I.T. Technician course

Zairs

Zairs

Zairs

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Following on from my apprenticeship thread, I thought I would look into a training course that would lead into employment.

I'd really like to be an I.T. technician or an Electrical Technician, I dont have much money, so would want the course to be as cheap as possible, but also needs to be something an employer would acknowledge
 
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I suggest learning how to use the correct spelling of words such as 'course' before attempting to find employment :p
 
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Haha loved these puns :D

As for something constuctive, for the cheap option you would be best self teaching.

Find a course / test here http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en-gb/certification-overview.aspx that interests you. The course material can be found for free with a few simple google searches of the test/course number then all you need to pay is around £70-£100 to sit the test in a test centre.

Not guaranteed to get your foot in the door but Microsoft qualifications can make you stand out.
 
Zairs said:
Following on from my apprenticeship thread, I thought I would look into a training course that would lead into employment.

I'd really like to be an I.T. technician or an Electrical Technician, I dont have much money, so would want the coarse to be as cheap as possible, but also needs to be something an employer would acknowledge
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I'd start by figuring out which you actually want to be, as they are pretty different, and if you decide IT, then figuring out which path you want to go down?

If you want to be a "general" IT technician (i.e. purple shirt tech guys type windows/basic hardware troubleshooting) then you can learn everything you need, on your own with some old hardware, a free version of VMware, and a basic switch. If you want some actual qualifications, something like a Comptia A+ or MCDST or MCITP would probably be the most appropriate. Get the books, teach yourself using the aforementioned old hardware, and take the exams at about £100 each.

But bear in mind, a "general" IT technician will get paid peanuts, as it's pretty basic stuff.
 
Trifid said:
He may need to grit his teeth though.
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Haggisman said:
I'd start by figuring out which you actually want to be, as they are pretty different, and if you decide IT, then figuring out which path you want to go down?

If you want to be a "general" IT technician (i.e. purple shirt tech guys type windows/basic hardware troubleshooting) then you can learn everything you need, on your own with some old hardware, a free version of VMware, and a basic switch. If you want some actual qualifications, something like a Comptia A+ or MCDST or MCITP would probably be the most appropriate. Get the books, teach yourself using the aforementioned old hardware, and take the exams at about £100 each.

But bear in mind, a "general" IT technician will get paid peanuts, as it's pretty basic stuff.
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If I enjoyed what I was doing I wouldn't mind being paid peanuts, but would be good if It had long term prospects.

I am more than capable on the hardware side of thing which is why I said I.T. or electrical as I a basic knowledge of both
 
Aw man, ruined the fun :(

Haggisman said:
But bear in mind, a "general" IT technician will get paid peanuts, as it's pretty basic stuff.
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Indeed, IT Sys Admin here, Just over £25K. I dabble with most aspects, "Jack of all trades, master of none" sort of thing.

Scope the broad range of IT roles and focus on a main aspect that you prefer IMO and then build up other stuff around it.
 
Zairs said:
If I enjoyed what I was doing I wouldn't mind being paid peanuts, but would be good if It had long term prospects.

I am more than capable on the hardware side of thing which is why I said I.T. or electrical as I a basic knowledge of both
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Trust me - it will get old after a few years (I was doing it from 2005 - October last year). For every day with an interesting/new problem to solve, you'll have a month's worth of resetting passwords, swapping memory, explaining to someone for the 18th time in a day how to access their email via WebAccess, or installing the same software you've installed a thousand times before.

I was lucky enough to move into SW development in the same company, and while I did enjoy the support side, I wouldn't go back!
 
there's nothing wrong with the technician side of things, its the starting block for most things IT related, can give good experience and you also pick up qualifications along the way if you so choose (i haven't yet), buts its not something i would advice doing as your main goal as you WILL get bored.

if you get into the right area you can gain some good experience, e.g. we have about 40 odd switches, multiple servers and network storage, so ive managed to acquire broad range of skills, although im classed as a technician, its a bit more than your average password resets etc...

IMO IT in education is a good starting point, it looks good on a CV and you get a broad range of skills, as most technical things have to be done in house, due to data risks etc....

its all about finding an aspect of IT you can excel in aswell as being good at most other things, but you do need to have a firm idea of what you want to do and then also pick up as many skills as you can along the way, if you don't know how to fix something, attempt it, eg.. in our place we have a guy with cisco qualifications etc and if i encounter a network related issue (which isnt my side of things) ill give it a go before passing it along to him.

ultimatley i wouldnt mind ending up as an IT systems manager or something high up along those lines, and preferably away from education (sector im in now) as the mundane, kids forgetting passwords etc does get tiresome, but if you get a good group of guys to work with, it can be great fun, but that can be with any job in general.
 
Zairs said:
I'd really like to be an I.T. technician or an Electrical Technician,
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What courses does your college do?

Don't bother with an IT technician course, most of what you need is learnt by doing or googling or reading technical books. All 10 year olds know more than teachers in this subject, nothing has changed in that regard for 30 years.
Don't do it if you are not a geek, nothing worse than a crap IT bod.

It looks like whatever I did doesn't exist any more but there should be some electronic/electrical courses available, even part time. This is a subject which needs tutoring.

Meanwhile, have a look for courses on CNC programming.
As a hobby, look at ardunios, teaches you a lot about a huge array of subjects.
Ebay, bag of random bits and a youtube electronics course - > go

Get on a PLC programming course, jobs in that everywhere.

Local universities sometimes do evening classes too
 
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