Hi Everyone NITLC rep coming tonight

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Hi this is my first post and am looking for a bit of advice.
I am 36 and looking to get qualified for IT work, I have had computers since 1995, and over the past couple of years have built systems from scratch installed OS and wireless network etc, I like the more practical side of things, building and taking apart! as well as networking, could anyone suggest what certification i should be looking for or more particularly a relevant course that NITLC do, I was looking at TSE or PC and Software Support Technician, any advice would be gratefully accepted. Thanks.

 

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Welcome to the boards Nabber. If your looking to get into a general IT role with fixing, building administrating Networks etc then a good cert to start with is CompTIA A+ and Network+ certs Info. Another really good one is Microsofts MCDST (Microsoft Certified Desktop Support Technician) Info. To be honest if your good around a computer and know the basic terminology then don't waste money on expensive training companies. Start with your A+ cert and buy yourself a good book (Like Mike Myers A+ or Sybex A+ Complete ) and self study as these are good entry level certs and aren't that difficult if your IT literate. Save your expensive training for doing something like your MCSE.

Also don't let the sales rep talk you into doing too much in one go. I remember years ago having some clown from a training agency trying to get me to sign up to doing an MCSE straight away without any knowledge of networking. Remember these people are sales reps and are out to make money. Sorry if thats a little Pessimistic but I've heard of too many cases of people being sold the wrong courses for stupid amounts of money. Things like an MCSE in my opinion are hard to learn without hands on experience as not everyone has access to a network.

 

Hi and welcome to CF, Nabber - good to have you here.

Have a read around the Training & Development Forum (if you haven't already). Theres loads of advice there on top of what Slypie has given already.

HTH

 

Hi Nabber, I am actually doing the TSE course with NITLC myself. The good thing about it is, there is an online student site where you can go and ask for help from tutors or other users. The course cost me £3,900 (might be slightly more expensive now). This was a 10% deposit and pay nothing for two years. You should be able to get a similar offer. It's true, you will probably get it cheaper by buying the material yourself and paying for the exams yourself. But to be honest, it's more motivational to pay for the course and do it. If you buy one book it's dead easy to set it down. But if you invest in a whole course then it's easy to pick it back up again.

What made me go for it was, a friend of mine mentioned that students studying degrees etc get themselves into enormous debts. Under £4,000 is a lot of money but not on the same scale as a degree would cost. And the qualifications are more specific. Here's a list of the qualification status you will have at the end of the course.

A+ (Hardware & Software)
Network+
MCSA
MCSE
Cisco CCNA
SQL 2000 MCP

It's really quite a significant amount of qualifications. Any questions please let me know. Hope it works out for you!

 

There is no right or wrong thing to do if your comfortable in forking out that amount then that’s fine and you should go for it. To be honest I think that amount of certs is a bit much to learn one after another. In total that is a vast amount of work about 12 exams in total and should really be done over a course of 2-3 years. As you want to absorb what you’re learning not just pass random certs for the hell of it. There is one thing passing certs and another actually taking it all onboard and learning your stuff to develop your skills in IT. Personally I would do the A+ and Network+ as a self study and then do dedicated courses that will teach you the MCSE. Of course this is just my opinion and I'm sure others will think differently. Anyway good luck with whatever you decide.

 

Greetings, Nabber. Welcome to CF.

 

Welcome to CF.

 

Hi and welcome to the forum.