Would appreciate some advice

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Hi

Here is a bit of background

I'm 28 years old and have always been interested in technology but don't class myself as a geek just because I don't have the knowledge, basically I'm not very clever minded

I left school with not much so I didn't know what to do, so I opted to to follow the IT path, so did the college stuff.

After college the only jobs I could get where non IT office jobs.

In 2002 whilst visiting family in Australia I decided to do the A+ which was classroom based and passed everything. I then thought hey maybe this will gain me entry into IT, no it didn't because I had no previous experience...back to office jobs then.


2 years later I came across a company called Cerco which claimed to guarantee me a job after successful completion of there course. So I thought I'll go for it. I passed the course, and they eventually put me into an EPOS field role. I guess that was my entry into IT, which went well but it was more fixing till draws rather than computers so after 7 months quit that job hoping as it wasn't what I wanted.

After a few weeks I got a call from Cerco who said they wanted Field engineers to service Dell products, so I jumped at the chance.

Got the job, and really enjoyed doing it I stayed there for nearly 6 years. The problem was I never developed, all it was break/fix which anyone could. There was promises of server work and more network environment but it never came.

As this job was self employed it left me financially screwed, so I had quit that as I could literally not afford to work.

Anyway now I am unemployed and my confidence has sunk to an all time low, although I have gained experience in IT which I'm thankful for I just feel like I wasted 6 years of my life in that job and have nothing to show for it.

I had it in the back of my mind that things would get better and I will progress onto servers and networking but it never came.

Now I don't know what I can do to recover from this and get back on track. I feel at 28 it's too late and will probably have to start from the bottom again.

I still want a career in IT, but this has knocked my confidence big time, who would hire me now.

I'm thinking as things have changed so much since I did my A+ I thought I might try and get up to date with the current A+ objectives and then go on to N+ and hopefully move on to MS certs, I don't know.

Anyway I'm really sorry for babbling on, I just needed to get it of my chest.

 

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Hi

Cerco, been there done that!
Don’t give up 28 is still young, I was 35 when I started in I.T lol. I would not renew your A + as it now has to be refreshed every few years unless you already have it. You could do the Microsoft 70-680, Have you done the server + and network+ with cerco, I got offered them free as I had contracted with them in the past, But I had to moan allot before they let me on the course as I no longer work for them. You are not exactly an entry level I.T bod but if you want to branch out onto anther path you may want to look at 1st line support or hunt for a field engineer position. Although the climate sucks at the minute there are people still taking on. We have taken a couple of engineers on recently as a couple of engineers moved on. The longer you leave working in I.T the harder it gets to get back in. Don’t give up mate; you will get to your perfect role eventually.

 

Thank you for your reply.

May I ask what your experiences with Cerco was like?

I've been meaning to crack on with N+ before anything else as networking has been a weakness of mine.

After the two field roles I think that is where I belong, love the hands on stuff. I would love to progress and develop into a network/server engineer, but I know I'm not going to walk into that straight away.

I'm going to do the self study path as I have already spent thousands over the years on class based tutoring.

Just need to start somewhere

 

Hey Mazman,

Seems like you're in a good position. You have the A+ under your belt, 6 years experience and you're not babyfaced like some of us here.

You're a perfect candidate for a first-line IT job. Its quite a wide range of job titles but you're looking at: IT technician, Helpdesk Administrator, first-line support, field engineer...(and many more).

Freshen up that CV and apply for jobs.

In regards to training, start with your N+. It will provide the foundations of networking and round of solid knowledge for the first-line work.

From there, go straight to MS certs. Start with the 70-680 (Windows 7 Client) and then head towards your MCITP.

Hopefully you would have a job by then, along with the best cert a desktop support technican could gain from MS, which means you would be starting server work (woop woop).



I don't know what you're complaining about, future looks bright for you mate.

 

Thanks Boffy

I don't mean to complain but it just seems that I'm going backwards instead of forward.

The path you suggested seems a good one, I don't mind doing doing the 1st line stuff if it means I'll advance further.

I'm off to buy my N+ plus book

 

Sometimes you have to go backwards to go forwards.

I like your plan, tackle a weak area while looking for a first line job which will round out your skills. It might seem like starting again but with your experience you should progress faster.

 

I thought the training was good for the level I was at when I did the course. I found the tutors great especially Rob the network guy. The reason I went down the networking path was because of him, not because he sold the subject to me. I could not stay awake during the network week I found the subject matter boring and I could not understand it. Rob was obviously passionate about the subject for some reason so I carried on self studying after the course and found it challenging! I found the sales people at cerco to be up their own arxx, and they spoke a load of shxx. But at the end of the day they eventually did what they said they would do and I got into I.T.

 

"Two steps forward, one step back" is usually a negative term to describe someone who is having trouble making progress.

But switched around, "1 Step Back, 2 Steps Forward" means that instead of grousing or feeling guilty about a misstep, you can still come out ahead if you put your head down and push forward.

Sounds good, keep it up Mazman

 

Thank you all for your great advice, time to look to the future