Curious... Qualifications or Experience?

[Tee Hee Johnson]

Hiyahh!

Deep in thought at the moment... actually i have been all day Just trying to get life on track...!

Im curious to how you lot got your jobs? Did you study 2 or 4 years for qualifications, or did you all work your way up?

Im in 2 minds the now about what i want to do... only have an HNC and do ideally want to take it further... BUT im now 25 and fearing 3ish years on top of now is a bit much! So considering just looking for a job with intent of working my way up over the years!

I dunno

What happened with all of you guys and gals?!

Craig!!

 

[Tee Hee Johnson]

i personally went to uni. it depends on what type of job you want, some require qualifications

Basically... ITish! Not web design, programming etc! More along the lines of Network Admin or something... dunno!

Wish i know what to do... actually... wish i knew what to do about 7 years ago so i could be doign it by now lol

 

[Tee Hee Johnson]

Thanks for the input guys

So perhaps go for degree? It involves another 3 years of study... 1 more to get the HND then 2 to get a computing and networks one i was after!

3 years tho... Gonna be well old by then... only upside to that idea is i could get my finances etc back up to scratch!

Tho if i was to fall into the right kinda job and work up, i could be sorting this whilst earning...

Ach i dunno!!

Suppose lots of it is by chance if you dont have qualifications... but fear im at the age that i cant rely on chances coming up

 

[Tee Hee Johnson]

Well I am 28 and just finished my HNC. Doing HND at Stevenson in Edinburgh next year and probably Uni after that. Look on the bright side, your not as old as me.

Lol.. similar to what i want to do then

Can i ask what made you go down the route of education? Or was jumping into a job a non starter?

 

[Tee Hee Johnson]

What i was going to post. A degree with a year in the industry = Win.

Well the course i was looking at actually has an optional year out on paid placement...! Which i would defo consider!

 

[Tee Hee Johnson]

Well I spent eight years running around in a forklift, which in itself was a decent job. Money wise I was worse off every year and had no opportunity for advancement so decided to do something about it.

I was one of only a couple out of my final year at school who didn't go to Uni and at the time that was fine but I always had getting a degree as an ambition of mines and decided now was my time.

I was limited by geography and local college only offered a couple of courses, and of those HNC Computing was the only one I was even remotely interested in so picked that. Again with geography the biggest issue Stevenson College in Edinburgh was the only real option for me and I will be doing HND Technical Support which upon completion gets me a place at Napier on their Networking degree iirc

Thanks for that

I must say getting a degree has me kinda excited too to be honest, thats one of my side reasons for thinking about it.

What your doing sounds exactly like what i am thinking...! Got HNC at Bell College Hamilton, go back and get HND Tech Support then into Glasgow Cali for 3rd and 4th year Computers and Networking Degree

 

[Tee Hee Johnson]

Both. You can't only have one, you'll lose out on a lot if you do.

Forgot to quote you and say this... ta for the advice

Also... Nice sig! Love that Cross album!

 

[Tee Hee Johnson]

Defo not too interested in own business... would never know where to start!

So its looking like a degree and experience... so the course im looking at with the years paid placement should be exactly what i need

Thanks guys... kinda needed someone to speak to tonight!

 

[Tee Hee Johnson]

So tonight we discovered great minds think alike.

Haha damn tootin... must mean its a good plan!

 

[Tee Hee Johnson]

It better be bud, it better be

Haha... good point! :|

 

[Tee Hee Johnson]

If you want to do systems/network admin stuff then I would say experience is the way forward and getting some cisco/RHCE/M$ crap/whatever certs under your belt.

Personally I did a degree in Computer Science, worked my placement at a big software company as a programmer then ended up getting my current job hunting for comp security companies and applying. I also have a CCNA and some other random quals no one ever asks me about What I do is very cross discipline, need both programming, systems and network knowledge.. my degree alone is far from enough.

A good computing/cs degree wont teach you crap about network/systems admin and you learn that stuff from experience and playing around... I don't think vocational courses are any good. Just read ****loads about networking/systems and play around in your own time. I started a web hosting company when I was still at school, taught me a load of practical techy skills I would never have learned on my course.

Thanks... some good advice there

Never really thought about doing the wee ms/cisco courses as well as uni... might have a look into that, get as many skills as i can!

Luckily i am generally quite interested in computing, for example we done visual basic during the hnc, i ended up learning a lot more through teaching myself in spare time and implemented that into my project. Have also got a mild grasp of java, and improving my html skills at the moment Quite fancy a bit of C+ (C++ or whatever is best lol)

 

[Tee Hee Johnson]

Join the armed forces and you can do both at the same time.

I must say... i have never been interested in the forces So thats a non starter really

Going to Cali... Yeah im thinkin the degree with placement is the best idea... as i know too many people stuck without experiance after their degree

 

[Tee Hee Johnson]

Then if you enjoy programming it is probably worth doing a degree.. Most software developer jobs require them. All depends on what you want to do at the end of the day. I have a lot of friends who are good developers and don't have a cs degrees but they lack some theoretical/mathmatical knowledge they would have gained at uni.... Im not saying you can't learn it in your own time.. but lets face it most people don't teach themselves computational complexity theory (for example) out of fun.

Programming is a whole different beast from systems/network admin. Degree with a placement is prolly your best bet. You have the rest of your life to work fulltime.

I do enjoy programming, but its more just a minor past time! Dont want to know everything about the mentioned languages, but i feel having a small grasp is a good idea

Must say i more want to get into systems and network admin as i know you can be good and succeed in a job... whereas programming you need to be fantastic...! Oh and im shocking at maths! Don think i could get on a comp science course!

Think im back on track to the get the HND college/uni, then jump to 3rd year uni, placement year, then 4th year uni

 

[Tee Hee Johnson]

Travel the world, gain qualifications for free whilst gaining experience, have stories to tell your children, help getting on the property ladder, basically the best pension you can find? If you're still not interested then alrighty

Yeah my gf is really wanting to join the raf as a nurse or something... all that appeals to her Constant stories about her dads time in the raf... thats what got her hooked!

I just dont... dunno... doesnt appeal to me! Only good thing in my eyes is the pension thing, maybe the property ladder thing too, but meh...! Suppose everyone is different!

You in the services then?

 

[Tee Hee Johnson]

Nope, give me a year and I hope to be.

It's just a job like any other really, if you've never considered it or looked at the options available then my advice would be to take a look at the websites and see what appeals. Most people find things they know nothing about pretty uninteresting!

Ahh kewls... what do you want to do? What service?

I have never investigated it fully... thinking 'right, thats what im going to do!' But i went with a mate as moral suppost on his fact finding mission to one of the centers and sat throught a few vids and read up lots!

The training actually seems quite interesting... ill give you that! Im quite up for a challenge, and as you will know, it seems to be quite a challenge! Like to find out what my body can do sometimes!

 

[Tee Hee Johnson]

I'm going to apply for RAF Air Traffic Control Officer in a few weeks time, been planning it quite a while really (wanted to be a pilot for years but hay fever ditched that ). There are some positions that are very techy and you have the option of doing a degree with the open university later during service which you'd get help funding.

Aww awesome Sounds like something you really want to do! Thats rubbish about Hay Fever!

Ahh... suppose with options like that there it can be easy to further yourself as obviously you can study whilst still in the raf! Help with funding is always good too... nothing is cheap!

 

[Tee Hee Johnson]

My view is that ability and enthusiasm are the most important factors. Personally, I would try to avoid losing time gaining qualifications if it's possible for you to get a job without them. The only purpose of qualifications is that if not having them is not getting you past the intial sorting of CVs. I actually think that long courses spent studying for IT qualifications are slightly pointless, mainly because it's such a big subject and the technology moves so quickly that you are almost certain to find your qualifications aren't that related to what the job will involve. So, I would try applying for some jobs and get on with earning cash, show ability and enthusiasm and you'll get through. If you find you aren't being offered interviews then I guess that's the time to seek more qualifications. Or perhaps if you can afford it you can ask for some low paid work experience - if you're good enough they'll take you on IMO.

Rgds

Money is a bit of an issue to be honest... i kind need to keep making as much as i can

About gettin jobs at the moment, i find it a bit hard to bulk up the cv and cover letters etc, as the vast majority of my experience is private! As mush as i can ramble on for ages about what i know, when it comes to it i have 1 years worth of HNC as experience/education... and there is only so much i can spin on each of the units in that