Should i do a CCNA and/or MCSE?

[snow patrol]

i'm 24 at the moment and in something of a dead end job. I don't have any a-levels due to dropping out (won't go into that now) but i'm a smart guy and have 9 gcses. Any way, i'm looking at doing a course or degree with a view to getting into a worthwhile career.

I have quite a bit of background in computers, obviously, although no extensive knowledge of networks outside of the odd bit of home networking.

So if i were to take the time and money to do the above courses, would it be a worthwhile investment? Or does every tom dick and harry have one these days? Do you think i'd be able to get a job somewhere on the strength of those certs, even without any proper experience? (i've worked as a chef, managed a resturant and done a few months 2nd line support for an internet company).

I don't mind starting on rubbish money (i'm in london though), but i really want to 'make a start' with something and look to the future.

Many thanks.

 

[mark_t50]

If your interested in a career in IT it can't hurt to do one or both of these. The only problem at the minute is that it is difficult to walk straight into a high paid position.

Where I work they tend to start people of working on a helpdesk and then recruit for more specialised positions from the pool of helpdesk staff. If they have an urgent need for highly skilled staff at short notice they get in contractors.

Whilst the qualifications can help I know that when I interviewed people for a position within my team I was more interested in experience than qualifications. The main reason is that some of the contract staff we have hired, and who were allegedly MCSE qualified, have been terrible. For that reason I tend to go for people with experience over qualifications.

With regards to the qualifications themselves I have personally found that there is no need to pay a lot of money and do prolonged training for an MCSE qualification. If you have the aptitude and resource it can honestly be done by just buying some books and having a few PC's with VMware on for training at home. I did my MCSE exams every 2 weeks and just by studying at home. Of course some people prefer a proper course which I understand.