Microsoft IT courses

lindens

I have posted this on the Tecchie thread too, but this is my "home" and more people here so I have posted it here too.
My OH currently works in a warehouse on nights and is fed up. he has built several home PCs and enjoys it and wants a change of career. he saw a guy from Advent training about doing the MCP and MCSE courses and they sounded really good. They have accepted him on the course if he wants to go ahead, the only thing making him pause is the fee - £4850 :eek: . He has no debt and would have to get a loan of sell his car. That is stressing him slightly.Obviously thats a lot of money.
It will be home study and he is a very motivated person so I dont think that will be a problem. I think Advent are a good company from my Google searches. Advent also help with recruitment and reckon after about 4 months he will have got his MCP and the job offers will start rolling in :rolleyes: ,but they would say that.
Has anyone else done this course of have any advise.
In all honesty is an ex-warehouseman with no work experience in IT but with an MCP going to get job offers??
I'm just a bit of a cynic and want some other opinions please.

Tiglet

I would speak to some recruitment agencies and see what they have to say. Get the details of the course he intends to do, and ask the agencies what they think would be his chances of getting a job with his background, plus that qualification.

You can find a number of agencies advertising on Jobserve. Perhaps get a range of opinions.

Gemmzie

Nope, total scam, google for Computeach or look on here - it's the same company.

The course they send you is out of date before you start, only one in about 200 qualify as it's so intense. And even if you did get an ICT job from it, you'd have to do more training anyway as it's out of date.

simonts

I work in IT and these companys that offer qualifications for £5k really wind me up..also the "How does 30k a year and a company car sound" like b***ocks is my usual response.

Everyone used Windows XP so start there, By your self an exam prep book for the XP MCP the exam code is 70-270 if I remember.

If you can get the MCP in your spare time you have a foundation to dive in with...You dont need qualifications though, my highest grades are 4 C's I have no IT quals and I'm on £28,000 but I started from the very bottom earning about £3500 on YTS which was awful..the rest was just learn by doing.

lindens

Gemmzie wrote: »

Nope, total scam, google for Computeach or look on here - it's the same company.

The course they send you is out of date before you start, only one in about 200 qualify as it's so intense. And even if you did get an ICT job from it, you'd have to do more training anyway as it's out of date.

I had read that Computeach went through a bad patch and alot of their best trainers went to work at Advent.

How is it out of date?

cazziebo

I used to work for a training company and MCP was one of the courses we offered. We did instructor led training not distance learning and these charges are more than we would charged for a classroom course! (And we weren't cheap)

The MCP is a good qualification but to be honest - there are loads of them about now. In the years I worked for the company (approx 2002 - 2005) I saw the starting salaries drop from mid twenties to really about £12 - £13k. Job offers don't roll in anymore, and even then unless someone had some IT background or experience it took quite a while for them to find a job. Many didn't go into IT in the end.

MCSE still has kudos but I think that would be a difficult qualification to do solely by distance learning for someone not working in IT.

I'm still quite close to the IT world and I see departments being cut back, and more work being outsourced either to contractors or to offshore companies. This makes finding entry level positions very difficult indeed.

If he is very motivated then I would say go for it. If he just wants out of his current job then I'd suggest exploring other options.

lindens wrote: »

I have posted this on the Tecchie thread too, but this is my "home" and more people here so I have posted it here too.
My OH currently works in a warehouse on nights and is fed up. he has built several home PCs and enjoys it and wants a change of career. he saw a guy from Advent training about doing the MCP and MCSE courses and they sounded really good. They have accepted him on the course if he wants to go ahead, the only thing making him pause is the fee - £4850 :eek: . He has no debt and would have to get a loan of sell his car. That is stressing him slightly.Obviously thats a lot of money.
It will be home study and he is a very motivated person so I dont think that will be a problem. I think Advent are a good company from my Google searches. Advent also help with recruitment and reckon after about 4 months he will have got his MCP and the job offers will start rolling in :rolleyes: ,but they would say that.
Has anyone else done this course of have any advise.
In all honesty is an ex-warehouseman with no work experience in IT but with an MCP going to get job offers??
I'm just a bit of a cynic and want some other opinions please.

Kevicho

I will pm you more info later if you want but these courses do offer false promises (this is quickly posted info at work - whatever you do dont sign on to a CBT course).

Check out http://www.certforums.co.uk/forums/ for advice on starting out in IT and what certification to go for, but my advice is to buy the A+ and Network+ books from Mike Myers, and buy pc parts and learn how to build a PC.

Most employers want experience as well as certification, so your husband wont stand a chance against most MCSEs even with little experience.

Im currently doing my MCSE and am saving up for my 3rd exam, and i have been working in IT for nearly 10 years and im learning some new things, so someone fresh into IT unless they memorise answers, isnt going to learn enough to get and stay in a decent job.

Sagaris

I wouldn't recommend it - my OH did one of these courses (with another company) and the teaching was patchy, to say the least, and once they had your money, that was it.
I'd avoid it TBH.

Kevicho

These books cost at most 100 pound and will do more for him than the 5K, he will need to look for an entry level IT job, to gain experience, preferably with training and job prospects, but the market is pretty tough to be honest

sunday_girl

Hi Lindens

My husband signed up for one of these when he left the forces and needed to change career. TBH they provide you with a load of books and very little else for a lot of money. With no 'real' experience in the field, the amount of material and the content was overwhelming and it all fell by the wayside. He has now been working in IT for a number of years and is about to embark on the MCSE route again because it's a qualification worth having. He is starting with the first MCP and doing exactly what simonts has suggested by working through the first book himself (you should see the size of the books!). However, he now has the experience in the field to complement the qualifications and this will hopefully make all the difference. Sorry to say... but I doubt job offers are going to roll in on the strength of one MCP and no real industry experience. If he really wants to go down this route he will need to try and get a 'foot in the door' entry level job and then work his way through his MCPs. A good company may even pay for it but if not, getting the books himself will work out much cheaper than spending nearly 5 grand on a self-study course that, whatever they say, gives no real guarantees of a job.

lindens

TBH I personally thought that ea entry level IT job might be better but its quite a drop in pay. Having said that if you take his current pay and deduct the £5K thats probably the wage he will get at an entry level job anyway.

Thanks for all your thoughts so far, keep them coming as I will print off the answers later and show him.