www.theskillsgap.com

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Hello folks, I have recently been in touch with Justin, who has posted on these forums before, at theskillsgap.com regarding an MCSE course. The course is 6 week intensive learning. They specify the price on their website and confirmed it by email at being £3999 which does include accomodation for whole course.

Has anyone on here used or know of anyone who has trained with theskillsgap.com? It would mean giving up my current job to do this course not something that would be a good idea if you get "diddly skwat" at the end.

Any info would be most welcome.

 

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I've decided to go and study with theskillsgap, my course starts on May 14th for 6 weeks. Hopefully I will come away with MCSE/MCSA/Security+ and ITIL qualifications. I haven't paid for the course or paid a deposit, this will be paid when I arrive. They don't guarantee anything, they say that what you put in is what you get out. They don't promise to find you a job but do help in CV writing and gaining interviews.

I will keep you all updated in how I get on.

 

Hi there 'Tune'

Look forward to meeting you on Sunday, I'll be joining you on the residential course!

Chaz

 

The course is going well. Coming to the end of the first week and enjoying it thoroughly.

Chaz is alright too!

 

Hi, i'm currently looking at all the options for an MCSE.

as i'm sure you have done i have spoken to both advent training and computeach, both of which have been pure salesmen at work rather than looking at what suits me, and after much online searching i'm not convinced.

I would love for you to keep me up to date with what happens on your course and if you want pass my email address to everyone else on the course, i would love some brutally honest opinions, how hard is it, how understanding are the turtors shoudl you not understand something, whats the aminities like (accomidation, food, etc etc.) how much are you actually working there? all day? all night?

Please as i say pass my email address to everyone [email protected]

if you want to call me, email and i'll give you my number.

 

Im also on this course for all you on it im the mad man at the back on the right .

passed my 70-270 Exam Last week WHOOHO onwards to the next one now.

Work during day is currently 9;30 ish till 4:30 +
I add the plus cos sometimes it goes on longer if needed ;)

We get keys and codes to the classroom so can come in at any time during the morning or evening to continue studying for as long as you want. You can also come in at weekends, which means you have massive amounts of study time and resources.

Exam wise.
These guys work on the principle that by the end of week 3 you should be at the level that you can take the 3 exams that you have been studying for. If you feel you are able to take them earlier then they are more than happy to let you crack on and take them.

so far i have not only enjoyed the course, but also the instructing as well, which is something of a rare bonus in training environments.

 

odditys, i posted a reply to this but it ant here lol.
ah well here i go again

Im on the course with tune atm.
In my third week (having passed my 70-270 exam last week ) and im loving doing the course.

there are 3 tutors that run this, well i say 3 justin dosnt actually teach as much as run the company.
All 3 guys have a large amount of experience with both the actual working environment and on teaching (i think Richard said he had 5+ years teaching or somit like that).

The teaching style itself is nice and relaxed, starting at 9:30 ish in the am and ends anywhere after 4:30 in the pm. (end time depends on progress during the day)

The general aim of the first 3 weeks is that by the end of it students should be ready to take the xp exam. (depending on yourself obviously) To accommodate this the first 3 weeks are intermixed with each other so 70-270, 70-290 and 70-291 are taught together.
This works very well as a lot of stuff in the xp week will not sink in until you have done some server items to comprehend where it all fits together.
Watching some of the class who have not had a lot of experiences with servers or xp or both they are learning reasonably fast and i cna see the reasoning behind this.

Class sizes are a maximum of 16 students so its a nice small friendly class.
The teachers are willing to help anyone who is struggling and spend as much time as needed on a subject (hence why days sometimes run longer).
All students are seated in pairs with a computer each and in the server weeks working in pairs to complete labs and tasks. This gives a nice alternative to asking for help every 5 mins if your stuck, since if you dont know it theres a fair chance your partner or someone near you will have grasped it. If neither of you get it then they are more than happy to come help you

Accommodation is just a 4 min walk down the road, its 2 'person' flats with a shared front room, kitchen and bathroom. This actually helps with revision since your not on your own tearing your head apart if your stuck.

Food wise..
Lunch is provided within the course cost and is as varied as the cook feels like . Its cooking for 16 people so dont expect the ritz but that said it is quite nice not to have think about what to cook yourself or having to go spend your life savings every day on pub food (although you can if you really want to).

You also get some nice bacon butties at about 10/11 ish

Internet access is available on your machines so feel free to browse, this does help since things like wiki are great for extra info on subjects.

Well anyway, if you feel like asking me owy just pop a mail to me here.

 

Passed 70-270 with a score of 905.

 

Passed 70-290

 

Just browsing this forum and saw you guys on the course at sunny hebden brisge, i did mine in late 2004 with justin and the team and got MCSA after going back for the network exam, am now a system admin for a decent size company and doing all sorts of stuff and also learning for CCNA as well now, The course was well run back then and i learnt loads which put me in good stead for the future.
Enjoy it and the bacon butties were delicious, do you still play fussball at break times??

 

Well Hi to Chaz, Manic and Tune - I think I've sussed out who each of you is behind those creative names

I've made mine easier to work out, even though I never did serenade you all with the dulcet sounds of my trombone, you probably saw me with my horn out once or twice!

For the outsiders reading this I just finished the 6 week course at the SkillsGap with Richard and Mike teaching.

Happy to say I passed all 7 exams for MCSE status - A lot of hard work and late nights went into it though - I think I'm only just catching up on my lost hours of sleep a week later!

Even happier to say I've already been offered two jobs! Can't take up the offers though as I have at least another month to work before my current contract is finished...

Can only say the course and the effort was worth it

Cheers, John

 

Got my 291 exam booked for 27th July in Canterbury, this will get me the full MCSA.

I'm glad to hear you got two job offers John, and I must say I never got to see your horn!

 

Sounds like you are all getting on well with this course, which sounds like something I would like to take in the future. Can I ask how you are getting on so well with it?

Is it loads of experience beforehand, other certification beforehand, great teaching or super computing skills on your parts?

I'd like to know if this would be the course for me (no certification, no experience) or whether I'd be better off taking it nice and slowly on a self study basis (will be self studying A+ soon).

Are there any requirements that need to be met before acceptance onto this course?

 

Hi Seasider

I can only speak from my own experience but the main thing to realise is that achieving MCSE in a 6 week residential course is a very tall order... unless you have substantial experience before you get there.

I am over 40 now and had been building pcs, installing and reinstalling various applications and OS's for years before I got to the skillsgap at Hebden. Even then I had to work bloody hard to get through all seven exams.

It is possible but not for everybody. The atmosphere is very conducive to intensive study, the instructors are fantastic and being away from home means that most of your normal distractions are removed.

I went straight for MCSE because I needed to impress potential employers and get a job after leaving the Marines, but I'm now working working through the A+ course to fill in the gaps in my knowledge. If you don't have the pressure of a deadline like I had, I would recommend doing A+ first. It's real nuts and bolts stuff and will give you a solid grounding in how pcs and laptops work.

Good luck whatever you choose!

Regards

John

 

sound great how long did it tak you to s study ?whaht does it involve??

b

 

can someone who's done this course email/msn me (details in profile) as i'd like a chat

grim

 

no one ? what about a friendly pm ?

grim

 

What about bribery, that always seems to help

 

i was hoping people would do it out of kindheartedness

grim

 

This place seems to have very positive reviews on these forums. I think i would very much like to save up some money and sign up with these guys. I been looking at the website, and it seems to be mostly for people who have served in the MoD. whenever i click on the "read more" link at the bottom of any of the pages it just come up with a 404 error message .

Is this place exclusive only to people who have served within the MoD?