few years just doing repairs while doing a NVQ .. NVQ taught me how to use word and excel .... a screw driver taught me how these things are put together ... which was and currently is more usefull ?? the screw driver. get a old / spare / dead or dying machine and take it to bits work out what does what and how one thing effects another and in no time you will be self taught 90% of all problems.

before_hollywood

Rex_Mundi wrote:

I thought the only qualifications needed to join PC World were, a spotty face, a complete disliking of all customers, and a complete lack of computer knowledge (well that's what it's always seemed like in my local branch).

i once noticed an attractive young lady working in pc world :eek: (probably a one off and i doubt she still works there :rolleyes: