Change of career to IT

shagster330

Hi

I am looking to retrain into IT. I have no idea what is the best path for me. I am looking for a qualification or training path that will give me maximum employability so do not want to train in anything too specific at the moment.

I have considered MCSE and programming but do not really know where to start. I have had a couple of IT training companies around but do not really trust the 'salesmen' as one suggested I was most suitable for MCSE and the other programming??

Any help and ideas would be much appreciated

treetrunks

My personal opinion is that these course are a waste of money if you have no experience to back them up. In the industry your qualification would be referred to as a paper MCSE, in that you have passed the course but have no practical experience. An employer would have no idea how you work under pressure or outside of the box, you would have few trouble shooting skills and only really be employable in a junior position. This is all in my opinion of course.

If you want to work in IT then start looking around for junior positions first, get some experience and decide what field you are most suited to (there are very many). Then you can look at courses that are more applicable.

diable

The market is flat at the moment and tough to get in to, as treetrunks mentioned you may have to go via the junior position and work your way up/sideways as most companies won't touch a paper MCSE or any other qualification if you don't have experience to back it up.

maninthestreet

There are lots of highly qualified, redundant IT professionals without a job.

diable

maninthestreet wrote: »

There are lots of highly qualified, redundant IT professionals without a job.

I am one of them ;o)))))

shagster330

Many thanks for all the replies.

This is pretty much what I expected to hear.

inmypocketnottheirs

Well, there doesn't seem to be a shortage of C++ developer/engineer jobs here:

http://www.indeed.co.uk/jobs?q=C%2B%2B&l=

diable

inmypocketnottheirs wrote: »

Well, there doesn't seem to be a shortage of C++ developer/engineer jobs here:

http://www.indeed.co.uk/jobs?q=C%2B%2B&l=

By the time the OP gets trained all the jobs would have been shipped off to Bangalore and he would have to retrain ;o)))))

MrChandlerBing

You are not going to get a C++ job without a degree

Jowo_2

Not everyone can be a software engineer! It requires a particular aptitude. I was mad keen to be a programmer but was completely and utterly and abysmally useless at it.

Perhaps the OP should have a think about the type of IT field they are interested in and try an evening class or two at college? I know they want general IT and a general course will be good for an overview but a lot of employment paths are highly fragmented and specialist - an alrounder is a jack of trades and master of none.

Private training companies are just sales agencies - on par with estate agents for talking bull. Many local colleges offer similar courses and qualifications for either a fraction of the price or where the student will get a grant!

To the OP - what is your employment background, skills and qualifications? What's your interest in IT? What's wrong with your current job? Are there local colleges that offer courses that you are impressed with?

getmore4less

What skills do you have.

The two areas that seem to be less attractive to people trying to get into IT are training an QA. both are sutable entry points with industry specific knowledge.

Very good QA people are hard to find.