What route to take now? (Job-related)

Indy500

Indy500

Indy500

Soldato
Joined
7 Mar 2005
Posts
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Long story short but I found myself out of a job recently, and having trouble getting any interviews thus far.

I've decided its time to expand my qualifications, and this is where your opinions come in:

Option 1 - MCSA tuition at a local college part-time followed by taking the relevant exams, total cost £1200

Option 2 - Bookkeeping\accounts courses also at a college part-time, total cost £300

Option 3 - Probably not something I'm going to choose, but I'll throw it in here anyway: going full time and doing a HND or degree in Computing

My own thoughts are as follows:

Option 1 would supplement my first line IT support experience and should drastically improve my chances of getting another support job.

Option 2 is a departure from what I've done before, but with an increasing percentage of jobs being accounts related I'm considering it just as viable as option 1.

Option 3 isn't particularly ideal as it is full time and I'd have to rely on loans to survive. This is of particular concern because I don't have any way of moving from my current location (just inside London).

Of course if anyone has any additional options to add to the discussion, feel free, all sensible comments\opinions are welcome :)
 
When would you be able to start the courses? When i was looking to take up a course they all coincided with the academic year
 
Grrrrr said:
When would you be able to start the courses? When i was looking to take up a course they all coincided with the academic year
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Some of the start dates were a week ago, so I might still be able to join, otherwise it'll be January\February which is no good because I need to be doing something now..
 
Option 3 with a twist - do it part time, and work on the side to get both formal qualifications and more experience. Will take longer, but will be cheaper, and you get the dual benefit.
 
Isn't MCSE more geared towards looking after windows servers and what not? Rather the 1st line support. You don't need MCSE to be a helpdesk monkey (was one a few years back) If you are not getting the interviews, it is probably your CV more then anything.
 
Ex-RoNiN said:
Option 3 with a twist - do it part time, and work on the side to get both formal qualifications and more experience. Will take longer, but will be cheaper, and you get the dual benefit.
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I haven't found anywhere that will let me study a HND part-time, and even so the fees are prohibitively expensive (£5000).

rsatd said:
Isn't MCSE more geared towards looking after windows servers and what not? Rather the 1st line support. You don't need MCSE to be a helpdesk monkey (was one a few years back) If you are not getting the interviews, it is probably your CV more then anything.
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Well my former company was a small one, so my role didn't involve supporting 500 users for example. MCSE-related requirements seem to pop up every other job advert I look at, even if its just taking care of Active Directory accounts...I can't move up from "phone monkey" jobs with this level of competition if I have no proper IT qualifications beyond A-level.
 
Hmmh, not sure on competition in that market, but have a look at the list of courses here which apparently are the current ones. MCSA looks to the previous generation of certificates.
 
The problem with MCSA is that it shows no practical application of your skill level. ie. You can sit the exams having read the relevant textbooks. Experience would be a better option. Try posting your CV and see if someone can help you with it.

Or, go the whole hog and get a degree, it'll stand you in good stead for the rest of your life.
 
trojan698 said:
The problem with MCSA is that it shows no practical application of your skill level. ie. You can sit the exams having read the relevant textbooks. Experience would be a better option.
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Perhaps so, but thats not going to happen unless someone hires me for a role that has some breadth to it, rather than solving the same old basic problems.

Which is the whole motivation for me to be considering additional qualifications in the first place.

What specific degree or institution do you recommend?
 
It really depends on where you want to be, on what your ultimate goal is I guess. Do you want to pursue a career in IT? If so, what do you want to be? A Network Engineer? A code monkey? Go to the best university you can.
 
trojan698 said:
It really depends on where you want to be, on what your ultimate goal is I guess. Do you want to pursue a career in IT? If so, what do you want to be? A Network Engineer? A code monkey? Go to the best university you can.
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I don't have one specific role in mind, but I don't think I'd make a good code monkey :p Any role involving hardware support would make sense to me from where I am the moment. To be honest though, if McDonalds offered me a job tomorrow I'd take it for the time being since I need an income.

Best university in what sense, league tables? Reputation?
 
trojan698 said:
Go to the best university you can.
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Can't say for network engineer, but as a code monkey, without experience you will find it hard to be one. And by experience, I mean experience in the actual industry. Any company would be nuts to let a student or indeed an inexperienced stranger to play around with their code trees and what not. Best way I found was to do a course with a placement year, that gives you a years experience by the time you leave uni, which helps a great deal in finding work.

Edit: Uni wise, I looked at what the course would cover, went to visit uni once and went for the course. Never looked at the reputation or league tables. They strike me as worthless.
 
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