IT - In 2018/2019

[Mp4]

Afternoon all,

I've had the qualifications below since 2004 when I finished college and ended up in a full-time job not using these skills/qualifications. And never went on to Uni.


City & Guilds Level 3 Advanced Diploma for IT
Practitioners (ICT System Support)
Level 2 Diploma for IT Practitioners
Level 2 Diploma for IT Users
GNVQ Information & Communication Technology


While at work today a colleague who works for the IT structure for supermarkets said about Udemy and that paths of Networking/CompTIA, Amazon AWS/Azure are a way forward.

Does anyone have any other thoughts on a new path to take?

looking at the Udemy courses which are currently at £10-20,

 

[Delta3D]

CompTIA A+ is a good one to have under your belt for a generic one. Covers a lot of stuff.

If you're looking at say Networking in specific you'd be better getting the CompTIA Network+ - or even CCNA if you have the time, although it can take a little while.

 

[Zefan]

First of all, Udemy courses are always on offer. You can easily study CompTIA A+ and Network+ for free, take a look at Professor Messer's videos. I used him for my A+ and Network+. As well as that, I used Pluralsight for A+ and Mike Myers videos for Network+ and some books. It was almost certainly overkill.

As for "what path", this is something that needs to come from you. If you don't know what you want to do in depth (as in, specialise in) then you should probably keep your options broad and develop your knowledge broadly. Only then will you begin to have an appreciation of what going in to something deeper would really entail. I'd suggest A+ as "baby's first cert", it's certainly proof that you can retain information and that you have at least touched on common and foundational IT knowledge enough to pass the exams. If you're already pretty knowledgeable, you will likely benefit from it anyway, as you will be learning how to self study IT certs, which I've found it a skill in itself. It's a decent foot in the door to entry level IT jobs, especially if you have no experience in the industry, however beyond that it will be completely redundant.

Network+ is more broad than the CCENT/CCNA R&S path, however it is also quite a bit less "deep". I'd go for CCENT over Network+ if you're going to focus more on networks, as it is much more heavy on actually configuring devices, and they are the benchmark by which all others are judged. If you want a broader knowledge of networks without a focus on configuring devices, Network+ is probably more suitable.

I can't comment on Azure/AWS certs, but I hear a lot of things about them being "the future" and "best certs for earning in 2019". I take it with a pinch of salt. Personally, I think more traditional MCSAs would be a better path to tread first. I don't think anyone is going to hire someone with zero experience to sort their azure/aws out, regardless of certifications held.

 

[Ayahuasca]

As above A+ to start with, it's relatively easy to pass if you have an interest already in IT and have done your own troubleshooting over the years.

Azure is becoming increasingly popular but as Zefan has said, on its own it won't get you very far.

 

[Gornall]

Cloud and Data career paths are looking strong.

 

[malachi]

And cyber security.

My next path once ive finished studying MCSA/MCSE

 

[dowie]

you should take a path you'll enjoy tbh... lots of things well be "hot" areas at some point but it isn't so good if you don't enjoy those areas, plenty of money to be made in mundane areas too if you're really good - and you don't tend to get really good at something unless you enjoy it

 

[opethdisciple]

The best advice I can give you if you start of doing technical support is don't stay for too long. Max of 4 years but try to move on to a higher role sooner.

I stayed in a tech support role for 8.5 years which was a massive mistake. Possibly 5 lost career years there. Which is an entire pay grade.

 

[dowie]

Possibly 5 lost career years there. Which is an entire pay grade.

don't worry about the past, you can always jump ship a bit sooner in the next couple of roles if you want to boost your pay in the short term

incidentally I've never worked anywhere with pay grades (aside from a short stint in a temp role with the NHS one summer many years ago) - perhaps going contracting for a bit and then jumping back into whatever filed you work in could let you skip a grade or two? (since employers tend to place a lot of emphasis on what you currently earn when recruiting you)

 

[Palladium]

I tried learning A+ but it seems really archaic and fussy in places. It forces you to know ancient stuff like IDE drives and floppies etc, stuff that nobody uses anymore. Plus it's a bit of a rip-off that the cert only lasts 3 years now.

 

[dowie]

Plus it's a bit of a rip-off that the cert only lasts 3 years now.

Does that matter much though? I mean surely after 3 years you'd have some relevant experience and other certificates. You can still state you passed the cert in 20XX. It isn't like IT careers are regulated and you need to keep that certificate in date else you can't work.

 

[Mp4]

Thank you all,

I've always been interested in hardware (back in the day of DOS) when owning an Amstrad 286 as a kid and also playing games, doom, quake. And then going through college again learning more about hardware and building my own pc, learning some networking with win95/98 and then studied for A+ at the time in 2005 but didn't pass the exam and never pursued I.T. and fell into retail work.

 

[silvagti]

As someone who's worked in IT for around 15 years I also think the CompTIA courses look to be some of the best for someone starting out as they aren't vendor specific and cover quite a broad range of technologies and material. Right not I think the cloud, data centre, networking and cyber security paths are probably the ones I want to start moving towards.

As others have said the thing to bear in mind is that many of these certifications are time limited and expire after a couple of years. In fact across IT generally the technologies and platforms move so quickly that it can be difficult to keep your skills up to date.

That's actually one reason I'm starting to question whether there a future in the sector as I've been working in the same IT support job for the last 10 years. The problem I'm finding with IT support these days is that since departments are basically now free to adopt any device, technology or cloud platform for use in the company it's a virtually impossible task to keep on top of all the various technologies out there and it's leading to me feeling increasingly burnt out.

The limited shelf life of IT skills has become an issue as there's always been an element of being expected to "keep you skills up to date" but I'm feeling increasingly frustrated and resentful that my employer isn't willing to offer any guidance or support when it comes to training. There's just an expectation that because you work in IT you'll happily spend your own time and money training outside work on any technologies divisions within the company decide to buy in.

I think I'd like to move into a more specialised role in networking, security cloud platform management as trying to be a general jack of all trades IT support bod is looking like a career dead end!

I can't comment on Azure/AWS certs, but I hear a lot of things about them being "the future" and "best certs for earning in 2019". I take it with a pinch of salt. Personally, I think more traditional MCSAs would be a better path to tread first. I don't think anyone is going to hire someone with zero experience to sort their azure/aws out, regardless of certifications held.

That's a very good point as your hear about a lot of universities and students touting they're doing 'Cloud Computing' and 'ethical hacking' courses. Whilst cloud and hosted services like AWS/Azure are likely to be the future most jobs involving them will still be using those technologies alongside (or to migrate) existing Microsoft networks and servers so you'll probably be expected to have MS qualifications. Likewise a data/network security consultant would likely be expected to have several Cisco networking qualifications under their belt and years of experience.

So I'd be very wary of anyone who offers your a cloud computing (or data security) course you can do for a year or two which they claim will allow you to walk into a £50k+ job!

The IT sector more than ever now seems to be a case of you having to be willing to put in the hours and money training yourself. Even if you work as an employee within a company you still seem to be viewed largely as a contractor these days. Though I suppose that's the way work seems to be heading generally with zero hours contracts, flexible working hours and the "gig economy"! Another topic for another day though .......

 

[malachi]

As someone who's worked in IT for around 15 years I also think the CompTIA courses look to be some of the best for someone starting out as they aren't vendor specific and cover quite a broad range of technologies and material. Right not I think the cloud, data centre, networking and cyber security paths are probably the ones I want to start moving towards.

As others have said the thing to bear in mind is that many of these certifications are time limited and expire after a couple of years. In fact across IT generally the technologies and platforms move so quickly that it can be difficult to keep your skills up to date.

That's actually one reason I'm starting to question whether there a future in the sector as I've been working in the same IT support job for the last 10 years. The problem I'm finding with IT support these days is that since departments are basically now free to adopt any device, technology or cloud platform for use in the company it's a virtually impossible task to keep on top of all the various technologies out there and it's leading to me feeling increasingly burnt out.

The limited shelf life of IT skills has become an issue as there's always been an element of being expected to "keep you skills up to date" but I'm feeling increasingly frustrated and resentful that my employer isn't willing to offer any guidance or support when it comes to training. There's just an expectation that because you work in IT you'll happily spend your own time and money training outside work on any technologies divisions within the company decide to buy in.

I think I'd like to move into a more specialised role in networking, security cloud platform management as trying to be a general jack of all trades IT support bod is looking like a career dead end!

That is true, you can blame the early 2000's for that. All those ad's on TV "do you want to earn £XXXX a year? Then train in IT" Over saturated the IT market with people who came into IT because of the money making others who wanted to be in IT (such as myself back then) more difficult even for the basic IT roles. So trying to be jack of all trades in IT becomes more and more pointless.

As for certs, it depends who you go with. Microsoft certs now last as long on the software is supported which can be upto 10 years. I passed my MCSA in Windows 10 last year, MS said Windows 10 is their last desktop OS so you could say my cert will never expire.

Cant say the same about Server 2016 unfortunately, started last year, I have one more exam to go before I become MCSA in Sever 2016. In March MS said they are releasing Sever 2019 in October. This puts Sever 2016 in the history of shortest numbered releases as there wont be an Server 2016 R2 so its abit of a kick in the face for me. But my cert wont expire till 2027 so everyone including myself would have moved onto the next Server/Cloud technology by then.

 

[LizardKing]

Automation, security, x as a service/ x as code. are all hot topics at the moment as is blockchain albeit more niche but I can see that hitting the dot com bubble wages for people with any sort of experience understanding of it.

If I was starting out i'd look more towards cloud security/architect. support/infrastructure may do ok for the next few years but the writing is on the wall as MS and other shops move closer to everything being "as a service" everyday. Networking may hold out a bit longer but that's slowly becoming less relevant each day.

You really need to be adaptable in IT these days, its becoming a full time job just keeping up with all the new stuff MS is throwing out let alone any one else!

One thing for sure though is get to grips with powershell sooner rather than later, anything MS throws out is PS first, gui is a second though if they bother at all!

 

[silvagti]

You really need to be adaptable in IT these days, its becoming a full time job just keeping up with all the new stuff MS is throwing out let alone any one else!

That's what I'm finding so challenging these days as the sheer breadth of of knowledge your expected to have as an "IT Worker" is staggering these days. I'm actually no longer convinced there's a future in general IT support as it's proving to be an impossible task trying to keep my knowledge up to date in every area.

 

[Mp4]

Well, I've looked at A+ as some have mentioned having to keep doing it every 3 years and not worth it etc. So decided to look at networks and cybersecurity

 

[dowie]

Well, I've looked at A+ as some have mentioned having to keep doing it every 3 years and not worth it etc.

I suspect that is flawed - would you not plan to have undertaken some other courses in 3 years time and perhaps progressed past the roles that you'd use the A+ to get - if so why would you want or need to retake it? You still passed it, you can still put it on your CV as having passed it in 20XX and if you've then got some CISCO or MS or whatever certificates since then then I doubt anyone would care that you've not updated it as it would surely become pretty irrelevant at that point.

 

[Mp4]

I suspect that is flawed - would you not plan to have undertaken some other courses in 3 years time and perhaps progressed past the roles that you'd use the A+ to get - if so why would you want or need to retake it? You still passed it, you can still put it on your CV as having passed it in 20XX and if you've then got some CISCO or MS or whatever certificates since then I doubt anyone would care that you've not updated it as it would surely become pretty irrelevant at that point.

Very true trying to find some courses at my local college but naff all for adult learning

Purchased
CompTIA Network+ Cert. (N10-006): The Total Course. on Udemy as a starting point and anyone have advice on where to start for CCNA? Their are courses again on Udemy too.

 

[PiKe]

I have a C&G Advanced Diploma in IT, I don't feel like its worth the paper its written on, our class basically got a default pass because we hardly had any structure for the last year with tutor absence and a lack of anyone who really understood what they were teaching. We went to our local rag, and the colleges response was that we will pass no matter what.

I just work in a small local IT shop and I've learnt far more there than any course, but ultimately, I'm stuck on a relatively small wage for the industry with no prospects to progress.