IT career

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Hi,

A friend of mine who is in his late 20s wants to make a career in IT. He is a golf professional and is looking to change career direction.

Although I have been involved in IT for a number of years, perhaps some younger members could offer some advice. My friend has been offered an interview in London with a company promising a course and a job with a salary of £20K. It will cost him £250 for the privilege. Has anyone had experience with these companies who advertise in newspapers offering these tantalising opportunities?

If he decides against this offer, what would you advise him to do to start an IT career? Possibly studying for the A+ Certification and then go on to MCSE/MCSA? There are now so many disciplines that to the uninitiated it presents a baffling array of possibilities.

Many thanks for looking.

 

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He should definately decide what route of IT he wants to do and also be prepared for a wage of around £14k to start with.

I only got into IT about 3 years ago(26) by doing my A+ and having customer service expierence and getting an entry level job resetting passwords for £8p/h. 2.5 years later i am still trying to study but working in desktop support.

 

Hi itbookham
These training providers that offer a job after training are most of the time just marketing trick to sell courses. That is according to my own experience and according to reading this forum (threads about Advent training are good example and there are many of them here).
He should start with certificates that are "ok" to pass without having previous experience and these are CompTIA A+, N+ and then Microsoft Desctop Support Technician MCDST.
Other certificates as MCSE are not good to pass without any work experience as nobody would employ someone just for having certificate. Everyone has to have hands on experience and progress accordingly. It is not simple as training providers are promissing! They just prepare people for complex exams like MCSE and then nobody hires them because they don't have experience in real world. ALso on Microsoft website they state that one can't take that exam if they haven't been working in the industry for 1 to 2 years! - http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/certification/mcse.aspx
That is just one example of certifications that training providers are trying to sell and next to it they put attractive pay candidates would get had they passed exams.
Out of interest - why is your friend leaving golf? Can he give some golf lessons? ;D

 

Just a quick point, but Microsoft also states requirements for the MCDST that you recommended. I personally would suggest he studies the A+ and N+ and starts looking for customer service entry level roles, as even with the MCDST, it will barely make a difference without any sort of customer facing experience. A lot of entry level roles are 80/90% customer service rather than technical knowledge based if we're honest.

 

Just not to confuse OP, CompTIA as well has experience requirements for A+ and N+. But it is ok to pass it without previous experience. I wasn't clear about MCDST - I wrote to first pass A+ and N+ and MCDST after but that after is unpredictable as it will depend on job he finds himself in or/and his career choice. Career path is unpredictable and many times differs from original plan depending on job one gets.

 

I am grateful for the input. It is much as I thought.

Of course, the range of different disciplines is vast. A+, N+, MCDST etc is one path. Does anyone know if web development or specialising in databases is a practical option. Although, these may restrict career opportunities rather than assist?

As a golf professional he earns very little for the three winter months, so this may be a good opportunity to start studying for the exams. I'll ask about the golf tuition.

Many thanks,
Mark

 

Why would learning anything (such as web development) restrict career opportunities? You just leave it off your CV if needs must. MCDST isn't in the path with the CompTIA exams, it is just what we link together because they are kind of knowledge building exams that should get you up to speed with IT to a decent enough level to start an entry level job. Upon which point you would start studying the MCDST and then onwards. There is no set path in reality, you could study a dozen Technology Specialist exams, or the MCITP exams instead, the MCSA and MCSE are an exam that every IT person should take because if they don't no one will employ them.

What IT experience does he have?

 

He has no IT experience, except for working on a computer as an end user.

Are there fewer opportunities in say web development than networking, hardware support?

Are you or is anyone familiar with the 'National IT Learning Centre'. Can he get good advice from them? Do they provide distant learning A+, N+ courses?

Many thanks,
Mark

 

You can study both of them exams from home with no problems at all without the use of a training provider. As for web development opportunities, I would say, in this day and age there are probably more jobs, but contract jobs. Sure there are full time web developers, but I would reckon the majority would be contract work and to be honest, without a portfolio of websites he has developed, no one is going to want to employ him.