Skillstrain my Experience

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Hi everyone. I thought I should register and share my views on the much talked about Skillstrain on this website. I signed up for Skillstrain CIW Website Manager course around 4 weeks ago which was going to cost £1500. I was really geared up to do this and thought I would check out some of their feedback (should have done so before signing anything) and stumbled across this website with various threads on how bad this company actually were. I then had a look at the folder that the rep left me which was extremely out of date. I decided to cancel having now lost the momemntum to continue with this. I then discovered that my local University (University of Paisley http://ciw.paisley.ac.uk/index.asp) were offering the same courses online. I start the Foundations course next week. Each part of the course costs £199 including exam and as I am new to the University I am entitled to a discount on my first course which will only cost £49. The next course shouldnt cost me anything as these are ILA Funded (www.ilascotland.com) and you can receive £200 a year. If you are lucky enough to earn over £18,000 you can receive £100 off any of these courses. I think this is only available in Scotland.

The University are the first CIW Authorised Academic Partner outside the United States.

As this course is online I think that anyone from UK could probably do this. Not too sure about where you would sit exams though.

So instead of paying £1500 it will now cost £450 with my discounts and have the peace of mind that with a University you cant go wrong.

Maybe Skillstrain is the way to go if they can actually get you a job at the end of it then an extra £1000 is worth it. The rep told me not all students get jobs through them around 70% do but their reputation told me that I would probably be in the unlucky 30%.

Hope this helps anyone looking to go down this route perhaps your local University/College are doing these courses probably worth a look before going to Skillstrain.

 

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Hi Lubo, Welcome to the forum. Only just joined here myself. Im studying for CIW Foundations myself. I just had a look at your links for the university and it looks good. I got the Master CIW Designer course for £599 with ICS so i'm happy with that. Computeach tried to charge me £2500 for the course. Skills train just ripped a friend of mine off recently, he paid £2500 for Cisco Engineer course and was told when he went for the exam that the A+ coursework they provided was being retired on 30 June.

 

hope it works out well for you then mate, now what you going to do with that grand your left with

 

Thanks Silverwolf that sounds like a good deal with ICS. Had thought of them but the rep from Skillstrain had warned me off ICS. I wonder why? lol

 

Cheers. Never had it in the first place probably beg or steal for the money ?

 

Did you have any trouble cancelling with SkillsTrain?

 

Arroryn, I know where your coming from with this but to give someone out of date coursework and not inform them the exam will be changing and split into various professions/job roles and then not agreeing to update him to 2006 even though he is still paying for the course....thats RIPPING someone off!!!! Sorry another member for the I hate SneidyDigger!-StealTrain fanclub.

 

No not so far. I sent them in my letter of cancellation by Recorded Delivery they then sent me out a letter of acknowledgement and gave me the freespost address to send the briefcase to. However I gave the rep cash so lets see if I get my £50 back. They also told me to cancel direct debit through my bank as they cannot be held liable for this coming out nothings appeared as yet but will make sure and check that around the time this was due to come off.

 

Hi there, i recently joined skillstrain, but due to recent neg feedaback of skillstrain, thinking of moving to another provider. Whats the address you sent the letter and bag to?

i wish i double checked on skillstrain!!!!

regards

rab

 

Rab have you ever considered self study, training providers are not neccesary to get certified.

 

I have, but because i sort went straight into work, i thought i would need yhat extra help, and i thought going with a provider will help me.

Whats the best way to self study? whats the best resources? I want to go into network engineering, maybe strat of with a+ because im a newbie in IT, then N+ and hopefully a MCSA/CCNA after

regards

rab

 

you should do A+, N+ then MCDST and don't even think about MCSA or CCNA untill you have at least 6 months working experience (thats what microsoft recommend) also bookwise for the A+ you need compTIA A+ all in one exam guide 6th edition by Mike Meyers, another good book to get with the Mike Meyers one is PC technician street smarts by James Pyles who is a member on this forum, he is actually the Administrator goes by the tag of Tripwire45.

 

What do you suggest i do?

Cancel my skillstrain, which i have not started yet and go on to do self stufy method, buy books and such? would i need to buy another computer? also how much will the exam fees cost or vary around (a+)?

I am currently an admin clerk, but looking for a 1st support/help desk job but experiance is required, quite hard for me at the moment.

 

Its up to but I would recommend self study if you have the determination, if you do self study get the books I mentioned, an old pc would help but isn't neccesary.

The two exams you need to pass for the A+ are £111 each you can book them through either pearson vue or Thomson Prometric (if visit the sites for them you'll be able to find out which is nearest you).

Once you are ready book the exams and take them.

BTW you might find it hard to get out of your skillstrain contract. SO you might be stuck with them

 

I signed the contract on Saturday 20th October, have i got time to cancel it?

Yea i figured the self study would be better, i will try to get a helpdesk job/ 1st Line support for experiance, I need your prays as i have no experiance, and it will be hard to get the entry jobs.

 

Entry level jobs don't require experience thats why they are called entry level.