Training Courses

[TimDarracott]

I'd like to improve my CV by adding a couple of qualifications too it, but am first of all wondering if there are any sort of grants available, etc?

I don't mind paying some of the course fees but i have more important things to spend money on at present and can't justify the £3k course fees most of the intensive courses require.

I was looking at doing a CCNA and an MCP in SQL Server 2000, two things i am preetty interested in, can anyone suggest anything else that would read better on my CV, and/or reccommend a training centre. I've used Interquad in Leeds in the past who seem pretty good but not sure if they do any intensive courses.

Thanks.

[thepassenger]

I hate threads like this as I'm affraid I have a hard time being objective, but I will do my best.

The value of the CCNA and MCSE has all but vanished due to bootcamps churning them out by the bucket load (the MCP doesn't even appear on recruiters radar I'm affraid), whilst they are good industry qualifications don't expect them on their own to get you a nice job. I've seen plenty of 1st line helpdesk positions paying utter pap and requiring MCSE & CCNA qualified staff. Indeed at HAL an entier team of 12 people were studying for their CCNA earning £12p/h (this included their 38% shift uplift, when you take that uplift off... they weren't earning a great deal).

If you want to get a DBA type position I'd suggest that the MCP in MS-SQL is a good start but be prepared to encounter the beasts that are Oracle and DB2, most people deploy these if they have a large DB that is going to get thrashed sensless, so getting your OCP as well as MCP might prove benefical in the long run as would exposure to UNIX enviroments as well that's what the big beasts run so knowing your way around a flavour of it and Oracle is a definite bonus.

However, speaking personally. Screw the corporate IT industry, it's run by bean counter accountants who see it as a black hole on the books; no nice toys, very little pay for a hell of a lot of work and back stabbing. If your just setting out on your career then study your heart out for something like a MBA or other management qualifications whilst continuing in your current position. And then in 20 years when your a middle manager you can look at the IT crew being whipped like crazy (if they haven't been offshored and replaced with automation) over a system crash and think "Thank feck I didn't go in to IT."

As for grants/loans for all of this I honestly don't know.

[TimDarracott]

I'm 5 years into my IT Career, and have a pretty good grasp of everything IT. My big problem is recruitment agencies imho only help people they can market easily, so realing off abbreviated qualifcations is easy and works for them.

I want to specialise in a certain field of IT, i'd like to get out of the IT support loop but i'm finding it quite tough at present. I excel at SQL and database related problems, i enjoy writing t-sql and consider myself to be very good at it with the little training i've had.

I am also pretty good at web design/development and if i had my own way i would be doing that full time for myself, but i'm not sure it would make enough money for it to be worthwhile. It's also a massive plunge leaving the securities of a permenant role to start out on my own, with very little backing and no nest egg to fall back on should it go tits up.

I've worked hard to get where i am at present but i feel i'm stuck in a rut at the moment, no real prospects for promotion and the money could be better.

Thanks for the reply, perhaps i should look at Oracle and DB2 but having no outlets to get real world experience it would be difficult unless i was given the opportunity to work in a IT Dept that uses the above.

Cheers

Tim

[Plotloss]

MCDBA still has value as they arent being churned out.

You can get the MSDE version of SQL and the books for little outlay, then arrange the exams yourself.

It will mean starting again to an extent but with reward always comes risk.

[TonyToniTone]

The value of the MCSE etc has vanished over the last 6 or 7 years in terms of an employee could rely on the fact that if you have the quali you had the knowledgeexperience.. this just isnt the case anymore, that said some companies still want people to have it..

www.jobserve.com/searchresults.aspx?jobType=*&d=7&q=mcse&page=1&x=0&y=0&order=Rank&all=on&cbAllCountries=on&cb01=1&cb02=2&cb03=4&cb04=8&cb06=16&cb07=32&cb08=64&cb09=128&cb10=256&cb11=512&cb12=1024&cb13=2048&cb14=4096&cb15=8192&cb16=16384&cb17=32768&cb18=65536&cid=0

I have taken about 12 mcp's since 1999 and I have got to say I learnt something that I wouldn't have come across ordinarily in day to day work,

The quickest way to update CV with your experience would be to take server 2003/XP cert, you will be able to get 2 books and have passed both within a month for under £300

Then look at doing same with CCNA and an MCP in SQL but taking more time.. oracle is a monster to get into and without experience you probaly wouldnt get that much back for timemoney spent..

[__LEE__]

Just before leaving the Royal Navy I did a MCSE at a bootcamp (2KO) and while I agree there are plenty of numpty's out there with lots of qualifications it helped me get my foot in the door.

I had previous I.T. experience but qualifications like this do go a long way to helping you get a job interview etc.

Edited by __LEE__ on Monday 9th October 16:39

[mph999]

Alternativly, see if you can get a job - local goverment normally aren't too fussy about qualifications, get some experience and move on.

I started, 7.5 years ago at MAFF (unix admin), completely new to it, didn't know a thing ...
2 years later, moved to vodafone, tech projects, UNIX again, HP and Sun
A couple of years back, moved to SAN team, mainly backups with some NetApps and XP arrays, Cisco and brocade switches
Just moved to a networking position (ethernet), within same team ...

So perhaps I got lucky, took me some time to get that initial position (no IT qualifications, at the time), now HP and LInux certified.

Once you're in, just lap up the experience ...

Martin