Entry level IT training for unqualified jobseekers

Oh man! Ad-blocking software has been detected! :'(

This website is run by the community, for the community... and it needs advertisements in order to keep running. Blocking our ads means your killing our stats!
Please disable your ad-block, or become a premium member to hide all advertisements and this notice.

Hi all, first off a big thanks to those who actually welcomed me onto certforums, thx
My position is this....
I am trying to retrain for work in an IT envirnment, hopefully aiming at network support or admin. I think this is the direction I want to go in, though it is a long time since I did anything like working in such an environment, university first year pass physics, 3 science Alevels, long ago tasters of BASIC and Linux.
I am currently trying to come off long term incapacity benefit, into training and hopefully into an entry level position.
After having looked through all the advertised jobs, I can't find anything in first tier, or very little - which leads me to ask, how exactly is a potential IT worker meant to grab appropriate on the job / vocational experience?...
The Jobs & Benefits people run a programme for individuals who have been out of work for over 30 weeks, called Pathways. Entry onto this scheme affords the jobseeker / trainee some opportunities to train or be found a placement, with options of paid placements or voluntary placements without disruption of currently allocated benefits...
My personal advisor suggested that since I have no formal IT quals, I should perhaps kickstart with a ECDL, whilst possibly supplementing my income with something called 'permitted work', whereby you are allowed to work up to 15 or so hours per week without disruption of benefits, not necessarily in IT, but simply as a means of getting used to a work environment. The pathways facility offers support and guidance through this whole process....
Completing ECDL, and the initial work experience, I might then hopefully obtain a voluntary placement as support to admin in Sept, coinciding with the start of local college courses which are structured to lead from entry level up to COMP TIA+
From there....
I feel I would benefit greatly from some informed opinion, and would welcome any comments
Regards
Llew

 

Oh man! Ad-blocking software has been detected! :'(

This website is run by the community, for the community... and it needs advertisements in order to keep running. Blocking our ads means your killing our stats!
Please disable your ad-block, or become a premium member to hide all advertisements and this notice.

yes you can do the pathways thing and ECDL will teach you basic ms office skills but the compTIA A+ is where you should properly start. BVear in mind no one walks into a network admin job regardless of their qualifications unless they have some experience first.

 

hi, start with the A+ its the bases of IT. Then move onto microsoft certs, forget the ECDL entirely, its useless.

 

I echo the comment about forgetting the ecdl as it seems to more aimed at pa/receptionists as I believe it is how to use office products rather than fix them. A+ is a good start or maybe the beginners windows 7 book. Both of these exams you can start yourself by buying a £30 book.

 

Thx for the advice Bruce
I'm well aware of the xperience issue, and doing my best to get that ball rolling, as I said, one of my local training providers seems confident of getting me a voluntary placement, hopefully this will help me then get more experience etc...
But well worth reiterating that point its an important one, thank you
So ECDL coming in for a bit of a bash there then
To be fair, my pathways advisor isn't just thinking of quals, I think she wants to make sure that I am ready for full commitment to training in terms of socialization, confidence and self esteem etc, thus the bite sized ECDL intro... and to be honest, with college courses not starting till September, if I can do a little thing like ECDL and pass, it might have a knock on effect , I think in those terms my advisor is just trying to be helpful...
Having said all that, I'm delighted you endorse my choice of college course for the autumn - I have an appointment with the supported learning officer on campus for Monday, and if she concurs, I will put that on my calender deffo
Thx again Bruce j1mgg and psyche for the valuable advice I will keep you posted
Regards
Llew

 

Dont be saying that now, ive just started doing one of them, as ive seen a few companies asking for them, sure its the front end of IT but also its a foot in the door of a place and a job overall, better to have it than not to have it. I know of a job going that imgoing to apply for, and its basically for office work, but theres an element of it the requires me to work on the departments intranet, maintaining and updating systems and also security of confidential information. Im not saying im going to get it, but the start off wage is very good, and theres career progression, which is what i want, a career, not a job .

Hope that made sense

Ed

 

I see exactly where you're coming from Ed re a foot in the door... but crikey, I'm suprised they want an ECDL on top of a BSc in computing, which elements of ECDL did you miss out on in your degree, incidently?
Very best wishes with your job application, let us know how you got on...
Btw, am I the only one who thinks it's a bit daft for this country to have IT graduates out of work..? I thought the whole idea was to outcompete other economies, not be trying to outcompete each other in the search for jobs...?
Hiho:/
regards
Llew

 

I've seen very few places ask for ECDL, generally - if you can work happily within a 1st level support enviornment, you can generally use MS office and word processing etc - i never ever use word, or even excel for that matter - except for writing the odd report.

I guess it depends entirely on the role you're going for and what it is that they're after.

Llew - the IT grads thing is a bit odd, majority of places value experience, to demonstrate you're able to show skills necessary to do the job - the problem is, having the learning experience, and a degree to your name unfortunately counts for naff all, any interviews i've been to, look at my experience. I've got one cert, in windows 7 configuring, coupled along with 6 years experience (I am slowly working towards more certs! ) but i think i was lucky, i got into my first entry level role when i was 18, stuck that for 2 years, after that i managed to get work fairly easy.

In IT, starting out is the hardest part of all, it's seriously tought at the moment, even for some people who have certs and a few months experience, the industry also seems to be even more popular with newcomers now, so there's alot of competition out there and will take alot of work landing that role.

Either way, keep at it - you will get there eventually

 

Well it is also something to do as well as looking for jobs, which to be honest, i forgotten how depressing it was. The Bonus thing with the ECDL is im a member of the BCS, something else to put on the CV

Anyway posted it today and found out about a placement/internship, working on as an intel server support person, not far from me. as for getting certs that are more relevent, im going to look down the comptia route.

Ed

 

Thank you for the encouragement Apexes, I hope ZX you also take note... we will get there eventually, however depressing the job scene at the moment..., and something else on the old cv can't hurt can it?

ZX I wish you luck applying for the server support

As far as experience goes, I am seriously considering contacting as many IT businesses and departments as I can, that are within reach, and offering to volunteer in return for experience, something which is allowed under the pathways scheme.

There are absolutely no training opportunities at all this summer, I have since found out. College starts in September, and I think I will go up the walls for the next two months if I don't find something

There is of course online training as far as certs goes, I have found a few sites offering online tutorials, and even COMPTIA, so I am also seriously looking at that

I should have got out into the jobmarket at eighteen like you Apexes, it really does give you that much neede experience early...

May I ask what exactly your first position was...? In fact, that gives me an idea for a new thread....
regards
Llew

ps thank you all for taking the time to post here, I have benefitted from your differing and informed perspectives

 

I started in a school as an "IT Technician" - i'd always tinkered with pc's when i was younger, i'd never been to college, but i had the basic knowledge necessary to do the job, and i learnt a hell of a lot on site there.

I was on £10k a year, enough for me to get by, just about - my duties involved looking after the communal computer area's - ensuring classroom computers were tidy and working, replacing printer toner & paper, general troubleshooting problems on machines, helping with projector and interactive whiteboard setup, hardware troubleshooting/replacement - and at the end of the day, walking round 70 classrooms, ensuring all projectors switched off (hated that bit!!)

I was basically doing all the jobs the other guys didnt want to do, i never even got a whiff of admin access until after 6 months working there, but it paid off - i stuck it out, and 6 years down the line i'm moving into a specialized role for a large corporate company, and coming out of end user support - I'm moving into software automation, which if i do ok with, i'll be setup for a long time to come in terms of jobs and work.

Ultimately i wanted to move into server support, but i got offered this, and though why not? - nothing to lose, and lots more experience to gain.

Once you get the first job, get your head down and work your ass off, your superiors and bosses will notice, always want to learn more, ask questions about things you're un-sure of, and asked to be exposed to new systems and technologies, show that your keen at learning - and you're going to stand out as the one who wants to move on the most, and be more likely to get that position on 2nd line, and then again from there, from 2nd line to where-ever it may lead - it's a long slog - but i love the work i do now, and enjoy working at the company i am at, makes it all worth it

 

That is inspiring Apexes, it sounds like you really hit the ground running.
Your post deserves a more thorough read ( O yesh, I am taking notes ) and also flags up some more points of interest for me. better get googling then
regards
Llew