Apprenta/ICS

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I am one of those who fell for the ICSLondon Malarky and feel very ripped off..

I signed up one year ago and still have not completed all my courses.. I completed all the MCSA training + exams, which took about 6 months and then started working.. I also completed the SQL server 200 design and admin courses..

The MCSA classes were done in-house in the Birmingham Branch and then the SQL server were done online.. The teaching wasn’t too bad, but I wasn’t happy to hear I have to pay for my own exams.. I also found other providers who could have provided me the training a lot cheaper.. And found my new employer would have sent me to do the training for free meaning I really didn’t need to waste my cash!!

I've been waiting 2 months for my next training ie for the .net stuff and ICSLondon are deliberately wasting my time and not scheduling me for the next exam claiming the will ring me as soon as a date becomes available... every time i phone I get the same answer!!.

Apprenta the recruitment division was also appalling, they made me do a online test after reading some online cv writing material which i passes.. they also told me that they would help me find a IT job which they didn’t and then when I eventually found a job they sent me a letter claiming I am one of their successes blablablabla.. in actual fact they did nothing at all to help me find work.. infact it was my hard work and my dedication which got me my job and the fact that I remembered everything I learnt and was able to demonstrate this to my eomployer got me my job along with the fact that I was able to demonstrate that i can program as well as administer IT systems.

ICSLondon are a rip off money making org.. stay clear.. so faar everyone I met in the Birmingham branch is unhappy with the way they have been treated and I dont know one happy person there!...

I am still waiting to start my .net training even though I have started the learning already and am currently practicing at my work place!.

Feel free asking me questions as I will answer any questions I can.. ICSLondon/Apprenta and Mohammed Samara deserve to be shot and If there is a way to sue them I would be willing to do so if others join in! But I doubt I have a leg to stand on as they have covered their selves legally in every possible way.

 

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You don't say! This is exactly the experience I have had. Massive delays. The only thing I have got from ICS in the last four months is a book priced £37.99. I paid £5,000 for this?

Have you had legal advice on this? It might be worth getting a bunch of people together. The contract is pretty sloppy and there may be some leeway in there.

 

Hi, I posted this in the new members but too, but thought I might get better response from here. I found this forum too late to read about the Apprenta/ICS scheme. A have signed up for the online training. I noticed a few people recently stating they are ready to start and havent posted anything since. Could someone with experience of the course pm me please, I would like to try and get out of this asap if its a waste of my time.

Thanks

 

Wow I'm glad I read this before Tuesday. I seen there ad on totaljobs for the "hundreds of .net jobs and no experience req" so I applied, which took me to 2nd application window for apprenta where you book a phone interview. Booked interview and no one called, phoned helpline later on and had the following convo with "junior" consultant:

Me: Hi i booked a phone call this morning and no one phoned...can I arrange a phone interview through here?

Her: What date would you like?

Me: 28th (Monday)

Her: Oh that is a bank holiday...

Me: But you have this date listed on your site for available interviews

Her: It will need to be another day

Me: 29th 9-9:30AM

Her: Sorry it won't be this specific, it will just be in the morning at some time..

Me: Why have you specific times that are available on your site yet you can't offer me a specific time that you will contact me by phone in the morning?

Her: We can only be as specific as "during the morning sometime"......Where would you like your interview, at one of our locations (all in England) or by the net?

Me: Do you not have any available interviews in Scotland?

Her: Oh i'm not sure if we have any vacancies in Scotland

Me: But the ad states vacancies in Edinburgh and Inverness-shire?

Her: Sorry sir I can't give you any other info on that...

Me: Ok thank you. Hang up!!



Yes I am so glad to have read about them this soon...


Thanks


Andrew

 

BTW does anyone have any gen on this outfit:

http://www.justit.co.uk/

Is it another 2good2btrue mob?

Andrew

 

from the looks of it, it is. But I aint too sure.

 

Hi everyone this is my first post!

I signed up with apprenta and I don't rate them from what I have seen so far. I have done the course online and had to wait two months before starting the course. I was told that they spend 16,000 but you put in 6000. But I cannot in my mind think were the 16000 is used for.

Also I am struggling to do the first exam despite putting in the hours and its been six months already. The interviewer told me that he expected me to complete it in few months. Basically whatever you want to hear these guys will tell you.

Also you just get the general feeling that there is something not quite as it seems.

My advice for anyone thinking of doing this is go for a cheaper training company that has an office where you can go in and easily access tutors and equipment even if they are honest enough to admit that they can't guarantee a job.

 

I am an ex ICS/Apprenta trainee.

No I didn't get the qualification I was aiming for (MCSD, initially microsoft exams 70-315 and 70-316); no I was not taken on as an 'intern' and no, I have not ended up in a well paid IT job.

So I would understand if any subsequent comments may be interpreted as sour grapes, however ...

I am amazed that people are still falling for Apprenta's sales pitch, and it *is* a sales pitch. They are telling you what you want to hear ie you can pass the course in a matter of months (even 6 months is very good going. I think 1-2 years is more like it) and then everything is going to be fine.

Listen up. .Net is complex stuff; wonderful but complex There is *alot of it*. You need to have a very, very good memory and be used to processing lots and lots and lots of text.

The microsoft books supplied are not well written. The microsoft knowledgebase is vast and confusing. Books by other authors are frequently out-of-date and the exercises and example code doesn't compile properly. To sort out what is relevant and essential from what is simply too detailed, wrong or out of date is a herculean task.

The trainers/tutors are not experts and do not have time to keep up with the latest developements in the .Net world. They certainly don't have time to sit down with you on a regular basis and explain to you *why* your horrible code does not work because there are not enough of them and their main function is to deliver classroom 'training' not one-to-one tutorials.

The initial classroom training course is a ridiculously fast and furious skim over an outline of the main features of .Net. If you don't get it first time your f***ed because there is no time to go back over it; your onto the next topic.

The learning time table is ridiculously compressed (just download their recommended teaching outline to see what I mean). It is not teaching by any stretch of the imagination; just a whirlwind blur of slides, commentary and expectation. After six weeks thats it! You're on your own.

The preferred method of solving students problems is by email. To say I found this unsatisfactory would be an understatement.

Beware! The free Visual Studio trial software is time limited to 60 days. For those of you with a pure maths background that is 2 months, which is 4 months short of the 6 months they say it will take to pass the course.

This software is essential otherwise you cannot do any coding at all. To buy a new copy of Visual Studio is approx £500. The new free Visual Studio Express while very wonderful in its own right is no good for the purposes of passing the exam because it uses Net Framework 2.0 which changes many things from version 1.1 which is what you are asked about in the exam.

The exams themselves have to be paid for separately approx £100 each attempt.To prepare for the exams themselves you would be well advised to use online mock exams from companies like Transcender. These also cost hundreds. All of this essential information was either not mentioned or glossed over at the interview.

Above all the £6000 fee is a complete con. Once you have paid it upfront you are entirely in their hands. You have no come back. They have no incentive to respond to your complaints or worries. They have the money already. They can sit back and watch you sink or swim.

There is nothing I saw in my time at ICS/Apprenta that even remotely justified paying out that kind of money. Read the contract very, very carefully before you sign it and try and understand the implications of all the small print.

If they say something like "you must take personal responsibility for your progress" and "you must work very hard" they mean it, because they know perfectly well that they're going to do as little as possible.

Remember they have your money already. They know most people will fail/fall by the wayside. All they have to do is keep costs down; spend as little as possible on the facilities/trainers to keep the system ticking over and then when someone does pass make sure they get a testimonial for the web site.

Right at the beginning of the course I asked what percentage of people passed and was given the answer 9/10. I believed them at the time. Why? (with hindsight) because I *wanted* to.
I am sure the real pass rate is more like 1/10.

But there is no way of knowing for sure because I never saw the other 8 people in my initial training group again and was stupid enough not to get a some email addresses so I don't know how they got on.

That is why forums like this are so important.

If I had known then what I know now ...........

PS The impressive list of corporations which they quote on their website as being clients are nearly all based in the Middle East. I am not saying they don't exist or that the work wasn't done but it may explain why some professionals in the UK IT industry may not have heard of ICS(London) or Apprenta.

 

Good day i am new to this forum, is there a way that one can get out of apprenta without paying back the £6000 they said is the loan becos i have only taken one of their classes and had to leave to sort myself out. i had to study and write my exams myself without their help, now i am looking for how to get out of p[aying back the £6000 as i have already paid £1000 as the initial deposit.