What IT training courses improve prospects most?

[NoelWatson]

patmahe said:

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

What is your end goal?

[WelshBoyo]

Pulse said:

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.

Tell me more...

Just search for MSDN Events, looks like the UK site is not quite right at the moment though UK MSDN Events.

The Switzerland one looks like Swiss MSDN Events

I would also agree that Agile especially Scrum is everywhere with big companies these days.

[dustybottoms]

TuxRacer said:

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.

All of the above is really good advice and explains the things that can separate you from others in getting an interview ^^^^

If you want to remain in Project Management I really think you should look in to doing either Prince or PMI, where I work (a major blue chip bank) you would never get an interview to do Project Management work without one or the other qualification and of course you'd need to have had the practical experience to back it up.....which you seem to have.

Other useful Management/consultant qualifications are ITIL, not always required but can be essential for some positions, often mentioned as desirable in management job adverts and can open doors. There are some major American companies where ITIL qualifications are a must have to get an interview.