Training advice

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Hi, I am looking at a career change into the IT industry and am looking at possible training companies. What I am really after is something similar to what Cerco offer, an intensive course and help getting work. I have seen a couple of others, the it training camp seems to offer a good intensive certification package, although they do not mention getting you into a job. Has anybody got any other companies I could try. At the moment I am looking for places with a short intensive course as opposed to a year long one or whatever. Any help would be great.
cheers

 

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Hi and welcome to CF.

The truth of the matter is that it isn't an easy field to get in to.
I am not saying this to put you off just warn you in the nicest possible way that it isn't like getting a paper round when you were 14!
While companies offer things such as jobs, placements or whatever you want to call them as afar as i am aware no-one is saying you will have a job at the end of their training. They will obviously try their very best but unless they are the company recruiting you think long and hard before spending any amount of money.
Do a search on this forum for keywords you want to find more about.

As long as you are willing to learn, desire to do well and stick at it you will get your chance.

A good foundation cert is Comptia's A+. This comprises of two exams. One Hardware and one software. You can achieve this with a say 2 books (Mike Myers All in One and Exam Cram A+)
a PC to break and put back together, the net and this great forum. This won't guarantee you a job but will give you a good foundation to build your chosen career on.

All the best

Boyce

 

The best advice I can give you is to take note of what Boyce has already said and take the time to read past threads regarding training providers on this forum.

There are numerous horror stories from some very dissatisfied customers of so-called training providers. Do your research and keep your hard earned bucks in your pocket for now. Don't make a hasty decision or be swayed by misleading TV adverts or the media. Getting into IT is not for just anyone, it takes an awful lot of dedication and self study to even grasp the very basics of this industry.

Gaining certifications without real world experience is not going to land you a well paid job. In reality, you could study for years and still not be able to get a job in an interesting role.

The best jobs in IT have all been taken by experienced IT people that have been doing it for years. The IT bubble has burst and still it is being promoted as the industry for just about every Tom Dick or Harry (sorry Harry), that leaves school or Uni. In truth nobody in their right mind is going to allow somebody with no experience to touch their companies IT equipment.

Sure, you may be offered a job on a help desk and there is nothing wrong with that *if* you are fully aware of what a help desk job entails. Most people want to move up and get there hands on the network and the server boxes. These steps up the ladder are all difficult to pull off. When and if you do manage to get a job which has some responsibility for the functionality of the IT infrastructure and you prove that you are the man and that you are indispensable, well then you just might see that fat wage packet. But on the way there is much hard work, much self study, potentially high training costs and the fact that IT moves at an astounding pace, so you need to continually research, self study, practice and practice.

I know of no other industry that moves so fast and has done so consistently over the past 15 years or more.

Newbies not only have to try and learn what is current but they also need to catch up on what they missed out on in the past. Legacy operating systems and applications are still being used today. It is a long learning curve.

Do your research and think very hard before committing to anything.

Good luck,

Pete

 

I would agree that steering clear of the "major seach engine" training is a good idea. Anything that promises something it clearly can't deliver isn't a good idea. A tech friend of mine has however recommended "Freeskills" membership £99
for a year for as many units as you like - I have no personal experience of them. Certainly steer clear of the likes of computech.

TBH I think the best advice is here on the forums, spend a few hundred quid on some old pc's and build your own lab. Buy the recommended books and save yourself the headache of trying to exctract large sums of money back from disreputable salesmen.