HELP!!! So Many Courses!!! Which to Choose

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Hello All,

I ahve currently decided to change career from social work to IT and been looking at long term prospect of becoming an ethical hacker. I have looked around at various courses and basically am confused on what to do. I will be self funding so fancy getting some 'bang for my buck' as it were.

Anyways I have currently received a call from Firebrand Training and basically they stated they can offer me a 7 days bootcamp course that will get me COMTIA A+ and Network+ trained which means I could be looking at a job of roughly 18k+ for starters becoming an IT Technician and get me to the front door of a job interview.

Just wondering if people think this is a suitable way forward as researching and there are lots of different governing bodies (BCS, INSTISP, CREST APPROVED) you name it I have looked at it along with also going for the long haul and going back to uni to study a computer science degree.

Any ideas as majorily confused. I know what job I want to end up doing and wondering is this course a good starting point (especially costing over £3500)

So please HELP as relatively new to computers as a profession. Have built my own and basically can manage to sort out any issues with home networks and build the odd site and sig and stuff but now time to be serious.

Any advice would be welcome.

Regards

Rikk

(lost in a course minefield at present).

 

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As I mentioned in your other post, getting the A+ and Network+ is a great start, but a 7 day boot camp for both is kind of pushing it if you ask me, unless you already know the material really well... basically what a bootcamp is, its a week long cramming session and it is intended for those who already know the material.

Also both A+ and Network+ can be self tought. You can buy the books and learn it yourself, I don't think that A+ and Network+ would be too difficult, it's just takes time and you also want to learn the material at your own pace and do it right.

Just a suggestion.

 

I would save 95% of that course fee and study on my own. You have to be dedicated but it's really not that bad. Also there are a lot of good resources some free like professor messer which I enjoyed and helped me a lot and others like cbt nuggets and train signal which aren't free but a lot cheaper than a course.

I'm worried if I learned it all in 7 days I'd forget it just as fast.
I would save the money and then if you decide to go on and buy a cisco kit like a lot of people do you'll have the money for it.

With all that being said some people just can't study on their own. It's your decision.

 

Any claims regarding job roles and pay from training providers should have YMMV written alongside them in massive letters, the job market at the moment is still fairly chaotic at present and pay for entry level jobs is all over the place. I've seen entry level jobs advertised with as little as £12k a year (obviously this happens whether the job markets chaotic or not but it seems more prevalent at the moment).

You should find that a background in social work will be quite helpful to getting that first IT position though, it should provide fairly compelling evidence of 'customer service' skills.

My advice, buy the books and study on your own, A+, Network+ and MCDST to start and don't wait till you've got them to start sending your CV out. Just as certs don't guarantee a job they also aren't necessarily needed to get you one in the first place!

 

I didn't know which provider to go with either then I decided to go the self-study route. Ok I'm not gonna have phone and email support and even classes to attend but a good book and a video is just as good in my opinion. I am gonna get the latest Mike Meyers book along with CBT Nuggets A+ video and Boson exam software all for much much less than a training course!

 

You say trained but does that include the exams? There are 2 exams for A+ and one for N+.

Remember that these courses will change as of 31st Dec 2010 in that they will have an expiry date and you will have to resit the exam after 3 years.

 

I would definately not go using a training provider for this. Read up around the forums on self-studying.