Apprenticeships in IT

Belloni said:
Thanks for that, i've completed their form, fingers crossed.
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Do you actually know what you want to do in I.T?

Different areas of I.T have completely different experiences.

Wanting to work computers in general is not really qualifier on its own, you have to know what job you want.

I worked as a technician as a part time job at a school AND HATED IT. It was mainly making sure the a/v equipment worked, that teachers could get the computers to work and so on. It was boring after a few weeks.

But I love development, it's a deep and endless subject.
 
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oli356 said:
Considering I've been looking at apprenticeships for the last few months I will have my input.

http://www.apprenticeships.org.uk/ found my apprenticeship through that site.
Most I've seen in my area are all small companies, then occasionally the big companies will pop up (Sky, BT, Cisco etc). I know IBM have a scheme but that isn't shown on that website.
The small ones in my opinion looked rather bad. The description on a lot of them doesn't even say what you will be doing, the pay is bad(around £6k a year) and are only 12 months (might get a job at the end maybe?)

My apprenticeship is 3 years long, the first year is the proper apprenticeship year where I will go to QA who does the teaching for Microsoft exams etc and then go to work with my employer. Most of the time is at work and not QA.
While at work it won't all be technical by any means and we move around the company going into different departments to find out what we like. At the end of the 3 years there is a high chance of getting a job.

Either way though, apprenticeships offer you that valuable experience while gaining certifications. The great combination so it seems! Personally I think apprenticeships are gaining 'popularity' and shouldn't be looked past.
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+1 for http://www.apprenticeships.org.uk/

Although not IT based I got my current apprenticeship through there, I'm just about to finish my first year having just finished level 2 mechanical engineering and moving onto level 3 next year, the company is also investing in training me to learn Solidworks as I'm reasonably competent with IT. I'm working in the tool room at a plastic injection moulding company.

The problem with apprenticeships is that companies won't get so much funding due to your age and the fact that after your first year they have to pay you minimum wage for your age group, I believe they are trying to stop age being such a problem but as it stands it doesn't help at the moment. But if you can get one it's a great way to learn both the academic and practical side of it, work is nothing like college but employers like that paper qualification!
 
Belloni said:
Hi Nebu,

How did you get an interview for that as an IT Technician? Do you get a lot of help etc?
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Word of mouth, you can directly ask employers if they are hiring or somebody you meet may know of a job opening. (this is how I heard about mine). Unfortunately at this level most employers see it to expensive to advertise for a "beginner" position.

You will likely get help if you ask for it. I had a very basic understanding of networks and they gave me a good lecture. Just in the interview, be honest say you want to learn and say how keen you are to work in the industry as long as you don't mind working cheap. Better than student loan debt eh.

But to be honest most of the time will be spent doing general work (Cabling, Cleaning, Support, Updating, Installing). This is all just my experience though.
 
Incinerat0r said:
+1 for http://www.apprenticeships.org.uk/

The problem with apprenticeships is that companies won't get so much funding due to your age and the fact that after your first year they have to pay you minimum wage for your age group, I believe they are trying to stop age being such a problem but as it stands it doesn't help at the moment. But if you can get one it's a great way to learn both the academic and practical side of it, work is nothing like college but employers like that paper qualification!
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I don't fully understand how the funding works and the age you're meant to be. Think though if you're like over 21 you get less or something, could be totally wrong.

With mine though the salary increases on the 2nd and 3rd year :D
 
oli356 said:
I don't fully understand how the funding works and the age you're meant to be. Think though if you're like over 21 you get less or something, could be totally wrong.

With mine though the salary increases on the 2nd and 3rd year :D
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As far as I know if you're over 18 it means your employer has to pay part of your training fee, it went against me when I started looking at 19 anyway.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/EducationAndLearning/14To19/OptionsAt16/DG_4001327

The National Minimum Wage for apprentices was increased to £2.60 per hour on 1 October 2011. (This is the minimum pay rate and many employers pay more as you develop your skills). If you work in agriculture, the minimum wage may be different.

The wage applies to:

all apprentices aged under 19
apprentices aged 19 or over in the first year of their Apprenticeship

All other apprentices are eligible for the full National Minimum Wage rate appropriate to their age.

Like most other employees, employed apprentices get at least 20 days’ paid holiday per year. This is on top of bank holidays.
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To me that says if you're over 19 and have completed 1 year in your apprenticeship they have to pay you NMW for your age which in this case would be £6.08, guess I'll find out next month as I'm 21 :p
 
Belloni said:
The course I looked at is called "JustIT". I went to them the other week to see what they were about. It's quite a lot of money to do it though.
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Avoid JustIT imho, heard bad things about them. Look for 'proper' apprenticeships/jobs rather than forking out money.
 
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Incinerat0r said:
As far as I know if you're over 18 it means your employer has to pay part of your training fee, it went against me when I started looking at 19 anyway.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/EducationAndLearning/14To19/OptionsAt16/DG_4001327



To me that says if you're over 19 and have completed 1 year in your apprenticeship they have to pay you NMW for your age which in this case would be £6.08, guess I'll find out next month as I'm 21 :p
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I'm 22, so if I was to do an apprenticeship, well this specific one it says £100 a week, that's going to be hard to live on!
 
Belloni said:
I'm 22, so if I was to do an apprenticeship, well this specific one it says £100 a week, that's going to be hard to live on!
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all of them will be like that.. the one i applied for is 175 a week which is lot better.. but still not enough to live on in london.. i went to the first interview, now waiting for reply.. i thought i did good but im not so sure now.. :)

got referred to another role too by the same learning provider.. im 21.
 
Belloni said:
The course I looked at is called "JustIT". I went to them the other week to see what they were about. It's quite a lot of money to do it though.
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so you're not actually doing an Apprenticeship rather you're potentially going to be paying an inflated price for a course

I'd seriously reconsider - what quals will you get from this course and how much will it cost?

I'd say just get a job, buy the relevant books and study yourself or see if your employer will fund some training... don't start dropping large amounts of your own money on courses at this stage
 
What do you want to do?

If you're interested in programming or web development, you can create a portfolio of work which demonstrates your ability to code real world applications and can be used to support a job application. I've noticed some entry level positions in web dev don't require much previous experience and will accept a portfolio as evidence.
 
Belloni said:
Thanks for the advice, I looked at "Computeach" also, but they seem the same.
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Avoid any of these training companies that want you to pay upfront for them to train and find you a job at the end of it, not heard any success stories from them only people complaining they have been ripped off.
 
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