IT Course advise - home learning

cootebird

Hi,

I'm hoping to start some IT courses in the next month or so. I've met with Skillstrain, (not too happy about their past) and spoke to e-careers whom seem ok. However, if you have personal experience of home learning colleges, I would be interested in your views.
Was the coursework easy to follow? Of high quality? Did you feel like you had enough support? Were the courses realistic in completing in a reasonable time? Did you get the qualification you studied for?

I'm looking to study the Comptia+,N+,Security+ & Server+ (i think). Leading me onto CCNA & CCNP.

I will be parting with a fair amount of cash, so would like first hand reviews from you guys, rather than the sales pitch i've been getting from the companies!

Thanks for taking the time to read this!!
Cootebird.

goshdarnit

Total waste of money. Courses like these do not hold status in the IT world, where work experience is king. They'll guarantee you a low-paid job somewhere (probably somewhere you don't want to be), doing menial tasks that no one else in the office wants to do.

Even their web-site is a bit iffy, as this really doesn't make sense:-

http://www.skillstrainuk.com/company.html

"SkillsTrain have trained over 5 millionpeople and have accumulated over 50 years experience in skills training."

Stay away, do an O.U. degree, or go to night school. Don't expect £30k a year, or whatever they're saying, and do research on how companies like Accenture (an example of IT working practices nowadays) work.

MrMarvellous

Well I can't give you any reviews but I am an IT professional myself (I make websites) and I have a degree in Multimedia.

My best piece of advice is a simple one. Use the internet. Lean what you want to through that because not only can you learn at your own pace but you can target the areas that you will need. My degree, for example, was largely pointless in my field. Basically it gave me a bit of paper that said I'd done some training and then I had to go away and learn the real job. But the piece of paper is what the employer is looking for of course.

So, here's what I suggest. Find out what you want to do, Learn as much about it from the internet as possible (there are tones of tech forums around and people are largely friendly out there) and then take a course which covers the subjects you know.

cootebird

Thank you for your quick replies.

A couple of questions I have;

Would the qualifications I've mentioned (cisco etc) not help me to get into the IT industry, even as a junior?
&
MrMarvellous - being in the IT industry yourself, what are the main qualifications you would look for in employing a junior? I assume, a CV without qualifications would be turned away?

I have a little in the way of qualifications, as I took a BTEC GNVQ IT course in college. I must say, I can't remember much of it!

Thanks for your comments on Skillstrain, I don't plan to use them, the general feedback is bad. I haven't got enough spare time in my life to be wasting it!

Thanks again -

robp

The only potentially useful certs in your list are the Cisco ones. Without any experience you will be lucky to get any interviews though....CCNA's are cheap and plentiful these days.

Might be worth doing some voluntary IT work while studying to get some real world experience.

Good luck!

Stephen_Leak

I can't "dis" the CompTIA A+ and Network+, 'cos I've got them and they did help me get my present job. Server+ would be my next choice, as it is a natural progression from Network+.

Unfortunately, Goshdarnit is correct in saying that in IT, experience can be everything. All you can do is to get good quality qualifications like the internationally recognised CompTIA ones (you can buy these, but not experience), and then keep plugging away until you find somewhere that can see past the "No experience, no job. No job, no experience" Catch-22 situation (schools are good at this) to get your feet under the table and learn your trade. I can't say that it is easy, but it can be done.

alanobrien

Depending on your motivation you could do these yourself (i.e. without an e college) simply by buying a home self study course from someone like Sybex. This is how i did the A+ and N+ some years back.

goshdarnit

cootebird wrote: »

1) Would the qualifications I've mentioned (cisco etc) not help me to get into the IT industry, even as a junior?

2) what are the main qualifications you would look for in employing a junior? I assume, a CV without qualifications would be turned away?

1) The problems with qualifications is they don't reflect what happens in the real world. They won't harm you and will push your CV above non-qualified, non-experienced folk, but if I saw 2 CV, one saying "spent 2 years working on a server farm in a junior role", and one saying "spent 2 years doing a college course" I know which one my money would be on.

2) Depends on the work experience the non-qualified person had, and also on the sector he was being employed in. A lot of IT stuff is out-sourced, the employer can charge more to the client for a 'consultant' straight out of University than he can for an unqualified IT bod that can do the same job. If it was a smaller firm, where you were running the whole show, then experience would take precidence.

I got turned down last year for a job working in a server farm abroad, qualifications weren't the problem (I have an Honours in IT), experience was. The fact I could have learnt quickly on the job was outweight by the other CVs that presumably had the relevant experience.


Heres an example of the sort of things being advertised now

TECHNICAL SUPPORT OFFICER

8:30AM - 5:00PM
HOURLY: £10.00 (PAYE)/ £12.20 (LTD) (£10 is about £7.80 an hour)

Duration TEMPORARY ONLY



We have a new two month contract role based in ******. Responsibilities will be to provide technical support to users of PC and Network systems and to provide assistance with the implementation and installation of new systems. The successful candidate will have work experience of providing technical support in a Windows 2000 (or above) environment and of supporting TCP/IP networks both in a LAN & WAN environment. Solid work experience of MS Systems Management Server (SMS) must be indicated on CV.

If you pay skillstrain about £3k for a course, its going to take a pretty long time to pay that money back.

I particulary liked this recommendation by one of there students:-


WHEN I FIRST STARTED I ONLY KNEW HOW TO SWITCH A COMPUTER ON, NOW I KNOW WHATS INSIDE AS WELL.

-Mark
PC Engineer (A+), Network Engineer (N+), Microsoft Security Course (S+), Project Management Qualification (P+)


All those qualifications and he knows whats inside a 'computer'

cootebird

Thank you. I'm finding this great reading. :T

I totally understand that experience will outweigh the qualifications. However currently having only the BTEC, I am not confident enough to even start applying in the IT industry.
I do believe it's in my interests to do some courses, gain some qualifications and hopefully have more of a chance than I currently do!

It's just choosing the right company to help you through these courses which is a problem!

I will look up Sybex - thank you alanobrien.

goshdarnit

cootebird wrote: »

I am not confident enough to even start applying in the IT industry.

Ever thought of a career in IT management then.:D

cootebird

:rotfl::rotfl: :rotfl: