New career in I.T

pinkllama

Hi all,

I have decided on a career change and would like some advice.

Been in sales for the past few years but find it unrewarding and in the current economic climate, employers to be over pressuring.

I have always had an interest in computers and I'm the person my friends and family call whenever they have a problem with theirs.

I have started doing some online research into foundation I.T courses and I also have an appointment with a careers advisor set up.

From my understanding there are 2 main foundation courses;

Microsoft's MCSE and CompTIA

Are there any differences between these? and is one more recognised than the other? Or is there another course I should be looking at. I live in Nottingham so if I did a classroom based one I'd be looking to do it locally.

Regarding pricing, there is a huge difference between doing the courses in a classroom and doing them online. I understand that doing a classroom based course would be more beneficial but are online courses as highly regarded as classroom based ones?

And finally...for the moment, at the end of either of these courses would I be able to get a basic I.T job, such as a 1st line helpline tech support to start my career off, or would I have to add other courses/modules before I could get a job?

Thanks very much for any advice

szam_

Good afternoon,

I work in the industry, and have been doing it as a hobby since leaving school.

First and foremost, i do not have any qualifications in I.T. Before i changed from retail, it was just something i did in my spare time and with a charity to help them out. A qualification isn't mandatory, but it helps if you know what you're talking about.

Firstly, decide which route you want to go down. I'm a jack of all trades at present, i know hardware and networking, to software and SQL. This is why i'm valued as a member of staff. Most people i've met are filtered into one of the two. We have an excellent engineer who knows anything and everything about networking, but next to nothing on bespoke software, and vice versa.

If it were up to me, i'd be doing the MSCE, i've not looked into CompTIA so i couldn't tell you the difference. I do see MSCE requirements for jobs more often however. If you want to get into networking, the CCNA might be the way to go. As an aside, ITIL might also come in handy, not only for starting out, but for later down the line too, i see this one cropping up more and more often and need to get it done myself.

I am however, looking at going down a Software Development route myself, and as such i am starting a degree later this year with the Open Uni. I also need to get my SQL qualifications, too. If this interests you, you can usually find foundation starter degrees, you can easily get a job a few years in, within the field, which is my aim. I've been receiving calls for months about software development roles, yet it's too early for this for me.

Hope this has, if anything, a little help.

falko89

I've went down the Open Uni route and feel one of the course you mention above might be more beneficial, I haven't learned anything yet that I would class as useful so I might rethink things after this term. I've been looking for an entry level I.T role for some time and a degree seems to be the minimum.

szam_

falko89 wrote: »

I've went down the Open Uni route and feel one of the course you mention above might be more beneficial, I haven't learned anything yet that I would class as useful so I might rethink things after this term. I've been looking for an entry level I.T role for some time and a degree seems to be the minimum.

I disagree that degrees are mandatory for entry level, i got in to my last two positions based on interest and just doing it as a hobby, for friends, myself and family.

Out of interest, which degree are you taking and how long have you been doing it for? I anticipate the first couple of terms are things i already know, i think it's more focused around people just getting in to the subject and making sure they are up to speed with the core learning later on. At least this is what i was told. Either way, a degree still looks nice on a CV.

flappy_warbucks

Hi,

I have worked in IT for more years, then i have fingers to count them on. What i would say is this:

MCSE are viewed more as a standard. compTIA are more for hobbyists. MCSE's have greater grounding then the compTIA counterparts. (This is coming from someone with a compTIA, and an MCSE).

If you like all the hovering under desks, and getting dusty, then it'll suit you. If you're looking for a job where you sit at a desk all day, then maybe desk top support is not for you.

pinkllama

flappy_warbucks wrote: »

Hi,

I have worked in IT for more years, then i have fingers to count them on. What i would say is this:

MCSE are viewed more as a standard. compTIA are more for hobbyists. MCSE's have greater grounding then the compTIA counterparts. (This is coming from someone with a compTIA, and an MCSE).

If you like all the hovering under desks, and getting dusty, then it'll suit you. If you're looking for a job where you sit at a desk all day, then maybe desk top support is not for you.

I haven't decided what I'd like to get yet, I just thought getting a support job would be the easiest way into the industry. Can you suggest any other roles that I'd stand a chance of getting with a MCSE? - Thanks

InsideInsurance

As has been vaguely hinted at, IT is a whole industry and has many job functions (including sales) within it. Whilst it is hard from the outside to decide what you want to be once you're inside it would make it easier to give advice if you did.

Tech Support has been seen as a traditional route into IT however the majority of people who start on tier 1 helpdesk never get out of that arena.

MCSE if a reasonable qualification to have if you want to get into desktop support or infrastructure in a Microsoft environment. If however you want to become an Oracle DBA or a Technical Architect for data warehousing then it probably isnt going to be that useful other than possibly as a foot in the door.

One word of caution, dont get into IT if its because sales is too high pressure. When the mission critical servers crash at 6pm on a Friday its the IT guys that are the ones that have to stay to sort them out until whatever time it is that they need to to get them back up and then after a few hours sleep the interrogation into who did what wrong starts.

I recall one project that went terribly wrong a few days after going live. 3pm the problem was logged. 5pm a senior stakeholder meeting held. 6pm Exec meeting called and all payments turned off. 6:30pm category 1 incident meeting held and the Head of Development said he was going home but would be back in at 9pm as was his daughters birthday... was told if he is going home then he isnt to bother coming back and his desk items would be posted to him. 8pm the business team go home. 3:30am the IT team go home. 7am incident meeting held with all IT expected to be there in person to explain cause of incident

falko89

szam_ wrote: »

I disagree that degrees are mandatory for entry level, i got in to my last two positions based on interest and just doing it as a hobby, for friends, myself and family.

Out of interest, which degree are you taking and how long have you been doing it for? I anticipate the first couple of terms are things i already know, i think it's more focused around people just getting in to the subject and making sure they are up to speed with the core learning later on. At least this is what i was told. Either way, a degree still looks nice on a CV.

You've had more luck than me, I like you had been doing repairs, setups etc for family and friends but apart from getting a sales assistant role in a computer shop haven't got anywhere really which is why I started doing this degree.

I'm doing BSc in Computers and IT, I am level 2 now. Thus far it has covered anything and everything from history of computers such as Colossus to random stuff such as DNA and a load of maths which I hate, We have done programming such as HTML, XML, Java and their own language Sense based based on scratch. If it was all based on computers it might not be so bad but it seems to cover everything that has a micro chip in it.

ianders

MCSE now is completely different from MCSE from a couple of years ago.

Used to be Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer

Now means Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert

Not too up to speed on the current incarnation of it but the old MCSE was not for beginners. It required several years of direct experience of working in a multi-server environment.

You may want to start with an MCDST (desktop support technician), MCITP (IT Professional) or MCSA (used to be Systems Analyst, now Solutions Architect).

The way I do them is buy the books and do the exams only. Have a look at prometric.com which will let you search for local test centres. Most MS exams are around the £200 mark and MS quite often run free 2nd shot promotions or discounts for booking multiple exams.

getmore4less

If you want to get into products, software/web development or product with software(most things these days) look at QA roles less competition.

every man and his dog and his girfriend can do basic IT and wants to get into IT..

SOmetime if you have industry or product knowledge from a user perspective that can help with entry.

szam_

falko89 wrote: »

You've had more luck than me, I like you had been doing repairs, setups etc for family and friends but apart from getting a sales assistant role in a computer shop haven't got anywhere really which is why I started doing this degree.

I'm doing BSc in Computers and IT, I am level 2 now. Thus far it has covered anything and everything from history of computers such as Colossus to random stuff such as DNA and a load of maths which I hate, We have done programming such as HTML, XML, Java and their own language Sense based based on scratch. If it was all based on computers it might not be so bad but it seems to cover everything that has a micro chip in it.

Which pathway are you on? Sounds like Computer Science to me, a friend of mine is doing that on a full time course at Uni. I put my intentions to do my software development in mine, got approached by a huge company on Friday looking for someone for a small branch office to do SQL and Application Support. Just hoping i get the call back for an interview.