Training

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QFT

Most Training Providers are charging you four grand for a bunch of books (£200 tops), some Classroom Based Training for each exam (might be very useful to you, but will only ever give you 10% of the material you need to know to be confident of passing the exam) and what amounts to little more than the "feeling you've paid for something so better use it".

If you think that's worth four grand (sometimes up to EIGHT grand apparently) for a certification that likely won't get you much as a lot of people looking to hire someone won't look twice at an MCSE with no experience, then great. Hopefully though, most people on here will make you question the need for you to do that!

I'd suggest, since you're starting off at the beginning, you look at your local college or FE establishments and see if they do an evening course in the A+/Network+. You said you were going to sart with that anyway, and, if you can find a course that route it will cost sod all compared to a TP and, once you pass, you'll have industry-recognised certifications that will enable you to work in the IT industry whilst studying for your more advanced certs.

Just my tuppen'orth!

 

Thanks for all of your input guys.

My concern is self study will not provide me with enough actual training material other than the hard backed reference books. I guess the best option would be a college course for A+ and N+. Also the nagging thing in the back of my mind is that a TP will provide valuable support, I take your point on cost, however buying something purely on cost IMHO is not always the right thing to do. If you purchase something that has a premium attached to it then as long as it delivers then it could prove to be money well spent.

 

for the A+ and N+ you could get an old PC from a recycling centre or computer fair and take it to bits and put it back together, you could also get cheap parts and upgrade it.

If you get the Mike Meyers All in one exam guide 6th edition and PC Technician street smarts by James Pyles you can practice whats in those books. If you need help you can ask on here and its free advice. if you want training then I suggest a college not a training provider as sparky said all they will do is give you some books and tell you to read them and if you need help then you contact their support team which may or may not reply instantly.

 

I know you are a strong advocate of Self-study GBL, but dont let it blind you to using classrom-led training. Many people, myself included, just dont have the discipline to learn at home on their own. I've been learning A+ for years, technically, because of just this issue. If you sign up to a class-based course, you sign up to attend every thursday evening for ten weeks (for example). It gives you something to commit to, and makes learning so much easier.

Whilst I agree that most TP's provide little more than the books, and are a rip off, actual courses are highly beneficial, and provided that they are taught correctly, at a reasonable pace, can actually lead, in some cases, to a much better understanding of the concepts that some people ever attain through self study.

The OP has made the decision to take classroom led courses, and has justified it to himself correctly. perhaps its time to stop harping on about selfstudy, and guide him along this path to avoid the pitfalls.

 

Don't get me wrong I would never diss classroom based training in a college or school but I have heard too many horror stories about training providers like @dvent etc to think they are any good.

I would never try & convert someone to my way of doing things but I would try to help them see the benefits, if I had a college near me that did the A+ and N+ I might have considered it but my working pattern and finances stopped that from being an option.