College vs. MCSEs

Trigger

Trigger

Trigger

Soldato
Joined
15 Dec 2004
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Hey, this is my first real thread in GD so go easy on me :o

As some of you may know, I'm currently studying for a BTEC National Diploma in IT at college whilst also working one day a week at my old school as an IT technician. I'm doing a BTEC course because I wanted to get experience in IT as well as qualifications but I'm really not liking college at all- the course or the people. The trouble is with this course is that it's full of people who were too lazy for A levels.

Now last week I had my first individual tutorial with my tutor in which I was told I was too clever for the course :( I'm now trying to find other ways to get both experience and qualifications and someone suggested MCSE's and gave me a load of resources for it- the videos and manuals for which I have been reading :) I understand that I have to pay for them but have decided that they will help me a lot more than the college course ever would so am prepared to do that.

When I go into work this week I'm going to see if there's any possibility of it being full time which would pay for my courses nicely as well as giving me a lot of experience.

Basically now then I'm after people's opinions on whether this is my best option and also how many course would I need to do to get somewhere?

Thanks for any advice :cool:

Ben
 
MCSEs aren't thought of nearly as highly as they used to be. You have a lot of people trying to get into the industry (and, indeed, plenty actually in the industry) that have 'paper' MCSEs - meaning lack of relevant experience.

Have you only started your course this year?
 
Yeah, september. I know I haven't given it long but I really can't see me sticking it out for two years. There are a couple of people on my course who will be leaving shortly as they've been told the same as me.

So is experience more highly valued than any qualification?
 
You could do an NVQ Advanced Apprenticeship as an IT Professional. The BTEC is the technical certificate so you would be well on your way. You would also gain valuable experience and earn money.
 
Trigger said:
So is experience more highly valued than any qualification?
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Very much so. A good mixture of both is even better though :)

MCSA might be a good place to start rather than full-blown MCSE.
 
Thanks. So it doesn't really matter how I get my qualifications as long as I get them? The stuff on the MCSEs don't really bother me- a lot of the stuff I've seen on the disks I've worked with day in, day out for the last two years so I'm pretty confident with it anyway :)

I dont think the BTEC college course will do me much good anyway- all I can see myself doing at the minute is sitting on an IT helpdesk somewhere- something which I don't plan on doing and I felt that the professional qualifications would get me further. The stuff on this course is really outdated- for example in web design we are forced to lay our pages out with hidden tables and use dreamweaver and in programming, we have to use VB :D
 
L337 LooX said:
do you mean MCSE or MCP?
does get confusing when its new
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Erm, I'm not sure to be honest. The disks I've been given are for MCSE CBT :confused: I haven't done much reading into it yet- I'm just after some opinions :)
 
well the MCPs are the single exams and they count towards things such as MCDST(2), MCSA (5) and MCSE (7) (MCSE being the most difficult with 7 MCPs iirc)
 
Ahh right, I thought that MCP was a totally different qualification :o

So to do the actual exams, I understand that I would study in my own time for them, do a few practice exams and then go to a testing centre which I've registered with and do the actual exam for the fee?
 
Trigger said:
Ahh right, I thought that MCP was a totally different qualification :o

So to do the actual exams, I understand that I would study in my own time for them, do a few practice exams and then go to a testing centre which I've registered with and do the actual exam for the fee?
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Yeah thats pretty much it..
 
Cool. I've just been on the Microsoft website and found the cost of them- $125 which is less than I thought so am pretty pleased with that. Could anyone tell me where I can find my nearest testing centre as the link on the Microsoft website takes me to register :(

Would I be anywhere near the mark comparing these to an NVQ- not the best thing to get you into a job but a good way of getting your qualifications when you already have a job?
 
BigBadBenny said:
At the end of the 2 years you will have a HND? If you choose to, you could go on for another year and get a degree?
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No, I wouldn't but would have the posibility to go on to it. Thing is though- I don't want to be stuck doing something I don't want to be doing for two years- I want to get out whilst I can and still be able to get qualifications that will mean something to me :)
 
L337 LooX said:
well the MCPs are the single exams and they count towards things such as MCDST(2), MCSA (5) and MCSE (7) (MCSE being the most difficult with 7 MCPs iirc)
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Is MCSA 5 now? Thought it was 4.
 
If you want to stay in I.T. Support ( :eek: ) then stay were you are. Get as much experience as you can. I'd see if you can top up to the HND and onto a degree where you can use the industrial placement year to see what you'd like to do.
 
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