Advent Training

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Hi there, I am new to this site and have just spend the last half hour reading every post regarding this advert training.

I have been in employment for the past 12 months working in a small IT office (5 workers). The only qualifications I have are GCSEs, but through a friend of the family managed to get my current employment.

The skills I use at work are for small websites/applications. Using wml/html/php, MySQL, SQL

I am quite competent at my job & proud to be in the position I am, aged 18. However, I am looking to get a formal qualification .. as I'm highly motivated and I've taught myself everything I know, I'm sure a distant learning course would be ok for me...

I have done some research into the courses - and a MCAD interests me .... I know .NET & ASP development is very different to php, I hope I can get the hang of it.

The main reason I want to further my learning is to increase my pay!

Can anyone offer any advise on what I should be doing? If I should be concentration on getting a qualification? trying to get freelance work? or try find a job with nothing but my charm, charisma and good looks?? o and my 12 months experience

 

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What are thoinking of studying?
I've registered with them in May 08, the Database Admin course. They are very quick to respond to my emails. Disappointed that they don't have a Students Club, where we can share ideas and things, help each other along.

 

Hi, Im new to this site, although I intend to stick around I wanted to get some info on Advent ASAP, Ive read through the 5 previous pages but still feel a little lost. I filled in thier online form last week and got a few things through the post, then I had a telephone interview with a lady from Advent yesterday, she told me I had passed the first interview (not sure if this is all bulls**t) and now it would be past up the chain for final look, anyway today I get an email saying ''hooray you have qualified to work to train at Advent......'' (or words to that effect).

This is what they basically sent me after the telephone conversation by email:



Pending Certification - Advanced Networking Specialist
Preferred Employer Type - No Preference
Commuting Distance - 20 Mile Radius (I told them I have a car and that I was willing to travel up to 90 minutes to get to work, what car only gets 20 miles in 90 minutes?)
Starting Job Role - Help Desk (never mentioned this)
Salary Requirement - £16,000 - £20,000 + p.a. (or this)
Target Salary within 2 years - £35,000 - £40,000 + p.a. (or this)

After speaking on the phone for about an hour they believed the best course for me would be Advanced Network Specialist, its a 3 year course and cost £5960

Basically Im just looking for a difinitive answer, is there anywhere better to do a course as alot of people seem to be unhappy with the course materials provided, I just want to get on with it ASAP, but dont want to make a near 6k mistake.

 

Hi Aran,

My friend had the same course reccomended to him, and the same cost as well... he nearly signed up with but he ended up going with a company called Seek learning. They put together a similar set of courses.....like a+,mcdst,mcse,ccna and a security+ course for less than 3000. The training is produced by Skillsoft, we use skillsoft at work and the quality is very good. He completed his A+ in 8 weeks and has done his first exam in the mcdst. Not sure if this helps but after reading this thread i'd stay away from Advent.



Christ69

 

see i dont know if that person was actually advent staff.....but i am and i think its really funny that the only positive post on here and you get suspicious. its funny because its the only post from someone thats actually taking a course!
wouldnt it be an idea to actually find out about something yourself rather than just preaching about something you have no more information on than anyone else whos browsed the internet and found forums of self oppinionated people who like to do nothing better than talk about things they have no clue about

 

I have paid over £5000 for MCSE I have passed A+ MCP MCDST and no employers will touch me without experience Advent send job details that they find on the net , cowboy firm told me they would put me in a placement whilst training and then denied they stated this , Good Luck to all who try

 

Firstly let me say this... I am not employed by advent or have any links to advent other than I am undertaking training with them currently.

I have to say I am suprised by how naive some people are.
The stories I have read here have really shocked me.

Here is my opinion and advice.

YES you will get a " sell " off the rep , might not be a gard sell but be under no illusions they want you to sign up sooner rather than later. One used the " the offer of a place is only open for a week " I told him that I would not be forced into a decision and thanks but no thanks. At this point he told me to ignore the warning and let me know when Im ready.

Ok so first part over , Next thing I did was to research what I wanted to get from them. What was the end goal and how long could it take me based on my own circumstances. ( not what the book said )
I then checked out sites like this to make sure I was understanding the IT industry. So that I didnt turn around in 6 months time and moan about why I wasnt earning 30k as system admin when I had only passed 2 exams.
In summary , there is no guarentees in life , they will send u material , if you get the job or not thats not down to them.
They will provide great learning materials, a 2 day course for each module plus all of your exam prep ( transender disks ) and exam fees ( for how ever many retakes you will need also )

Go into this with your eyes open with realistic views , I have been delighted with them , I am now mcdst , and a+ certified and am working as a 1st line tech support for the nhs after taking a 3 month contract to get some experience. I have reciently been offered a 4 month extension and am learning 2nd and 3rd line stuff as we have a small team that are happy to let me be involved in other things.

I plan to leave at the end of my 7 months and do a further 2 modules , then go back for another 6 months in another role learning different aspects.

This is all about how smart you are with this , dont expect advent to wave a magic wand , dont think it wont take alot of hard work , ass kissing at the bottom rungs of the ladder. But guess what folks , this is a ladder that I really wanna climb !!! ( And advent have given me a boost up the first few rungs )

Please dont slate my opinion but of course any comments or questions are welcome.

 

I wint slate you but what I do hate about these places is that they charge you a lot of money when you can do exactly the same courses on your own for less than a 3rd of the price.

If you need help with what you are learning then there a free places on the web for info such as this place.

 

Peolpe pay for driving lessons.....they could do it cheaper with their parents.....

There are certain services out their that can be done cheaper if you want to.

The likes of Computeach, NITLC and Advent have been going for a number of years. If these companies where not successful how can they still be in business?

Why hasn't the DTI or OFT shut them down? Probably because out of the 1000's of students who enrol a few do not like the service they get and complain, and most of the time this is because they haven't studied as much as they could have done and do not use the support as much as they should.

When I signed up for a course, I made sure I utilised every service my TP had to offer, and this was mainly support, workshops and a shoulder to cry on when I was finding it tough going.

Nobody forces you to sign up for an info pack, nobody forces you to sign the paperwork, nobody forces you to pay for the course.



There are always cheaper options out there if you want it, but the choice is yours.

 

I Guess that's the reason why people take these TP's promises with a large pinch of salt!!

True you don't have to sign up for a course, it's your choice at the end of the day! If you do sign up the you should know you will only get something worth while out of it if you work hard at it! But a lot of tp's fail because of their empty promises and because of what the salesman tell the prospective students in order to sell the course. people expect more becuase that's what they were told by the salesmen/women.

But at the end of the day if you believe - " Oh and they 'apparently' are guaranteeing me a job after the course ends or my money back" then you are setting yourself up to fail! You need to have your eyes wide open before signing up with TP's and do your research!

 

The samething could be said about Testking How many years have they been around?? Who actually trust them and why did Microsoft allowed them to sell cheats for the exam???

What has it achieved? Well it's help to devalue the certs and flood the job market with unskilled people who have a cert they don't understand because they only learnt how to pass an exam!!

 

Thanks for the feedback Illusion is always good to get some positive feedback. I know there's alot of us here who slate TP's but that's only because we have had some bad experiences from them!

I don't know much about advent, except what I have read here on CF and from what Raffaz has said. Raffaz seemd to do well with them.


"Go into this with your eyes open with realistic views " I think you have hit the nail on the head there! Congratulations on the job!

 

I slate TP's because of the ridiculous, over-the-top, robbing prices they charge!! I can't believe there's people still out there that are paying over 5 grand to teach yourself (YOURSELF!) how to become a developer or specialist or whatever. In this day and age there's hundreds of web sites, cdRoms and books that teach you these things. If your stuck, sign up on as many forums as possible that relates to your chosen field (making sure CertForums is the first one!) And ASK!

Sorry but you guys must have money to burn!!! Thats all i can say!

Neil

 

Hi Nelly

Can I ask how long it took you to gain your CIW and are you working in IT now?

 

Hi, it took me just under a year to pass both my exams but i could only study a couple of hours a day. And no I'm not yet working in I.T, well.....full time anyway. I have been doing some freelance work and i did work part-time last year as a web designer just for a bit of experience. I am waiting to hear if i can do that again, so fingers crossed this could lead to a permanent job???

What are you studying or wanting to learn???

 

True it is daylight robbery to pay that much for a course, but not everyone can learn though self study. Some places such as bootcamps and local tp's offer classes. I just don't think we should tar the same brush with all tp's out there!!

Unless you can say you have been on everyone of them and there's a lot out there!!

If not then how can you say what they are like?

Most people refer to the following tp's with bad experiences and that's only because they advertise more! Advent, Computeach, NITLC, Skillstrain.

Untill recently I used to hate tp's almost as much as Braindumpers..(don't get me started on that!) but I attended a local training provider and was quite impressed!

But everyone has an opinion on them and that's just mine!

However I do find it funny that if someone does writes something positive about their experiences with a TP then they are automatically asked the question "do you work for them" LOL

 

I am already MCSE certified, but I went with a TP.

We all have differnet ways of learning, and be honest I couldn't have done it own my own (Self Study)

I tried to do it myself at first but couldn't get motivated, so I am really gald I did shell out for a course with a TP. I did though do my research extensively and visited the training centres before embarking on the course.

The support staff and workshops, not forgetting the recruitment division have been value for money.

I'm gald to hear you have done it all for a fraction of the price, and I hope you get that big contract soon.

For near shy of £4000, I gained A+, N+, MCSA & MCSE, they came with 10 days in house workshops (absolutley brilliant) all my exam fees, materials and tutorial support when I needed it. Also I have access to their student website where all of the students hang out. Very similar to CF but the guys and girls in the student website are the students and tutors only, no outside influences or spammers!!!

MrM

 

What TP do you work for then????.......lol! I understand the differences of opinions on TP's but I've had Computeach, I.Tskillls (haven't heard about them since) and Advent, all round mine to tell me how wonderful they are. And i was nearly sucked in with Computeach!
She sat me down and told me how great they are bla bla bla.....and when she showed me what she had to offer i was feeling quite good. She then said i can go to there "State-of-the-art training facilities" for two days which is in Birmingham.

Thats about five hours from where i live, which she cottoned on to and said that i could get bloody bed and breakfast for 35 quid a day! Bloody cheek! (just wiping off the spit off me monitor)

Then she hit me with the bombshell....5 grand!!. I nearly chocked on my tea and had to bite me lip before i told her to pi** off! I felt like i was being cheated. When she was gone i did some research and then the math, bearing in mind that this was the CIW course:

3 exams = £300
The software (at the most) = £1000 or i could just use the 30 day FREE trials!!
And the books at a max would be = £100
Total = £1400
So, where the hell do these training providers get there prices from? what happened to the other three and a half grand??
It's like paying five grand for a garden shed and then told to put the bloody thing together yourself!!! I suppose it's a bit different for people learning something other than web development? And it's just my opinion, i wouldn't discourage anyone trying to better themselves. I will always look to better myself....but i wouldn't pay five grand!!

Few!!....that's my rant done for today

 

Everyone has a right to moan or complain.

I am going on holiday next year to Portugal and was advised to check out www.tripadvisor.com to check out peoples real life experinces with the hotel I was looking at.

People where on there moaning that the bar staff never put ice into their drinks they had to do it thereselves, so they marked this hotel down. I'm mean bloody hell, what is the world coming to.

May be we should invent a forum where people just say positive things with a big banner saying 'No negativity allowed'

Has there even been a poll on who on this forum is actually training with, whether this be self study or TP's and there experinces?

More to the point who has gained employment with Self Study or TP's

 

LOL!

I had a similiar experience with Computeach and ended up spilling tea all over the carpet when he told me how much it was ! £5k to do a MCSE! Although he made it sound like an Hollywood film like hackers or sneakers -saying I could use the MCSE to work for banks trying to hack thier defences!

Yeah right! Do people actually believe those stories???

The bigger laugh was yet to come when a rep from NITLC came round saying he was in the army before joining NITLC and anyone in the army is taught not to lie? WTF!

He then went on to say they only accept the cream of the cream at NITLC and I must do a test, this plus my file goes before a panel of 5 people who will decide if they can offer a place on the course! it's to filter out those who are not academically minded

If that wasn't enough he try to sell me some red wine he got from France which was in the boot of the car?

Luckly I google the Tp's and found feedback here on CF!