Curious... Qualifications or Experience?

Tee Hee Johnson

Tee Hee Johnson

Tee Hee Johnson

Soldato
Joined
30 May 2007
Posts
5,014
Location
Glasgow, Scotland
Hiyahh! :D

Deep in thought at the moment... actually i have been all day :P 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 :P

What happened with all of you guys and gals?!

Craig!! :)
 
Beerbaron said:
i personally went to uni. it depends on what type of job you want, some require qualifications
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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
 
craig_kennedy83 said:
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
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As someone without qualifications working in I.T. I know how lucky I am, frankly if you don't have the qualifications you rarely get an interview unless you have something on your C.V. that makes you stand out from the crowd - generally experience already.

My advice would be to go for the degree, I was lucky in that my pre-I.T. job morphed into an I.T. post, otherwise I personally don't think I'd have had any chance, seeing as I have no degree etc.
 
Experience. I have no IT background but I work in IT. Probably explains why I hate it so much :D
 
Jonny, I actually think that's why I don't hate it as much as those who spent 4+ years getting a qualification in it just to find out how thankless a job it is ;)
 
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
 
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. :p
 
I graduated at 24 and they were offering me a phd but I didn't want to be 27 when I finally got out the system. Though I would have been Dr Jonny69 :D

Don't forget a degree teaches you a lot more than just your subject. I had some groundings for IT (ie I'd used a computer in my degree :D ) but I blagged my way through for a few years and learned it on the job. You could do the same by getting yourself on a helpdesk as first line support specialising in some database software or something and work up from there. 3 years on that and you'll be a valuable asset rather than a green graduate. One way to look at it anyway.
 
craig_kennedy83 said:
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?
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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
 
Doonhamer said:
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
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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 :)
 
I joined my current company mainly through experience although also a very specific industry qualification. I then got promoted because having got my foot in the door it was obvious that I was good at my job, and had the potential and enthusiasm to progress.

I've never got a job on the basis of my standard educational background (GCSEs/A-Levels/Degree). I have no formal qualifications in IT aside from the joke that is ECDL, and a more specific ISEB qualification, both of which I took in my 20s. In my opinion there's no reason why I couldn't have left school at 16/18 and have reached my current level in a few years, learning on the job. Aside from developing my knowledge in computers and the internet, there's nothing I learnt between the age of 16 and nearly 26 that's been of any real use to me career wise in the years since.

People always break it down into "qualifications or experience" but in my view that overlooks other important factors in landing jobs, such as networking (as in human contacts), bull****, and luck/getting your foot in the door.
 
Unless you're planning on starting your own business or working in a support type field then generally you'll find yourself hitting a glass ceiling quicker these days without a degree/equivalent and/or could struggle to get started in the first place.
 
SideWinder said:
What i was going to post. A degree with a year in the industry = Win. :)
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I'm glad I'm on the winning side then, my course has a year in industry, and if I can hack-it my dad's organising for me to work in France for an 8 week placement at an English speaking company he deals with, score, actual experience! :cool:

Someone said 'networking and bull****' helps, although it's not fair, I think it does, well the former does anyway, if you go for a degree, get to know people in the job shop/the unit coordinator, and make an effort to think about what you're planning on doing early on. It'll be worth it.
 
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