MSSTUDENT - James Thornton IT Training, ANY Comments on this provider?

Discussion in 'Training & Development' started by Dylan852, Dec 13, 2006.

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  1. Dylan852

    Dylan852 New Member

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    Im thinking of doing IT training with James Thornton group

    http://www.msstudentcampus.com/home.asp

    Ive had an interview alreaDY, they say it costs £8000
    training goes for 2 months then they help you into a job and you do the rest of the course part time.

    Has anybody done training or had any experiences with this provider?
     
  2. BosonMichael
    Honorary Member Highly Decorated Member Award 500 Likes Award

    BosonMichael Yottabyte Poster

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    I'll pre-emptively give another vote for self study. 8)
     
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    WIP: Just about everything!
  3. zimbo
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    zimbo Petabyte Poster

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    self-study for me too mate - saved me 8 grand! :biggrin
     
    Certifications: B.Sc, MCDST & MCSA
    WIP: M.Sc - Computer Forensics
  4. Alex Wright

    Alex Wright Megabyte Poster

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    £8000.

    An unknown company.

    Nuff said............. :tune
     
    Certifications: 70-680 Configuring Windows 7
    WIP: 70-642
  5. drum_dude

    drum_dude Gigabyte Poster

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    Yeah that'a a lot of money...can't see all those being done in that short time!
     
    Certifications: MCP, MCSA 2000 , N+, A+ ,ITIL V2, MCTS, MCITP Lync 2010 & MCSA 2008, Sonus SATP SBC 1k/2k
    WIP: Hopefully Skype for Business and some Exchange stuff...
  6. JonnyMX

    JonnyMX Petabyte Poster

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    I don't know if their training is any good or not - but I believe they have had their wrists slapped a few times for 'pretending' to be more affiliated with Microsoft than they really are.

    That shouldn't be necessary...
     
    Certifications: MCT, MCTS, i-Net+, CIW CI, Prince2, MSP, MCSD
  7. Kitkatninja
    Highly Decorated Member Award 500 Likes Award

    Kitkatninja aka me, myself & I Moderator

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    Hi

    If you do feel like you want to go to class the only advise I can give to you is to shop around. Don't worry if you do not like to self-study, or if you prefer to actually go to class there is no real right way to study, this is a personal thing, what may work for 1 person, may or may not work for another.....

    I'm sorry but for £8k, you can pay yourself for 6 months and have a better time.

    A little example of price comparison:

    The college where I teach part-time is a Microsoft as well as a CISCO academy and offers the modules up to MCSE for a reasonable price. eg:

    MCDST: £255 + £193 (for exams) = £448

    MCSA: £296+£408+£296+£357 (4 modules + exams) = £1357

    MCSE £1359 (the above MCSA) + £356 + £356 + £367 = £2438


    While it may seem expensive when you add it all up, if you compare the local college price to a private training company's price, h*ll, I know which one I'd be going for.

    You may want to do 50-50 learn the first couple at home, then move on to classes for the more difficult ones, or do the classes for the first few then self-study the rest. How you study is totally up to you, the only thing that I would advise against is to fall for some sales ploy of the guarenteed job offering £20k+ (but first pay us £8k).

    Good luck on your studies.

    -ken
     
    Certifications: MSc, PGDip, PGCert, BSc, HNC, LCGI, MBCS CITP, MCP, MCSA, MCSE, MCE, A+, N+, S+, Server+
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  8. Boycie
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    Boycie Senior Beer Tester

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    Hi,

    Welcome to the forum.

    I am a great fan of sitting down with someone who knows their stuff and learning. The bottom line is, whatever field you decide to venture in, you will have to do your own homework.

    I spent four years full time (4 full days) learning a trade in a technical college, but still had to make time for practical and home study.

    Don't be fooled in to thinking that a classroom will make you inherit the trainers knowledge in your time there - it won't.

    £8000 will buy you a lot.

    Personally, (and assuming MCSE is your goal - your link is not clear) if someone gave me this amount of money i would do the following;

    * Buy four desktop machines. 2 higher spec than the remaining 2, a switch and 4 network cables.

    * Sign up for a Microsoft Action Pack (Partner program)

    * Make sure you are familiar with day to day hardware- You can go right through the MCSE and unless in the field not know what a switch looks like. If not, study the A+ material first even if you don't want to sit the exams.

    * Start off with MCDST. It is an excellent course and also an elective for MCSA.

    * Use on-line resources like CF, Technet and Google.

    * Sit back and smile- You have saved a fortune. :)

    Good luck.

    Si
     
    Certifications: MCSA 2003, MCDST, A+, N+, CTT+, MCT
  9. hbroomhall

    hbroomhall Petabyte Poster Gold Member

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    Unknown? Do a search on here.... :biggrin

    Harry.
     
    Certifications: ECDL A+ Network+ i-Net+
    WIP: Server+
  10. Insiderous

    Insiderous New Member

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    If you're a relative newcomer to IT, I would avoid them. As far as I am aware, they simply use the MOC (Microsoft Official Courseware) materials, which are aimed squarely at experienced pros. As a former Microoft Certified Trainer who delivered these courses for a long time, I know a newbie is likely to spend more time struggling to keep up than to get anything worthwhile out of the training. Unless you're VERY good, save your £8k, you will get little return from it.

    Also, I don't know which centre you're thinking of going to but I did hear some not very impressive stuff about the Birmingham centre including trainers being hired and fired leading to no continuity for students, other students delivering courses (in contravention of their agreement with Microsoft, if the students are not MCTs) because there is no-one else available, and the poor quality of some of the training. Allegedly. (I wasn't there, but this is what I have heard from people who were).
     
    Certifications: A+, N+, MCSE, CCNA, CCNP, CIW
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  11. billabongdom

    billabongdom New Member

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    I would be very careful, as funny enough, the Career Developement Loan is up to £8 grand. :twisted:
     
  12. C_Eagle

    C_Eagle Byte Poster

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    £8000 Holy S*it!

    (I've just fallen off my chair)

    Are they serious?
     
    Certifications: A+, MCP, MCDST, 70-270
    WIP: MCSA 70-290
  13. Dylan852

    Dylan852 New Member

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    Thats including 3 certifications
    MCSA, MCDBA and MCDST

    and all exams included
     
  14. JonnyMX

    JonnyMX Petabyte Poster

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    And the Microoft trainers were the best there is!

    :blink :biggrin
     
    Certifications: MCT, MCTS, i-Net+, CIW CI, Prince2, MSP, MCSD
  15. BosonMichael
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    BosonMichael Yottabyte Poster

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    That raises the red flag in my mind. There's no way that anyone without a LOT of real-world experience can pass all of the exams for those certifications in two months without resorting to braindumps (which is cheating in the eyes of Microsoft).

    If you're going to the school to get a bunch of certifications to make your resume look better, and you don't have real-world IT job experience regarding network administration, database administration, and desktop support, I warn you that getting these certifications can do your resume more harm than good. Now, if you've got real-world experience, then fine - take the course. However, if you don't, most employers will believe that your certifications could be questionable (because it's quite difficult to pass them without experience unless you pass them using "other than honorable" means). Personally, if I had a resume like that come across my desk, I'd trash it.

    Hope this advice helps. Choose wisely, and I wish you the best of luck.
     
    Certifications: CISSP, MCSE+I, MCSE: Security, MCSE: Messaging, MCDST, MCDBA, MCTS, OCP, CCNP, CCDP, CCNA Security, CCNA Voice, CNE, SCSA, Security+, Linux+, Server+, Network+, A+
    WIP: Just about everything!
  16. JonnyMX

    JonnyMX Petabyte Poster

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    That's not as juicy as it sounds.

    MCDST is two exams.
    It can be used as an elective for MCSA so you only have to do three exams for that, then you do two SQL exams to get MCDBA.
    I make that 7 exams, the same as it would take you to get an MCSE.

    OK, give or take one exam...
     
    Certifications: MCT, MCTS, i-Net+, CIW CI, Prince2, MSP, MCSD
  17. BosonMichael
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    BosonMichael Yottabyte Poster

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    So, they're advertising that they can help you pass 7 exams in 8 weeks. Definitely a red flag, in my opinion.
     
    Certifications: CISSP, MCSE+I, MCSE: Security, MCSE: Messaging, MCDST, MCDBA, MCTS, OCP, CCNP, CCDP, CCNA Security, CCNA Voice, CNE, SCSA, Security+, Linux+, Server+, Network+, A+
    WIP: Just about everything!
  18. zebulebu

    zebulebu Terabyte Poster

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    Yep - impossible, unless you've got a good 2-3 years working with the products you're getting certified on (even then, learning the material 'the book way' - i.e. the way necessary to enable you to answer MS' questions) means eight weeks is a nonsense. Problem with anything like this is that the 'eight weeks' they talk about are classroom time - the rest is up to you - but no-one really tells n00bs that before they sign up.

    In reality, to pass an MCSE without real-world knowledge is almost impossible - unless you take a year out and study full-time, like you would for a degree course. i was lucky enough to get a redundancy payout that enabled me to do just that - AND I already had plenty of experience in the IT industry before doing it.

    EIGHT GRAND!! That is an absolutely ridiculous sum on money for what amounts to, basically, eight weeks classroom instruction.
     
    Certifications: A few
    WIP: None - f*** 'em
  19. Dylan852

    Dylan852 New Member

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    I had an interview, they stated
    first 2 months you do the MCSE in 40 days training then they place you into a job.
    While working you do the other 2 certifications partime ...

    So its not as cramed in as u think.
    But £8000 is alot to fork out
     
  20. zimbo
    Honorary Member

    zimbo Petabyte Poster

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    not as crammed as you think? sorry mate have you even looked at some of the posts people have replied? 40 days? it took some off us double the number of days to pass ONE exam - there is no way you will become a MCSE in 40 days unless they feed you braindumps.
     
    Certifications: B.Sc, MCDST & MCSA
    WIP: M.Sc - Computer Forensics

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