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Hi all,
I've just joined this forum as I am just about to be made redundant and am looking to move into the IT industry (self employed/limited company contractor) in the support and network admin side. to do this I need to;
a/ gain some more IT training (self managed) and
b/ certify my existing IT experience to help me start working for myself/contracting.

I've looked at lots of independant training organisations on the web and read lots of blogs etc. and from what I can see the best way forward is to buy the books, study, study, study and then do the exams - with support and advice from the great people on forums like this one

Anyone agree or disagree with this ?

I look forward to sharing my decision, journey and advice as well as receiving any useful tips for the future from you all.

Cheers
Simon

 

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I've done both the self-study and taken the official course from a training provider. For me I felt each time that if it was a lousy course, I would have been better off taking a week of work and hitting the books myself for 8 hours a day! For me also, the training course doesnt give me enough time for the concepts to really sink in and the labs they give are really just like following a list of instructions. I need the time, the books, the examples, to set up the lab myself so I get break things and fix things , then practice the questions before I feel confident.

There is so much self study material out there and on the price front it's much much cheaper. The only downside is the time it takes and the fact you have to stay motivated. Also for me a certificate is only worth it if you are prepared to go the whole journey to get it -i.e study and digest everything the certificate covers.

The best tip I have is - decide on where you want to go in terms of certs, BOOK the exam, then start studying towards the exam date.

 

Its definitely worth working out where you ultimately want to end up and what path you need to take to achieve it. That said, you often find that a particular subject/job is more interesting and it gets changed.

 

I agree with beerbaron too. You have to remain pretty flexible as new and interesting things come your way all the time. I find in IT you are learning all the time.