What IT training courses improve prospects most?

[patmahe]

Hi there,

I currently work as an IT Project Manager/Administrator. My formal education extends to Degree level in Software development and I have been working for 7 years since leaving College mainly in IT support roles before I joined my current workplace where I have been for 4 years now.

I reckon its time to get myself more training, but I've been somewhat out of the loop for 7 years and just learning on the job. I would like to formalise my skills in the best way possible, I'm just not sure what I should be looking at doing in order to achieve this.

What I'm looking for is a course that will.
- Make me highly employable and in demand worldwide - But also be useable to small local companies
- Give me a decent wage
- Not cost the Earth to do - or at least see a decent return on
- Be a very recognised, quality qualification
- Give me actual skills rather than just a piece of paper
- Not land me in a job with 14 hour days

Sorry if my description above is a bit vague, but I'm at that vague stage where I'm just looking for ideas. Anyone wanting to PM me please feel free to do so.

Thanks

Pat

Edited by patmahe on Monday 15th November 12:50

[Bullett]

imho most training is just formalising and expanding what you already know. Certainly in my area if you tried to start from scratch with a training course and no practical experience you would seriously struggle. You will then need practical experience to back up the piece of paper.

Do you have formal PM training? maybe something like itil would help?

Practical technical training that comes up most often is MCSE and CCNP as building blocks. These used to be a license to print money but now are just starting points. And again without experience mean nothing.

[purplepolarbear]

Do you want to be a manager or a techie in 5-10 years time?
Also, do you want to stay with your current company or are you looking to move elsewhere?
Will your current job support you in terms of costs of training or time off to study, and are you looking for a quick course that can be done in a week or something longer term (e.g. a masters)?

In general I don't think letters after your name means that much at the moment. However, what you learn on the course may help you answer the question better that gets you your next job.

[joe_90]

If coding.. then:
Java/Spring/xml-xsd/xmlbeans/hibernate/Webservices/JSON/OSGI/SCA/JSP/PHP etc are all quite useful in the Java world.

maybe Objective-C (iphone/ipad) dev?

[patmahe]

Bullett said:

imho most training is just formalising and expanding what you already know. Certainly in my area if you tried to start from scratch with a training course and no practical experience you would seriously struggle. You will then need practical experience to back up the piece of paper.

Do you have formal PM training? maybe something like itil would help?

Practical technical training that comes up most often is MCSE and CCNP as building blocks. These used to be a license to print money but now are just starting points. And again without experience mean nothing.

No formal PM training just what I've learned on the job.

Forgive my ignorance about the MCSE and CCNP training, I am aware of them but how does the structure work, I'm assuming there are higher qualifications possible after the initial one? Are these in high demand?

I'm really looking for something that if an employer recieves my CV he'll say, wow he's got (insert very highly thought of qualification here) lets hire him and give him lots of money. But as I've said above I'm not looking to do 14 hour days.

[patmahe]

purplepolarbear said:

Do you want to be a manager or a techie in 5-10 years time?
Also, do you want to stay with your current company or are you looking to move elsewhere?
Will your current job support you in terms of costs of training or time off to study, and are you looking for a quick course that can be done in a week or something longer term (e.g. a masters)?

In general I don't think letters after your name means that much at the moment. However, what you learn on the course may help you answer the question better that gets you your next job.

Hi, would like to be in management, wouldn't mind being a techie but would like to be a knowledgable techie with skills not everyone has so I can be in demand.

Would like to move companies, feel very held back and unappreciated here, so would like to address that. Unlikely that current job will give me any support, but am willing to look at all options, long courses short courses etc... would have no problem taking holidays for intensive courses or doing evening study to get there.

[patmahe]

joe_90 said:

If coding.. then:
Java/Spring/xml-xsd/xmlbeans/hibernate/Webservices/JSON/OSGI/SCA/JSP/PHP etc are all quite useful in the Java world.

maybe Objective-C (iphone/ipad) dev?

Its a long time since I touched code (College) and have never worked in Software Development. So I'm wondering if I'm a bit too far removed from it. Is this what you work in? How do you find it?

[idge]

As asked before, do you want to be a techie or a manager?

Techie wise, I did some Microsoft certifications a couple of years ago. 3 exams in 3 different subjects which added up to an MCAD (Microsoft Certified Apps Developer). It was about a hundred quid an exam and 30-40 quid per course book, so quite cheap but TBH i think it was pretty difficult and there's no way you would get a job because of having it, tho it maybe helps slightly when someone looks at your cv.

Manager wise; Prince2? Costs a bundle though.

[JayBM]

In my opinion, and in the field you're looking in, there are plenty of qualifications that an employer will expect but very few that will give that "wow" factor you mention. That would normally come from the experience part of your CV.

In terms of courses I'd look at as an IT PM then:

• Prince2; you will find it is a "must have" for most PM roles.
• ITIL; I'm not its greatest fan but it is still well regarded in the industry.

Both of the above are available in various flavours, starting with the "Foundation" which you will need to do before progressing.

[NoelWatson]

idge said:

and there's no way you would get a job because of having it, tho it maybe helps slightly when someone looks at your cv.

It can help with an entry level IT job - certainly did for me.

[jammy_basturd]

Talking as someone who put together a recruit process and conducted interviews this year for a programmer at my current workplace, we really didn't put much importance on IT training. What we were mostly looking for was employment based experience firstly, and personally based experience secondly.

All things being equal on two CVs a qualification MAY help you against the other person, but personally speaking I'd go on how the person conducted themselves the interview, and IT qualifications would be compared second last to GCSE results.

But this is just me speaking based on my views and the views of the company I work for. Other companies may put more importance on things like Microsoft certificates, etc.

[TuxRacer]

From a technical perspective I'm not convinced training courses are worth anything unless you're going to go down the route of something very proprietory. Cisco and Oracle come to mind. Most things you can just get stuck into and then it's all about how you do at interview to get the most important thing... experience.

But it all depends on where you want to get to, maybe it's different if there's an aspect of management you want to head towards. I've no idea how valued the likes of Prince2 are - perhaps they're the equivalent of Cisco on the technical side in that they're highly valued in pockets of the industry.

Security clearances can open doors to some interesting work, probably more so than training courses.

[TuxRacer]

patmahe said:

Would like to move companies, feel very held back and unappreciated here, so would like to address that.

Get on the job sites, look at where you'd like to go next, address anything asked for that you feel you don't have, as best you can and then... apply?

[patmahe]

TuxRacer said:

patmahe said:

Would like to move companies, feel very held back and unappreciated here, so would like to address that.

Get on the job sites, look at where you'd like to go next, address anything asked for that you feel you don't have, as best you can and then... apply?

Stop being so sensible and applying logic to the situation thanks everyone you've given me a good basis for what I need to look into.

[WelshBoyo]

I actually found Microsoft online eLearning quite effective and not too badly priced (you can get some amazing deals as I think I paid only 30 pounds for on MTS course instead of the 160RRP).

I did 2 Microsoft Technology Specialist Exams and 1 Microsoft Professional to gain a Microsoft Certified Professional Developer qualification recently. I learnt a lot and the exams where quite challenging (even if a little bit Microsoft best practices - if not industry practices).

Also worth attending any Free Microsoft courses they run all over the country. I've been to Dev Days in London (5 days free course) and a couple of free courses near me in Zurich which are usually excellent.

Currently I see a lot of SharePoint, Dynamics AX and SQL roles so if you are in the Microsoft camp then these might be courses to look at?

[purplepolarbear]

patmahe said:

purplepolarbear said:

Do you want to be a manager or a techie in 5-10 years time?
Also, do you want to stay with your current company or are you looking to move elsewhere?
Will your current job support you in terms of costs of training or time off to study, and are you looking for a quick course that can be done in a week or something longer term (e.g. a masters)?

In general I don't think letters after your name means that much at the moment. However, what you learn on the course may help you answer the question better that gets you your next job.

Hi, would like to be in management, wouldn't mind being a techie but would like to be a knowledgable techie with skills not everyone has so I can be in demand.

Would like to move companies, feel very held back and unappreciated here, so would like to address that. Unlikely that current job will give me any support, but am willing to look at all options, long courses short courses etc... would have no problem taking holidays for intensive courses or doing evening study to get there.

Something that hasn't been suggested here is scrum master training. A lot of places are moving more to an agile approach of project management from traditional approaches like Prince2 and employers would be keen to see that you are comfortable with this type of approach.

[Du1point8]

instead of prince2 look at pmi which is world renowned and better known.

[lestag]

idge said:

As asked before, do you want to be a techie or a manager?

Techie wise, I did some Microsoft certifications a couple of years ago. 3 exams in 3 different subjects which added up to an MCAD (Microsoft Certified Apps Developer). It was about a hundred quid an exam and 30-40 quid per course book, so quite cheap but TBH i think it was pretty difficult and there's no way you would get a job because of having it, tho it maybe helps slightly when someone looks at your cv.

Manager wise; Prince2? Costs a bundle though.

Relative to MSCE courses (rather than just the exams)and qualifications, prince2 is cheap as chips.
OP - If you want to stay in Project management, Prince2 (and ITIL if you are infrastructure based rather than development).
Prince2 is more global now , with it being more regarded for jobs here in NZ than PMP.

PMP (PMI) is an option, but look at the market in your area before deciding Prince2 practitioner or PMP.

After that maybe MSP if you want to get into programme mangement

[joe_90]

patmahe said:

joe_90 said:

If coding.. then:
Java/Spring/xml-xsd/xmlbeans/hibernate/Webservices/JSON/OSGI/SCA/JSP/PHP etc are all quite useful in the Java world.

maybe Objective-C (iphone/ipad) dev?

Its a long time since I touched code (College) and have never worked in Software Development. So I'm wondering if I'm a bit too far removed from it. Is this what you work in? How do you find it?

Yes, I code software for a cutting edge global enterprise application, that most banks, telecoms, goverments use..

I personally really enjoy it, we are quite cutting edge, and have freedom to design solutions to problem ourselves, as long as the solution is performant and robust then its goes in..

Java is not hard, its all the silly bolt on bits that cause the trouble.

Edited by joe_90 on Wednesday 17th November 08:23

[Pulse]

WelshBoyo said:

Also worth attending any Free Microsoft courses they run all over the country. I've been to Dev Days in London (5 days free course) and a couple of free courses near me in Zurich which are usually excellent.

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