Best Online IT training?

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Hi

I am looking for the best value for money online IT training MCSE / CCNA networking etc

Any advise?

thanks

Andrew

 

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Hi Andrew,

Personally the 'best value' is to self study, get two books per exam to cross reference the material, maybe purchase CBT Nuggets training videos to re-inforce what you've read and then take plenty of mock exams to tune up your weak points.

I looked into 'training' but nothing is more valuable than hands-on work experience in real environments, I volunteered for an NVQ IT practitioner, I was paid £50 a week but I did it for experience. I now earn over 20k as a Application Support Technician.

Also for me I couldn't afford thousands in unjustified training fees, others may disagree but I found self-studying more rewarding.

Hope that helps...

 

just want to second what phil said.

Looked into training providers, spent a lot of time on forums and talked to a few training providers and found self study to be the best for me.... (seems to be working so far)

Good luck

ps Welcome to CF

 

I would also agree about self study.

Often training providers wont sell you one course you have to do a bundle and unfortunatley a lot of them sell subjects like the MCSE and CCNA which are meant for people who already work in IT and not for people wanting to get into IT. This often leaves the candidate not able to get a job because he/she is supposed to the experience to back the certs and because the candidate is overcertified he/she cant get a job and has lots of debt owed to the TP.

Try self study first before signing onto anything.

 

I also advocate self study. I have yet to pay for a training course for any of the certifications in my sig.

 

Best value and best may well be worlds apart mate...

 

I can recommend commsupport.co.uk. Amazing personal service, online etc
Search for a user on this forum called cisco lab rat (Joe) and give him a PM.

(You might want to search for commsupport threads as well, quite a few recommendations have been given)

 

Whereas I am a big advocate of classroom based training, I just can't do the whole self study thing, I can do home labs, that's easy but sitting down to read a book when there are so many distractions?? I would rather spend the money on classroom based training and actually sit in a classroom, it's my money and if I fail the exams then it's my fault.

The thing with classroom training is that not only do you actually have an instructor to ask questions of you also have a classroom full of like minded people that you can network with, these are people doing the same course as you and you never know what can happen and who you will meet there, it's also a good idea because you can listen to other peoples experiences and issues.

 

Classrooms can have distractions too, but yes its pretty rare in professional training sessions.

Many professional courses suffer from the fact that people are sent for free from big corporations, early in my career when I used to get sent half the class didn't even bother completing the exercises, and they certainly wouldn't have had much of interest to add to the debate. So the potential benefits of a study group very much depend on the group.

I agree nothing beats one to one tuition, its the fasted easiest way to learn, thats why people have coaches and personal trainers etc, but its also the most expensive.

Studying always requires you set aside the time and create a suitable environment, normally this means a home office, lab, bedroom, library, classroom etc.

The person asked about online training, they are not going to get any of the benefits of classroom, face to face, hands on, tutor based etc learning.

They are likely to get a bunch of pre recorded videos they can watch online, if lucky they might get live sessions streamed to them. They might get to ask a tutor a few questions using webex or IM. They may get some interactive web pages with quizes.

So basically they are getting a CBT and book style content. I'd rather watch a CBT as a video on my laptop so I can watch it wherever offline, I'd rather read book style content from a book, much easier than from a screen and again more portable and comfortable.

Wherever you learn you are going to have to put in some extra effort yourself, typically classroom style training on its own is never enough. You will always have to hit the books, internet and do some hands on yourself.

I agree with your points though that sometimes classroom style learning is worth the investment, I recently spent my own money on week long classroom CUDA course at Cranfield University, in the past I completed HND and Degree courses, have attended OU tutor sessions and residential weekends and also attended MCSA nightclasses at college.

Sometimes the extra help and social element is worth it, but you won't get this from an online course IMHO.

 

I use self study when I have to (if a piece of technology interests me enough and I can't do it funded by work). I prefer using training partners though, and maybe top up at home a bit. I like to be able to sit down with people and talk through the course, and have a knowledgable tutor at hand to answer questions. You can't get the evenings and weekends back when you self study (plus it takes me ages), using a provider I'm in and out when I'd normally be at work anyhow (plus the odd reading at home as above just to make sure I've got the subject right).
Just my take on it all.

 

Certforums is the best online way to study ;)