Who works in IT?

scheming_gypsy

pault123 wrote:

Where I’m lacking is network/server knowledge and any qualifications on my CV to prove I know a lot about hardware/software.

you want to see my CV then. It lists Novel (although only 3.12), Windows 2000 server, Windows 2003 server, building servers and configuring domains, Active Directory, some other stuff, Avaya Definity.

I've got no qualifications in any of the above. For my last 2 jobs i was up against people with MCSE's and i got the jobs instead of them. I sweated through the interviews wishing they'd just tell me to sling it but on both occassions i got the jobs. Why? because my answers weren't text book quotes but what they'd actually do themselves when they were fixing the fault.
It's what you know, not what you learnt.

So the question is where do I start?

Would helpdesk be a good career move to try and obtain some knowledge and perhaps study at nights? On the job training field engineer if these exist? Or what ive considered and am really thinking about this, a fast track course with Cerco, Skilltrain, Learndirect etc, although it would leave me approx £5000 in debt and on top of that having to borrow money for a month of mortgage and expenses? and then the chance of being out of work until someone would take me on with the new qualifications. Everyone says experience is preferred to exam marks but without a job in the industry i'll never get that experience.

you've got experience in it so go for a job as an IT engineer / helpdesk. Don't bother with the learn direct and all that, they just teach you stuff you'll never need or use.
If you know your stuff you've as much chance of getting the job as anybody else and it's not as though you need to pay for the interview so you've nothing to lose.

Stephen_Webber

I've been in Telecoms for over 7 years now. I graduated with a BEng in Electronic and Electrical Engineering back in 1998 and got taken on by Orange in their graduate training program. After 2 years, I moved into an operational role, working on their prepay billing platforms, amongst others. It is all Unix based (similar to Linux - in fact, I've done that too) and I've worked on kit by IBM,HP and Sun. In addition to knowing the software and hardware, I also have to know mobile telecoms and IP networks pretty well too. Orange don't pay that well and when I changed job last year, my salary increased by a third. At the same time, I started building my own PC's at home and have built more machines than I care to think about. I've also done a lot of trouble shooting for family and friends. The best way I found to learn windows was by tinkering and fixing what I broke. I'd like to know a bit more about the networking side of things, e.g. CISCO, as it's the field based jobs that are more secure. Anything that involves software programming or basic IT support is ripe for outsourcing ( pretty much all the IT systems at Orange are outsourced).

If you want security, stick with hands on work.

Stephen

Woby_Tide

Stephen_Webber wrote:

If you want security, stick with hands on work.

Can't fault that advice, the one thing tthat isn't getting outsourced is anything that involves actul work on physical machines. The issues with lag across widespread networks means pretty much all major firms require machines to be in country and unlikely to be outsourced, and networks can't be outsourced really either

scheming_gypsy

if you don't have a great knowledge of Office then do what i do and wing it as you go.
i've worked in IT since i left school and my Office knowledge is pretty cack, especially Excel and Access. If somebody gets a problem with it I'll do a desk visit and ask them to re-create it. Most of the time it works when they try it again but if it doesn't you at least have an idea of what they're doing and where to look.

albertross_2

Ditto any application, you are always going to come across applications you know nothing about. Office is just about universal, so if the OP can learn about it upfront, it may help with his confidence.

P.S. Scheming, you might want to check the spelling on your CV.. (netware)

scheming_gypsy

i dunno where my CV is to check, although it's probably spelt better on there than on here.

Little_John

Its a few years sonce I didn the MCSE (Windows 2000) it was done over 4 months taking week long courses, studying and getting the hands on experience then doing the exams I cant remember which modules I did but I ended up doing 7 but only required 6 for the qualification just incase I failed any of them I wasnt paying for them and was getting paid while I was on the courses.

Was it any good? who knows I have never really needed to find out if they benifited me in an interview they expired before I ever needed to use them and still havnt put them on my CV I proberbly never will the way things are going. You can learn most of it with hands on experiance you just find out about a few bits that you would never consider using and very unlikely to ever use. the best bits were the timesaving admin tips that I had never managed to get working perfectly but now can.

Qualifications arnt everything you are told they are the be all and end all when your doing them but getting on the job and not being able to do anything but having qualifications up to the eyeballs will look bad.

IvanOpinion

Things like MCSE etc. are only good for a CV and prove nothing .. especially since a 5 minute surf will provide you with all the questions and answers you are likely to need without reading a single book or knowing how to turn on a computer. A few years back the company I worked for needed X people with various Microsoft qualifications ... they basically picked several people who were less than fully utilised gave them a book and told them to apply for the exam .. a couple of months later we had the required number of people with the relevant exams .. some of them had not used a Microsoft product in their lives (or used one since .. but their CVs look good). As is usual is often the case, you are best forgetting some of the stuff you learn to pass a Microsoft exam immediately afterwards and find out what happens in the real world. Genuine experience is far more important.

Nowadays anybody with a screwdriver and a little bit of common sense can build PCs .. they are no more difficult than putting together an MFI flatpack (but for some reason a lot of people think there is an air of mystery about them ). The real skill is in matching all the pieces and not simply slapping a load of components together because they were cheap from a supplier (which is the case in many self-builds). I come from an era when circuit boards were fixed .. nowadays all you have to do is identify the failed component, throw it in the bin and insert a new one.

As others have said it is the real value add that is important and network engineering and system architecture play vital roles because (currently) much of that is not shipped off shore .. but the time will come.

Ivan

Little_John

The reason that companies like to employ MCP's and MCSE holders is so that they can show the Microsoft solution provider logo on their stationary and website it builds confidence for the customer. The reall !!!!!! take is that you have to pay every year to retain your mcse/mcp status which I refused to do so I cant say I am an MCSE but I can say Microsoft trained. Its stupid.

wolfman

With regards to programming (not sure if the same can be applied to IT Support), Microsoft certifications can benefit in the sense that they teach you the correct way (or way Microsoft intend you to) to code applications. You'll probably learn a few new things, or better ways of going about problems.