Hi

Discussion in 'New Members Introduction' started by cuthbert, Aug 3, 2006.

  1. cuthbert

    cuthbert New Member

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    Hello people. Never used one of these forum things before. It is nice to know there are other people out there.
     
    Certifications: BTec C Prog Level III
    WIP: MCAD/MCSD 70-315 & 70-316
  2. simongrahamuk
    Honorary Member

    simongrahamuk Hmmmmmmm?

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    welcome to CF! :biggrin

    What brings you to this little corner of t'internet?
     
  3. riaz.hasan

    riaz.hasan Kilobyte Poster

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    welcome to CF!!:)
     
    Certifications: Degree, A+, HDA, MCP(270 finally!!)
    WIP: MCDST, MCSA2k3
  4. cuthbert

    cuthbert New Member

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    Panic/curiosity
     
    Certifications: BTec C Prog Level III
    WIP: MCAD/MCSD 70-315 & 70-316
  5. cuthbert

    cuthbert New Member

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    Thanks.
     
    Certifications: BTec C Prog Level III
    WIP: MCAD/MCSD 70-315 & 70-316
  6. zimbo
    Honorary Member

    zimbo Petabyte Poster

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    Hi welcome to CF!

    i see you got a cert underway.. who is it coming?
     
    Certifications: B.Sc, MCDST & MCSA
    WIP: M.Sc - Computer Forensics
  7. cuthbert

    cuthbert New Member

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    Not quite sure what you mean.

    I signed up with ICS(London) / Apprenta just under a year ago but I think I have wasted my money.
     
    Certifications: BTec C Prog Level III
    WIP: MCAD/MCSD 70-315 & 70-316
  8. UCHEEKYMONKEY
    Honorary Member

    UCHEEKYMONKEY R.I.P - gone but never forgotten. Gold Member

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    Welcome to CF :biggrin

    even though it is too late because you are too far through the course you can still write a thread about your learning provider. There are a lot of people who ask what Apprenta are like? Maybe you could stop someone else from making a mistake? 8)
     
    Certifications: Comptia A+
    WIP: Comptia N+
  9. wizard

    wizard Petabyte Poster

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    Hi there and welcome to CF :D
     
    Certifications: SIA DS Licence
    WIP: A+ 2009
  10. cuthbert

    cuthbert New Member

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    Ok. I will try not to make this a hatchet job even though that is what I feel at the moment.

    When I started the training I was nearly 50, long term unemployed, with no commercial IT experience. I went through the same recruitment/induction process that seems to have attracted many other people to this kind of course; ads in local paper promising well paid .NET jobs, a slick interview/sales procedure and an overall impression of friendly professionalism.

    In my case the fees were covered by a Career Development Loan and I needed to get permission from my local JobcentrePlus. This took several months of negotiation but eventually I was given the green light.

    The induction week was just a settling down exercise really; modern clean offices, class of 8, friendly, knowledgeable tutor, functioning well behaved machines and alot of chat. People came from widely differing backgrounds with different skill sets. In my case I had done a bit of C programming and was looking forward to getting to grips with C#.

    We were presented with the MCAD/MCSD Self Paced Training kit (Microsoft .NET Core Requirements) for our own use comprising four indifferently written textbooks and a free 60 day trial copy of Visual Studio .Net 2003 which timed out a few weeks later.

    The next six weeks were an unbelievably rapid whistlestop tour of ASP.NET and ADO.NET. It assumed alot of background knowledge, most of which I didn't have, and there was precious little time for concepts to sink in or to be repeated. I just about kept my head above water and then suddenly after six weeks of non-stop pressure we were told that that was it: the classroom training was over and that now it was up to us to take the exams in our own time. If we had a problem we could email the tutor.

    I was not impressed. In fact I was very angry. I re-read the contract. In it there is a clause which says (and I paraphrase) if you find the course too much/too difficult that is your problem. It emphasised the requirement for hard work and taking personal responsibility for your own progress.

    Mmm ... don't know. Who was I to argue? They were the training professionals. They are the ones that are supposed to know what they are doing. I was just a newbie. Maybe this is just the way it is and I just have to get on with it.

    So, I took a deep breath and carried on in my own time. These people already had my money up front so they were under no real pressure to do anything further at all. They had already delivered their "training course" and the rest was up to me.

    I talked to the trainer who was sympathetic but under great pressure himself to deliver a constant rollercoaster of different training modules to different groups of people with very little spare time to answer individual questions.

    In the ensuing months I bought some different books (mostly O'Reilly), did alot of reading, and tried to work through the examples given (many of which were just plain wrong). Slowly and painfully I aquired some insight into the .NET extravaganza and felt I was making some progress.

    I was allowed the use of a terminal at the training centre and the tutor dealt with short simple enquiries swiftly and efficiently in his coffee breaks whilst teaching other courses. Anything that required more than 10 minutes was a no-no.

    The original people in my group had disappeared to the four winds and I never saw them again. The other trainees in the building were all busy on their own career paths and only intermittently useful from the point of view of asking questions.

    I ploughed on and realised that the original timeframe of "qualify in six months" was hopelessly unrealistic. The trainer said don't worry, keep going, you have the rest of the year to get at least two exams and then you can be considered for the internship phase. This seemed fair enough, There was a little group of advanced students who had presumably made the grade and were working on some kind of in-house project. They seemed reasonably happy with life so maybe I could join them one day.

    To cut a long story short I am still not hitting high enough grades on my Transcender tests and I will probably not pass the real exams before my year is up. I have learned a hell of alot about .NET and I am still amazed at the scope and potential of this technology. However if I eventually get through these exams it will be in spite of the training company not because of it.

    Would I recommend the course to other people? Yes, if you are exceptionally quick, bright and have an ieidetic memory; otherwise no, save your money and buy the necessary books, software and tests on the net.

    I am probably not a typical trainee (age/industry experience) but there is no way that that the very limited benefits and services I received from this training company were worth £6000, let alone the £16,000 they claim it costs in their promotional literature.

    Having said that, there were some people who did make the grade and were being offered jobs from other companies. Unfortunately I was not one of them.
     
    Certifications: BTec C Prog Level III
    WIP: MCAD/MCSD 70-315 & 70-316
  11. UCHEEKYMONKEY
    Honorary Member

    UCHEEKYMONKEY R.I.P - gone but never forgotten. Gold Member

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    cuthbert

    That was a good post!

    I am sorry to read your problems with this learning provider, but it is not your fault and you mustn't blame yourself. If anything you did well to stick it out so long. Just about all IT Learning providers produce a fast paced course even long distance ones.

    " I am probably not a typical trainee (age/industry experience) but there is no way that that the very limited benefits and services I received from this training company were worth £6000, let alone the £16,000 they claim it costs in their promotional literature."

    I don't think I have ever come across a typical trainee.

    If you look under the search option for Computeach or ICS or Skills train you find there are others in the same boat!

    Glad you found CF, the guys here are IT pro's and know their stuff backwards, so if you get into any problems or just want to bounce some ideas, then this is the place to be!

    Good Luck!:biggrin
     
    Certifications: Comptia A+
    WIP: Comptia N+
  12. Bluerinse
    Honorary Member

    Bluerinse Exabyte Poster

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    Welcome to CF Cuthbert.

    Yup, I found out the hard way too, that training providers do not give you all the necessary knowledge to pass the associated exams, I would say that the courses I paid for and sat covered approximately 20% of the necessary information, or should I say that I retained about 50% of what they said which equated to 20% of what was needed. The rest was all self study and it took me three years to complete the MCSE and not 6 months as described by the initial sales pitch :blink

    Oh and then half way through the MCSE, they went out of business and so I really was on my own :(
     
    Certifications: C&G Electronics - MCSA (W2K) MCSE (W2K)

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