Hello forum!

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Firstly, yes my username is misspelled I should try and fix that.

So! Hi folks, I'm looking for a job in IT mainly because I seem to be capable of learning in this area and also quite enjoy it. Now get your violins out.

I started off with an A at Scottish higher, then went on to university to study for a degree in Technology and Business studies - similar to a joint honours in Computing and Economics. With hindsight, I should have done one or the other, but alas the flux capacitor hasn't been invented yet. I gained a 2:2 honours in my degree and then had to work in my family business where I have been working as IT admin and invoicing manager for 3 years. Its a small business with 25 PCs running XP pro and a server still running NT4 which is doing the trick and there is currently no budget to upgrade.

Anyway it is no longer necessary to work here and I have been looking for (any) jobs in ITfor most of this year with no success and not many interviews even for bottom grade admin work circa £14k. The time has come to take some action and I know that I must retrain. This feels like starting from scratch, but the alternative is to go nowhere. I have been looking into certifcation - particularly MCSA/E or CCNA self study. I am mainly interested in the system support or engineering aspects of IT and am slightly averse to programming - its been a while.

I wonder, with my experience would the CompTIA exams be necessary or maybe just good practice? Its probably worthwhile to mention that I dont expect to be paid a fortune from this, but I would like to have a comfortable standard of living and am prepared to travel/move. I am currently based in Glasgow.

A few questions:

After certification, what are your real prospects of employment, and wage ranges from experience on this board?

Would it be realistic to possibly set up your own support business (home users)?

Would a post grad qualification in IT be a good couse of action? I ask because a friend is about to start a PGd/Masters in mulitimedia and Web design and there are still places available on the course.

If anyone could give their opinion on what course of action I should take, I would be very grateful.

I know this has been long winded but I have just discovered this forum and got rather excited.

David

 

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No certification exams are necessary, but the comptia A+ and Network+ will provide you with a good soild foundation, and you may find that they are harder than you think.

Certification does not guarantee you a job. What having a cert on your CV will do is make you more attractive to potential employers, and verifies that you jave the necessary skills to do the job. Salaries vary depending on experience.

Yes, but you will have to work hard to do it and establish yourself. In business if you make a mistake once it can live with you for a very long time.

It couldn't hurt. but I thought that you were interested in the support aspect of IT, not the web design side?
You would find that to do certs along side a Masters will be VERY hard work.

 

Thanks for the reply. I'm thinking about starting by self studying the A+ and Network+, add them to the CV then decide what certification path to follow - probably MCSA/E. Whatever I choose to do, I'm glad to have found this place, and hopefully at some point in the future I may be able to help some others.

The Masters was just a thought but I think I'll leave it alone.

Thanks again!

 

Glad to have helped!

And as I forgot to say it in my original post, welcome to CF!

 

Welcome to the forum Supendous Man!

 

Welcome to CF, you'll definently get a lot from this site, especially sound job hunting advice!

Have you had a look at dell.co.uk for IT jobs in your area?

Getting your certs will do no harm whatsoever, the CompTIA certs are very useful. The only downside is the questions...for the amount of study you put into it you don't half feel short-changed when see all the questions being one liners!

The Microsoft certs are a bit more of a challenge but the A+ and N+ provided me with a good foundation for some of my MCPs.

As was mentioned previously, certs do not guarantee you a job in any way - the same applies to all industries and quals for those industries. However, they do demonstrate something more important - On Going Professional Development. Some companies and most Local Authorities love the on going professional development thing, why? Well it could be because you are interested in your field, they don't have to pay for formal training and/or evidence that you can understand a concept.

Bear in mind that one day you'll have experience and certs, it's this formidable combination that'll get you to where you want to be! So look forward to that and what becomes before is the learning process...so enjoy! I know that I am!!!!!

 

Welcome!

I'm into the programming side of IT, so can't give you any advice. But I just want to say, I did a degree in Business IT. The degree wasn't technical enough and it wasn't financial enough. I wish I did a pure computing degree too! Anyway, that doesn't matter now. It's good that you're now focus on what you want to do in the future. Btw, doing a masters or postgrad course doesn't help to improve career prospects. I've got friends who did a master and still job hunting.

It's great that you want to self-study for ur certifications! Best of luck with those. I got a friend who did a Computer Science degree, he's really clever but he found it so hard to get into networking/hardware. He studied for some networking exams, manage to get a job, and now his company is sponsoring him for his MCSE exams.

ps. I should mention, my friend started off on a £21k salary. London does have a lot more job opportunities, higher salaries but then living expenses are much higher.

 

Hi and welcome from me too, Supendous Man

 

Welcome!