New here, want to get back into IT

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Hi everyone

I'm here to try to find advice on getting back into IT after a 6 year absence. Now I just need to find the correct forum to post in.

Hopefully you guys can help me

 

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Welcome to the forums

Qs

 

Welcome to the forums !

You say you've had a break - what were you doing before in IT ?

 

Welcome to CF

 

Started '80 as Sperry mainframe operator, moved into comms then systems programming. Permanent sysprog work till 1987 then contracts till '92 (UK, HK and Germany). Moved to PC work late '92 (dBase + Hardware/Nnetworks). '94 moved to Manchester writing Cobol on Unix box + Build/Repair PC's + Networks + MS Office. 2000 became hands-on IT Director till company sold mid-'02. End of that phase in IT but spent time living in Thailand building and repairing PC's for expats and installing PC based music/video systems in bars and restaurants. Last 3.5 years spent in pubs... Personal licence holder and cellar certification achieved but rapidly becoming brain-dead . I still build and repair PC's for friends and do the odd bit of work installing PC's and small networks for friends businesses.

There you go, a brief history of me

 

Wow ! With that history I'm sure you'll fit right in here

So what's on the cards now ? Are you looking at certs ? anything specific job-wise ?

 

That's my current problem. I did the cerco online test and got an invite to the open day but i'm hearing bad things on the net so not sure. I'm more than capable of self-training and with current lack of funds (pub management doesn't pay) 4k is serious money unless I go into debt. Hence my fishing for advice

 

If you can self study then it's certainly a much cheaper option - even if you top it up with one or two specific courses (online or classroom). There's a wealth of knowledge and advice here from all age groups and cert types.

Other things to look at - LinkedIn and membership of a professional body (BCS, IET etc.).

 

Hi & welcome to CF

NB

 

I suppose I should try to ascertain which direction I want to go but I think the hardware/network side is the way to go, i suspect my serious programming days are long gone and probably rightly so. So, do I go for the MS certs or maybe move over to Linux. I currently have 3 machines at home, 2 running XP and one dual-boot XP+Ubuntu. Also I see lots of jobs for php and MySQL... Too many options so I need to think about it. Course material isn't a problem, there are lots of places I can download manuals etc... at little or no cost.

BTW Thanks for all the warm welcomes, I appreciate it, feel all gooey inside

 

If you're looking at the hardware/network side then you might want to consider Cisco too. You would then have good options for a move into security or voice.

 

Welcome to CF Spangle