Howdy

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Hi guys

A very informative great place you have here.

I am an 29 year old law graduate from London, been working odd jobs ever since graduating, seriously considering a career change right now. So toying with the idea now. I actually didn't think it was possible till I stumbled into this forum.

Been offered a few extortionate courses level 3 and 4, I've done my research(thanks to this place and others who I know who work in the industry) and asked around and I was told no one will even look at you without some experience and certs. I grilled these guys as to how they can get someone in who has nil experience, they boasted about their links I wasn't satisfied with their responses and I left. Only later to be branded as unmotivated and not really looking for work.

Here is the website

(can't post link they are known as '5e' ltd')
Basically they try getting you to sign up through the Government 24+loan scheme. Also here on the forum I've read about individual certs but these guys have a whole mixture of certs in their courses combined together another thing that didn't make sense to me. If someone could have a look at their IT level 3 & 4 courses for me and give me your thoughts on it, it'll be much appreciated.

I've been browsing this forum quite a bit over the week or so till I bumped into the sign up thread and I thought why not. Only takes a few mins.

Looking to do the Comptia A+ and N+ and take things from there by getting into an entry role. So will be purchasing books soon and getting started on professor Messer's vids on YouTube.

I have also called a few places to find out about if anyone is interested in taking someone on without experience but with plenty of transferable skills, just missed out on a position by a few days. Just tired of being in this situation so looking to change that.

Sorry for the long read/rant.

Thanks
Guvnor

 

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Solicitors I deal with are utterly useless, dunno why you don't knock up a website, advertise in yellow pages, print some business cards, and offer your services for conveyancing.

 

Thanks mate for the idea, I can't right now as I'm not a qualified solicitor. For that I need to train underneath a qualified solicitor (also known as a training contract).

Agreed, some are useless and charge extortionate amounts for even reading your emails, especially the magic/silver circle law firms

 

Getting experience with hardware will help you skip the whole helpdesk ordeal and get a desktop support job instead. I'd say along with the A+/Net+, buying broken laptops/desktops and repairing them is very good experience. If you can afford it that is. I generally made a profit on them when I was doing that too. If you have the time to spare try and get some experience working voluntarily in a PC repair shop. Getting that on your CV can be a difference maker too.

ITIL foundation is a quick one you can bang out to get your foot in the door as well.

 

Welcome squire!

Good call on 5e - I've seen that site before and it looks like it's just been ripped from a standard template somewhere. I was suckered into a similar course 11(!) years ago and basically lost out on £7k - harsh lesson learnt.

You're totally going down the right route by going for the A+ and Network+ before entry level jobs. As Pseudonym mentioned, try getting some weekend work volunteering in a PC repair place. if you can get up to speed on Deskside stuff, that's a good entry point (Tends to pay a little better than standard helpdesk work too)

I recently took on a new chap who's looking after a small satellite office of around 70 users. He had A+ and Network+ which he'd only recently passed, but he demonstrated everything needed for the role, and did a few practical questions/answers proving he knew what he was doing.

There's usually a hell of alot of those sort of roles in London if you're staying that way. Get your head down studying and take the A+ and Network+ exams, it'll make getting that foot on the first step of the ladder 10x easier.

EDIT: Grr - That 5e site winds me up - "Earning an MCSE: Private Cloud certification will qualify you for such jobs as server administrator, systems programmer, and network manager." 6 months - part time, evenings or weekends.

I've just finished that cert, and it took me 9 months, and working with the majority of systems involved in it on a daily basis.

You can see how people fall into their trap and sign up. Clear to see how much crud they're talking by the above statement they put on the site.

Good luck

 

Thank you for the help/advice guys and the warm welcome, much appreciated.

 

@Guvnor so do you currently not hold any IT certs? I guess the cert path you take depends on which area you want to work in, but yeah the A+ is a good one to start with.

 

Nope none at all, unless you include gcse in ICT. A pity I never pursued anything further in it. I remember when I graduated I had mates who were IT grads working in Debenhams, IT market was completely dead at that time and they just couldn't get no jobs in their fields.

I'm virtually starting from scratch to be honest. In regards to where exactly I want to work then I'm not to sure about that either but I do like the sound of Security/Networking, what path I take down the line I'm not sure.

For now I have managed to get hold of the Comptia A +training kit ebook by Darrel Gibson. Haven't seen it recommended here so not sure if it's any good. Ideally I want to order Mike Meyers book as I have seen it be recommended here on the forum a lot.

My only concern is will it cover the new syllabus?

 

im galde in here i need security for a big company network