CompTIA and other certs in the UK

[Taylor7500]

Apologies if i've missed it but how long ago did you graduate?

A physics degree is way more valuable than any entry level CompTIA cert, especially if you want to get into programming (I did those entry level certs because I didn't finish my degree!). There should be plenty of junior programming/development roles and grad schemes desperate for graduates like yourself, try not to worry too much about what you don't know, the whole point of junior roles is to fill in those gaps, just go for it.

No, I didn't mention it. Unfortunately it's been a while now - graduated in 2018. So I'm not entirely sure if it's too late or not. I have been applying to a fair few entry level jobs and schemes where I could find them, but ultimately got a few interviews but no related job there. Current job sounds good on the CV and as I say I'm trying to wrangle some SQL on there too but it's also not a career move.

 

[malachi]

From my experience. Trying to get your foot in the door or not. Compita certs dont seem to have much value in the UK compared to Cisco and Microsoft. Even in some cases Compita exams cost more than Microsoft exams. After doing my Security + exam last year, just to get the fundamentals, a lot of the material was based round the US such as law. I would have been better of doing CCNA CyberOps. At last then having the word CISCO on my CV would be better.

That said, before I looked at Comptia. I got a few Microsoft certs just from spending a few hours a night self-studying (never pay for a course) and taking the exam.

 

[dowie]

Apologies - just general internet caution. My degree subject was physics. There was a second year programming module about making an N body simulation of the solar system under gravity, in java. That was fairly basic and was more about whether we could translate physics equations into code.

Yuck, they made you do that in java??? That would be horrible for any numerical stuff, they were torturing you!

The third year course was to simulate a particle accelerator and was all about inheritance and the basics around that, as well as polymorphism etc. My masters project was also a simulation [...] internship with some basic C++ stuff - more simulations and data analysis.
[...]
Yeah, I've been learning some SQL just from online resources, and have asked my boss at my current job to see if I can access our DB with SQL rather than the web interface - that's in the works,

I mean if you're employed already and can do a bit of SQL (maybe some data analysis etc..?) in your current role do not go and get some random IT support job if your goal is actually to become a developer or something along those lines, I honestly can't see any benefit in doing that.

I mean you've got some solid foundations already, lack of a CS degree isn't generally an issue, especially if you're a maths or physics grad!

Numerical stuff from physics, simulations etc.. is quite applicable/transferable in some banking/finance dev jobs (lots of pricing/modelling work in finance was done by Physicists/applied mathematicians working as quants)... you're not necessarily going to get a quant job but being a developer who understands that stuff can be valuable in itself - honestly, plenty of CS grads don't really have much maths beyond a-level, they might have some discreet stuff and a bit of linear algebra but that's about it.

Likewise, your data analysis experience is valuable anywhere - I mean you could maybe look at jobs doing that even (very much in demand at the moment!) also the roles that don't mostly rely on using some package like Tableau can end up with you doing quite a bit of programming in R or Python etc.. +, of course, SQL is often required.

If you've got experience with Java and C++ you should be able to pick up Python very easily. If you want some free ML stuff check out fast.ai (for cutting edge deep learning content - they use Python/NumPy/PyTorch + their fast.ai library) and for the more traditional ML stuff try the statistical learning course on Stanford online (this uses R) (+, more importantly, their books are available for free - ISL and ESL), or the Caltech learning from data course or Andrew Ng's ML course - reduced version is on Coursera with a paid-for cert, full-fat version is on Stanford engineering everywhere. Check out kaggle.com too if going down this route.

I'd work on your skills, both technical and making your CV great, interview prep etc.. and carry on aiming for dev jobs or similar right now. If going for dev jobs then build stuff, stick it on Github etc.. if going for data analyst/data science jobs then do some kaggle.com competitions etc...

 

[Taylor7500]

Yuck, they made you do that in java??? That would be horrible for any numerical stuff, they were torturing you!

I'll be honest, I actually quite liked Java. I know that's not a popular opinion, and I was in literally the last year to do it (everyone after me did it in Python instead), but I like that Java is much more explicit in a lot of places than Python, if that makes sense. I have toyed with Python and C# and a few other bits but that was mostly for interviews so I'd know what I was talking about.

I want to make projects but I don't really know how to turn a few java class files (or files from other languages) into a fully fledged thing that doesn't require you to manually run it through the command line and process all the data there. One of my blind spots - I expect it's doable and as an absolute beginner I'd be surprised if there weren't pre-made libraries and packages to toy with to get things up and running.

I mean if you're employed already and can do a bit of SQL (maybe some data analysis etc..?) in your current role do not go and get some random IT support job if your goal is actually to become a developer or something along those lines, I honestly can't see any benefit in doing that.

The job I have is data QA for a financial services software startup. I can market that on the CV of course but the actual day-to-day is just finding entries which are broken, and fixing them, part-time. Currently done on a web interface but like I say I'm trying to get SQL set up so I can work on that (and have SQL in a professional capacity on the CV), but the boss is on holiday and we've had issues with credentials so it's on hold for now.

So if I had to pick a language to learn and try make projects with, would you say that Python is the way to go? Or would C++ be it, or...? I'm certainly all for developing skills and trying to learn what I need, but I don't know what I don't know, so if there's a recommended route to get the fundamentals and fill in blind spots that I may have even for entry level positions, then I'd be very interested in hearing it. Similarly if I'd be better off finding certs in a particular programming language rather than bothering with CompTIA then I'd be interested in knowing if there are any in demand.

In any event, I very much appreciate your advice on this - it's been very helpful.

 

[dowie]

I'll be honest, I actually quite liked Java. I know that's not a popular opinion, and I was in literally the last year to do it (everyone after me did it in Python instead), but I like that Java is much more explicit in a lot of places than Python, if that makes sense.
[...]
So if I had to pick a language to learn and try make projects with, would you say that Python is the way to go? Or would C++ be it, or...?

Not necessarily no - if you enjoy Java then perhaps better to go with what you enjoy - I wasn't criticising Java in a general sense but rather the notion of using it to do anything numerical, especially on a Physics degree is a bit ! If you're looking at general programming jobs then Java is used all over the place in enterprise software.

Python would be the thing to look at at the moment if you were particularly interested in data science/data analysis. C++ is used in finance, especially in the areas where you might make use of your physics degree etc.. also in game development and plenty of other areas.

For general programming jobs, Java and C# are quite common. Though I know a friend of mine (Java dev) is having to switch to Go currently - having to adapt, pick up a new (but not too dissimilar language) isn't necessarily a drama.

A few years ago Scala was getting a bit of hype, my mate who had over a decade of Java experience made some serious $$$$ by getting himself up to speed with Scala and Akka and then taking up a bunch of contracting gigs.

I'm certainly all for developing skills and trying to learn what I need, but I don't know what I don't know, so if there's a recommended route to get the fundamentals and fill in blind spots that I may have even for entry level positions, then I'd be very interested in hearing it. Similarly if I'd be better off finding certs in a particular programming language rather than bothering with CompTIA then I'd be interested in knowing if there are any in demand.

Like I said before I'm not sure that certificates have much use here - have you looked at udacity, coursera etc..? I mean you get certificates of a sort there though it's not some official qualification or vendor certificate more proof that you've completed their courses.

Udacity does cost some money but seems to have a careers service, CV advice etc.. and would perhaps solve your issue of wanting to have a go at some projects but needing to fill in some gaps...

For example: https://www.udacity.com/course/java-developer-nanodegree--nd035 Maybe that might be useful?

 

[Taylor7500]

Fair enough. Yeah I quite understand you weren't criticising Java but it's things like why it's not recommended for data processing which is where I have blind spots. Mind you it was root (a C++ based analysis framework) and Mathematica I actually used for hard data analysis so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I suppose I'm best off finding a fundamentals course and just dealing with the 80% of it I know so that I can get the 20% I don't.


Thanks for the pointer. I can see that Udacity does cost some money indeed - not impossibly expensive but as per the original thread it's not something where I can afford to choose the wrong course. Out of interest, do any other online courses in this sort of thing (everything from EdX to everything else) count for anything at all on the CV or are they about on par with just saying I'm good at something and hoping they'll believe me?

I've done little bits and bobs in my free time from (free) online courses in various programming languages to writing a 200 page wiki for a mod to a game I like but I always discount that sort of thing as airy nonsense. But if I'm wrong and every little helps then that's worth knowing.

 

[dowie]

Thanks for the pointer. I can see that Udacity does cost some money indeed - not impossibly expensive but as per the original thread it's not something where I can afford to choose the wrong course. Out of interest, do any other online courses in this sort of thing (everything from EdX to everything else) count for anything at all on the CV or are they about on par with just saying I'm good at something and hoping they'll believe me?

I guess it probably varies - I think most people in tech should be well aware of MOOC's by now, it just shows you've completed the course I guess - maybe edx, coursera, udacity etc.. might have a little bit more credibility vs udemy as they're known institutions or companies vs any individual who wants to upload a course. Just make sure to make it clear they are MOOC certificates don't just stick "Stanford university" down on your CV and make it look like you actually enrolled in some credit-bearing short course.

I don't think there is necessarily anything in these courses that you couldn't teach yourself via books or just free courses/videos that don't result in a certificate. (Stanford Engineering Everywhere has their main CS/programming courses completely free). Udacity just seems really practical and might help fill the gaps - gets you to build stuff. There are boot camps, they're expensive but they usually try to place people IIRC - there is even one in the US that is free at the start but wants a % of your salary once you complete and they help you get a job (might actually make sense if you live in California and entry-level jobs paid $$$$).

Though why would you need to "hope" they believe you though if you say you're good at something? We're talking about programming so you could always just stick stuff on GitHub so they can see for themselves.

 

[Taylor7500]

Just make sure to make it clear they are MOOC certificates don't just stick "Stanford university" down on your CV and make it look like you actually enrolled in some credit-bearing short course.

Yeah while I know the CV is all about marketing myself I do try my best to stay firmly no ******** with it. Best for everyone that way.

Though why would you need to "hope" they believe you though if you say you're good at something? We're talking about programming so you could always just stick stuff on GitHub so they can see for themselves.

Fair point. I suppose I'm long overdue actually putting things onto a GitHub account to prove my stuff. Well, I've been meaning to rewrite the N body simulator I made in Java as part of my degree in C++ so I guess I'll start with that.

 

[khrall]

It depends on what area of IT you are looking to get involved in, but I would recommend you have a look at udemy. Courses are dirt cheap, very regular sales "now 13.99".

Plenty of content on there, just make sure you pick the high review ones as sometimes it can be a bit hit and miss.