advice about trainning needed

[paulbrogden2007]

I am still wondering what to do about developing a career in IT as their is so many confusing info on the internet and I am trying to decide what to do. first thing of all is I understand allot of employers requirements are that you have a degree I don't know if this needs to be in IT or not.

The first thing I wish to talk about is degrees I have been offered only 30 credits towards an open university degree in IT and computing based on this I would have to study it for around 4 years at least part time however I have been offered 240 credits towards an open degree.

I am contemplating which to do I don't like the idea of doing it for 5 years basically if I did IT as a subject it would take me 5 years part time to complete a degree.

If I do the open degree as I all ready have a HND in design communications and because of this the open university have awarded me 240 credits towards an open degree which is not a named degree as such. clearly this means I could get a degree in 2 years part time or 1 year full time.

I am really unsure which would be best to get for me currently would not having an IT degree stop me from being able to get an IT job?

Also I am really unsure about what courses would be a good decision for me to do for example the A++ or the mcsa, mcse courses I have seen some that are done by computeach but when I called to discuss my problems here they seemed to try to sell me a sales pitch.

computeach told me the fee was £1700 to do the Microsoft certified courses and the A++ for 12 months subscription which seemed to me they were trying to do the hard sell.

I am really unsure what is the best path to follow clearly allot of employers are demanding a degree but I am not convinced being Microsoft certified would get me a good paying job what do you know about the best way to break in and what is the job employment prospects out their.

Is the fact I have 2 years experience administrating a picking and load system at a super market home shopping a good thing to have on my CV computeach was saying it would not really show any thing to an employer.

since you have allot of experience I would like your opinion what would be the best step forward to develop a career clearly I cant go any where with in super market any more its a case who you know rather than how hard you work.

thanks paul.

 

[contitego]

I am still wondering what to do about developing a career in IT as their is so many confusing info on the internet and I am trying to decide what to do. first thing of all is I understand allot of employers requirements are that you have a degree I don't know if this needs to be in IT or not.

The first thing I wish to talk about is degrees I have been offered only 30 credits towards an open university degree in IT and computing based on this I would have to study it for around 4 years at least part time however I have been offered 240 credits towards an open degree.

I am contemplating which to do I don't like the idea of doing it for 5 years basically if I did IT as a subject it would take me 5 years part time to complete a degree.

If I do the open degree as I all ready have a HND in design communications and because of this the open university have awarded me 240 credits towards an open degree which is not a named degree as such. clearly this means I could get a degree in 2 years part time or 1 year full time.

I am really unsure which would be best to get for me currently would not having an IT degree stop me from being able to get an IT job?

I have a degree in business, and I have had call backs. Your best bet would be a science degree (comp sci/IT/IS/physics/math) or business. After you get a job, this won't matter as much as having experience. See my advice below about searching dice for the job title you would like to have.

Also I am really unsure about what courses would be a good decision for me to do for example the A++ or the mcsa, mcse courses I have seen some that are done by computeach but when I called to discuss my problems here they seemed to try to sell me a sales pitch.

computeach told me the fee was £1700 to do the Microsoft certified courses and the A++ for 12 months subscription which seemed to me they were trying to do the hard sell.

You can study yourself for these exams. The A+ is pretty basic computer knowledge stuff, some hardware and some software. You would likely see, "How can you tell what verison of windows is running on the pc?" or "What is the connector on a network cable (eth5e or eth6)?". I never took this exam, I learned most of this knowledge from playing with, and troubleshooting pcs. I am not convinced that this cert is not worth the time, unless you are new to computers.

I would consider network+, which is the network based exam by the same people. You will have questions about networking hardware/software. This one might be more of a help to you to get an entry position.

You can get all four certs for a MCSA, but without experience, no one is going to let you touch a server. I would hold off on this until you have at least a tech support job.

I am really unsure what is the best path to follow clearly allot of employers are demanding a degree but I am not convinced being Microsoft certified would get me a good paying job what do you know about the best way to break in and what is the job employment prospects out their.

I would search a job posting site and see what type of job title you would like to have, and then read the qualifications. If you are looking for a system admin, go to Dice.com and search for system admin or tech support. Look to see what qualifications they are looking for.

I personally think the best bet would be to get a degree, and look for a paid internship/co-op that will provide you with experience. You can also look for small businesses that will provide you with training. Most of my IT knowledge came from working in the real world, not from a class. The training books do not train you for when the server will not boot up. You need to be able to troubleshoot the simple shit before you can do the advance stuff.

Is the fact I have 2 years experience administrating a picking and load system at a super market home shopping a good thing to have on my CV computeach was saying it would not really show any thing to an employer.

since you have allot of experience I would like your opinion what would be the best step forward to develop a career clearly I cant go any where with in super market any more its a case who you know rather than how hard you work.

thanks paul.

Probably not.

Briefly: I have been working at my job as a network tech for five years. I talked to a lot of people about my career goal of working in IT. A friend recommended me to someone else. I have worked there since. The only advice I would give is to talk to people, networking with people is an essential skill.

Lastly, I would avoid any place that promises you to pass the certs. Most of these training places are a joke.

 

[adam30k]

Certificates can help validate what you know and your experience. Don't go too far up the ladder (admin and engineer) without experience or it won't help you. Most classes for certificates are too expensive when compared with what you get and people's success with self training.

I think a college degree in information systems, information technology or computer science would set you in the right direction but remember to network with people as much as you can and try your damnedest to get a part-time job or internship while your still in school.

Having non-job related work experience on your resume/CV is always debatable. It at least shows yes you've been hired by companies. I just wouldn't spend much time writing about it.

 

[paulbrogden2007]

thanks for the advise I am trying to get a job in head office in an ISD department which is first line support I keep trying and I will continue to do so. I hope to gain exsperience in the basic stuff I hope doing this aswell as doing a few certs should help me get the enginner type of job which I am aiming for.

 

[paulbrogden2007]

I have 3 years call centre experience and 2 years administrating a Pam /oracle based system at a super market would this count the system in question allows me to monitor what is picked then I finalize orders and then finalize a full load normally 8 to 16 orders once complete and put through the till I print paperwork for the drivers would this be considered a IT job?







I have a HND in design communications what that means is video editing and making video projects graphic design/ photography . additional to this most of year 1 on a TV production degree. privately I build my own computer up and have installed 98 , 2000, nt server, xp home ,xp professional ,xp 64 ,windows 7 ultimate I have even managed to install on partions 98/2000/xp in the past all on the same hard drive.

I all ways keep upto date on latest processors in deed upgraded my aging single core amd 1900 to quad 2.8 clearly replacing most things in it like motherboard psu,ram,even sound card and graphic card from agp to exspress. any way back to the subject I am wondering what to do it seems every career change their is issues. some one suggested plumbing again after looking into that the same is true of that you cant do the second or 3rd years nvq training unless you have a job this is what Leeds college said so its a catch 22.

unless you can do gas your unlikely to get a job any way. so most career paths seem to have problems. so I turned to IT since computers has always been my interest from the days of the Amiga to Pentium 1's and beyond so clearly getting a job in IT would be a good choice right? well for me but the question is how do I get their?

as I said I could complete an open degree in a short time then top that up with short IT practical courses for example Dewsbury are doing a Cisco IT essentials 1/A+ course for £260 it might of gone up in price since 2010 . my choice is this do I do a degree with open university in IT and computing for 5 years to get a science honours degree or do I do some sort of top up degree to top my hnd up to a degree and then do some short IT part time courses at college or do I stick to the IT and computing degree?

the quicker option would be to do open degree just so I have the degree for the sake of having one then do a few certs or other IT courses or do I go the whole hog to do the IT degree I think my experiences in customer service and admin should stand me in good stead what do you guys have to say on the matter.

I will say this forums are like the best teachers you can find forget books it seems forums are full off wonderful people more than willing to give out advise. thank you for that I am very grateful and please keep up with your advice it is so much welcome help to us little people.