Training provider or self study??

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IT is like many other jobs; the salary depends on who you work for and where (and other things like position and benefits).

I met someone recently who works for a London council and earns £37K for 3rd line. I think the 3rd line guys in Cardiff are earning more like up to £30K.

Boyce

 

Excuse my ignorance, but what is "3rd line", and by association, what are 1st and 2nd line???

 

So how does going with a TP give you motivation? Do they phone you up every day and tell you to do some work??

As for the skills of the tutors..I totaly agree with you. Im doing a CIW with a much talked about TP. From what their website shows, not one of them actualy hold this qualification. Some list qualifications such as ICT (my son did this in school), one is a bloody Linguist for gods sake!!!

While some of them hold a degree, we are not told what in. For all i Know, my tutor could be a chef!!!

These opinions are my own, and of course will not apply to all TP's. But if you weigh up the posts concearning TP's you will find the majority of them are not complementary. Maybe people should post more about their liking of TP's

 

In the NHS Trust i worked for, 1st Line was the IT Help Desk. 2nd Line was a techie going out to try to fix it & 3rd Line was back in the workshop getting repaired.
Sometimes means different things at different companies!

 

Those who have read my posts know what i think of training providers. All there interested in is your money and it's not just I.T TP's either. I once enquired about a plumbing course, and it was a combination of practical and self study.

Didn't mind with either because i knew you have to do practical to be able to learn such a trade and studying from course modules was even better.
But when they said how much it was gona cost...i just put the phone down. SIX THOUSAND POUNDS, piss off.
The thing is, we need to address what were going to learn, becoming a plumber will need guidance, and becoming a web designer will do to.....but with web design we have the biggest and best guide right before us.....the WWW dot. If i wasn't sure of something in plumbing...like...changing a radaitor, how would i get around that? I couldn't read me book and then start taking off me rads with my misses looking on rather pale faced.
With web design we can all do it practically on our PC and if where not sure about something we can do a google search and will probally find a hundred different explainations ( all meaning the same thing) of how to do what ever your not sure about.

So "I THINK " web design TP's are a complete waste of money and needless.....unless your loaded and can afford it.???

 

I'm on the fence a bit with this issue as I have done both, TP and self study.

There are good and bad TPs, in the same way that there are good and bad self study materials.

Where I found a TP to be useful was in terms of overall guidance. I was new to the certification industry - I didn't know what to learn, where to test or what to expect.

My TP led me through all that and I don't regret the money I spent.

Thereafter I was wiser and knew what I needed to do and where.

I guess it was a newbie thing.

Look at it this way, I use a financial advisor to sort out all my money (hey kids, I work in IT so I'm loaded). The point is, I could change my mortgage to a better deal myself, I could invest here and there but I can't be @rsed to do the research and pen pushing.

So I pay someone to do it for me. Is it a waste of money? Maybe - he's not doing anything I couldn't do myself, but he's providing a service.

You go to a restaurant, you pay someone else to cook and wash up for you. You've still got to do the eating yourself though.

 

Hi jonny, my hat off to ya mate, noticed that your a master CIW and done what most of us are trying to do, so upmost respect to you. And the fact you have gone down the TP and self study route......then...your the man for the advice on this subject, not someone like me, bloody moaning on about the amount of money the tp's want (money grabing bas**rds.....ooops, sorry)
Anyway...just wondered if you could give me some advice? ( thats if you've done with spending all your money, lol)

No...the thing is....i have passed the v5 foundations exam through self study and have purchased the v4 ( IDO 420 ) self study modules....two from prosoft and one from sybex.

Do you know if there is a big difference with regards to being able to pass the exam as i have booked my exam for the end of june, which is the v5 IDO 520 exam? Any advice will do.

Cheers m8, neil

 

I actually did v4, but I beta'd v5.

CIW is a tricky one, it's not madly difficult, but you do need to know your bits and pieces.

I've used a variety of material for CIW, the 'official' prosoft stuff is good but expensive in my opinion. They've only recently started selling it on the CIW website, and when you add shipping it's a bit steep.

Likewise, the ability to design and create a real website isn't a huge amount of help. More so that Microsoft exams, CIW is a 'this is how we say it should be' exam rather than 'this is how it is done nowadays.'

If I had to give any advice about CIW, I'd say 'know a little about everything, but don't dig too deep.'

But if you've got your wits about you, you'll be fine.

 

Neil. Although im not doing the site designer module, I would suggest that you get hold of the V5 material ASAP. From what i have seen, the V5 updates contain considerably more/different info from the V4, and IMHO, I think it is unlikely that you would be able to pass with the V4 stuff.

Stu

 

Yer i guessed it would be. I do have the CBT cdroms that are the version 5, so i do have some up to date study material. I will have to purchase the modules off the CIW web site.

Fingers crossed for me then, only got five weeks, then again, if i think i wont pass, can always reschedule the exam.

Cheers lads