Uni Advice (Work based Learning)

willthepirate · 17 Jul 2009 at 21:11

Currently on my way into year 2 of my computer science degree and doing cisco on the side (ccna) which i am half way through and aim to be doing the ccna certification exam next summer.

Next year part of the course is work based learning and im after some advice as id quite like to get into the networking/IT field, and going along with the uni organising it and/or getting something general will probably land me a month or so of farting around with a spreadsheet and going to the post office a few times a day which would be a total waste of time.

Students are allowed to apply directly if they choose, my problem is I dont know anything much about the field, how it would work and weather cisco is a good thing to be doing and aiming for???

garyh · 18 Jul 2009 at 10:37

A career as a network engineer really depends on how much you put into your learning, the degree will teach you the basics but vendor certfications become much more useful in this field (with of course, the relevant experience).

I'd definately suggest pursuing your CCNA (and subsequently at least CCNP if you want to be of any real benefit to a company)

As for advise on work based learning, I guess just look for few companies in the local area, with particular interest in ISP / data centres and send them off a quick letter, stating your intentions? I'm pretty sure a few of them would love to grab some free labour if you can prove you're up to scratch?

SMN · 18 Jul 2009 at 10:48

Is it an industrial placement year type scheme? I did a BSc (Hons) Computer Networks w/ Industrial experience which was a placement year at a FTSE100 company as a Network Engineer and it was the best thing i ever did.

I would definitely apply directly to the companies, as they all have "Intern/Undergraduate" roles on their websites. My university were sending us vacancies for small, local firms in Manchester which wont teach you an awful lot - so i applied directly to the likes of Microsoft, Intel, Sun etc and got myself a gig at Intel for a year which taught me more than university ever could.

willthepirate · 18 Jul 2009 at 12:47

thanks for the feedback, its a 6 week thing late next spring. Should I start thinking about writing sooner rather than later?