Where to go next?

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At the age of 16, I am just leaving school, and I have found this site and forums very uselful in learning about the certifications etc that are on offer from various places.

The problem is this, In 3 weeks time I am leaving school, and I am not sure what to do next. I want to go into IT, as this is all that I have wanted to do since I can remember (probably influenced by my mom, as she is A+ certified).

I have applied for a college place doing a BTEC National Diploma in ICT Systems Support, although I do have the problem that this is going to be full time, six hours a day, five days a week.
The problem is that I have assisted in the set up of a new company, which is taking off rapidly, and the company wish to employ me to do all of their technical work, when they are funded, which could be as late as January 2008.

Is their a route I could take at the age of 16, INSTEAD OF DOING THE BTEC OR COLLEGE, to start to become certified, possibly within the next year, or two years. Is there any type of 'e-learning' that I could use, as I dont just want to use book.

I have taken a look at computeach, would this be free if im 16??

I know that possibly A+ or MCDST could be completed in around a year, or could it be less?

Any guidence would really be apreciated, as you are the guys with the know.

Adam

 

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Adam, for your age and determination you are better off going to college and concentrate your spare time at doing the MCDST. Best wishes in which ever you decide to go

 

I am determined with my IT carer - Im so glad I have now finished school - no more pointless Intermidate GNVQ IT!

Thats the problem, as the course at college is totally full time, I will not want to use my spare time for any more studying, I will be totally boged down otherwise!

I just dont feel that the college course is going to help me with my carer in IT. How did everyone else get into IT, where did you start?

Adam

 

Do the BTEC National Diploma in ICT Systems Support course & in between it, in holidays or evenings do A+.
Getting qualifications now will help you later on.
If your tutors see you to be good at the subject i'm sure they will be able to advise you on how to get more qualified.

Most under 18's get free tution in the UK, but some courses require you to be 18+.

 

Well I'm gonna stick my neck out on this one and say I think that this board probably can't help you with regard to your career plans...

The reasons I think this are we simply don't know you or your situation well enough. What does your mum think ? She clearly knows a little about the industry and your situation ?

If you are starting a new business you should probably keep the details close to your chest, we therefore cannot advise you as to whether this is a good step or not. You might well be the next Richard Branson we don't know.

I will say that I thought of dropping out of my A-levels many times and getting a job and working my way up, I am EXTREMELY grateful to the many people who convinced me that I should continue my education. So in general for any bright 16 year old I would say enter higher education at whatever level you feel is most appropriate and stick at it !

I got into IT with a HND then a Degree in computer science and then many programming jobs! I found the HND excellent with tutors that were both skilled in education and the hands on stuff.

I often felt that I was overworked too when I was younger ! Very few people are truly pushed when they are young. When you enter the world of work you may have to do 12 hour shifts or 60 hour weeks. Some people have families or long commutes. Many of these people still find time to train. Some fulltime college courses are less than 20 hours a week, that gives you an extra 40+ hours !. This is what people mean by time management, if you want it enough you will find a way

You may just be a little burned out at the moment, if this is the case you could always kick back for the summer enjoy yourself then really commit come the start date in september ?

People should be able to help you with CBT though, personally I never use the stuff, any takers ?

 

Here are the 18 units in the BTEC-

Communication
System Justification
Computer Systems
Networking Project
Bus. Information Systems
Network Design & Admin
Software Development
Data Comms & Networks
Communication Technology
PC Spec. & Maintenance
Systems Analysis & Design
Operating Systems
End User Support
Internetworking Basics
Application Software Dev.
Network Routers and Routing
Switching & Virtual LANs
Wide Area Networking

The college have left out all of the vendor units that are on the specification on the Edecel website, for example A+, 70-271, 70-272, and Network + are not included in the college course, and the college could of chosen them for the students to study.

I just dont know if this is the right way into the industy. Im going to phone computeach on monday, and inquire there. I just dont want to shut up all of my options, but instead explore all of the paths avaliable. Here is what I am intested in from computeach http://www.computeach.co.uk/courses/detail/mcdst/

Adam

 

I think I would go to college/6th form, get some higher education and qualifications behind myself and then at the age of 18 (ie, at the end of the 2 years) see what the IT world has to offer - may be look at doing A+ first followed by N+ during the next 2 years as this would give you a great foundation in world-wide standard certs as well as standard information that everyone else also uses.

I did my a-levels and then went to uni and did physics with computer modelling (unfortunately nothing to do with graphics!) but to be honest, wasn't as great as it sounds but the experience I got - from living alone, to self discipline for study, time mangagement, ambition.... lots of stuff it really has made a big difference on the way I look at things today.

Kick back over the summer, chill out, get yourself into college/6th form for a-levels or HND/BTec (I don't know the non-a-level approach so my apologies), get yourself A+ and N+ certs and see how you feel in 2 years - maybe uni is for you, maybe it isn't but the certs and higher education qualification/experience will put you the next rung up the ladder compared to somebody else.

Whatever you decide - best of luck - and welcome to the forums!

 

Tried using some of it for my A+, actually quite a bit from work or friends but the best method was reading Mike Meyers AIO - wouldn't rate/spend much money on it personally.