Getting IT Qualifications

[Hitman]

Im finding it hard to get an IT based job. The only IT qualifications I have are an A level.

So Im thinking about getting some books so I can study to get some more IT qualifications, like A+.

Im not sure how you go about it though. Im guessing you can just get books on it from somewhere like Amazon, read and learn them, book an exam through somewhere like Prometric, and then if you pass get a certificate or whatever to say you've got the qualification?

Can you do this though?

I thought that Id need to do it more 'officialy', like through a company, college, etc.

[Kezzer]

A+ is something they teach old people at our college. They even started to do it with us but they couldn't be bothered in the end. It doesn't seem like a big thing ot me. Currently i'm doing an AVCE in ICT which is 2 A levels but what employers mainly look for is degrees, MCSE's etc.

[Hitman]

Yeah, I have read that its really easy to do. But Ive seen it listed as a required qualification in job adverts a number of times.

At the moment any IT based job would be better than what I do now.

[Theo]

Have you thought about a part-time HND of some sort? That would give you the opportunity to develop your skills in certain area (if you might wish to do so), develop a portfolio of work, and if you can find somewhere - you could do some decent work experience time with a company (All whilst you work near-normal hours, in order to support yourself and fund your education).

May not be for you, though.

[XTR]

I've came to the conclusion that degree's, HND's, GNVQ's, GCSE's are all bloody useless!!!


I've got 11 A-C GCSE's, a GNVQ in Advanced IT, a HND in Computer and a BA Computer Studies degree and i'm unemployed. WHY?

No-one wants to employ someone without experience!!!!!!! So how do I gain experience if no-one will give me a chance? The job centre are a waste of time, the local papers rarely publish decent IT jobs, the websites are full of crap and SOME agencies seem a waste of time!

[Ice Kay]

A+, N+, Linux+, MCSE, MCSD, MCSA, MCP etc etc

[gss03]

I've came to the conclusion that degree's, HND's, GNVQ's, GCSE's are all bloody useless!!!


I've got 11 A-C GCSE's, a GNVQ in Advanced IT, a HND in Computer and a BA Computer Studies degree and i'm unemployed. WHY?

No-one wants to employ someone without experience!!!!!!! So how do I gain experience if no-one will give me a chance? The job centre are a waste of time, the local papers rarely publish decent IT jobs, the websites are full of crap and SOME agencies seem a waste of time!

I couldn't agree with you more. I Graduated a year ago from a Computer Sci degree last year..and from all the applications i've made very few have actually gotten me to an interview.
Experience is the key. Qualifications I've found don't help you unless you have the experience to back ut up.

[DaBeeeenster]

Qualifications are not useless, but if the job market is totally hammered, they will not help if you have no experience.

My company is looking to maybe hire someone sometime this year, and I would probably bin CV's that do not have a degree (unless they were very "special" with regards to previous experience). Simple as that really.

[Kezzer]

Well i'm doing an OU (Open University) Course as well as my AVCE and i'm going to uni in september hopefully. I've only just got my head into the OU and it's pretty good so far, i've only been given the information needed just not the tasks. I also got the chance to do an ECDL last year and damn are those funny. You could literally train a monkey to do that course it's that easy

[Paul Adams]

"..BA Computer Studies..." - I hope that's a BSc, XTR

My story...
I graduated from a Computer Science & Cybernetics degree in 1996 and I had gone through the process of applying to any computer-related firm around the Reading area (where I went to uni) - the interviews were an absolute joke, they expected a graduate to have years of experience of network administration, software development and project management somehow!

I applied "on spec" then to every company near my home town from the phone book to ask if they had any suitable position - I was lucky enough to time it such that a small firm which supplied tills and back office equipment to retailers happened to be looking for a support peon, got an interview (followed by another), then offered the job on the premise that I got at least a "pass" in my degree.

What did this employer find the most enticing thing about me?
Customer service experience from working part-time at a supermarket, then secondly my knowledge of DOS from playing with PCs at home for years. Degree shmegree.

(In total I wrote to 22 companies this way and received replies from only 6 - the other 5 were "thanks for your interest but we're not looking right now". So if you're going to try the on spec method, don't expect a huge number of responses, let alone invitations to interviews.)

I worked at that firm for just over 3 years, progressing through the ranks to become the supervisor of a small support team, then I used that experience to get my current position as an IT Security Analyst for a financial company - by an application in response to an advert I saw in the local paper.


The upshot of all this?
My degree, although giving me a fun 3 years in Reading, has given me a bit of social experience, plus it honed a few methods for working with computer systems - don't expect any such course to give you "current day" kind of training, or for you to be using cutting-edge technology.

We used a lot of old programming languages (newest at the time being C++), and even some mathematical "functional programming" ones to help you get your head round things like recursive programming an so on.

But if you don't have the motivation and personal interest in the topic, a lot of that won't help a great deal.

Personally, I'd never employ someone based solely on their IT qualifications - they only mean that person can absorb information and regurgitate it, nothing else.
My boss at the retail system firm I worked for held a few interviews in my time there and I sat in on them and threw a few real-life (IT) problem questions at them to see how they coped - that really highlights those people that know their stuff and can apply it.

Later I developed a 20-question "pop quiz" which we gave 15 minutes for the candidates to complete before we started the interviews, some of the incredibly poor performances there made me cringe during the interviews themselves.


So there's a little bit of input from someone who's been there, and my insights from a practical point of view, hope it helps a little.
Noone will trust their "crown jewel" systems to someone with no track record, it needs to be built up, and you need to start at the bottom and work your way up.

Best of luck!

[Moby-Dick]

my only IT qualification is an MCP

my Degree is in Enigneering, not IT ( which I've been working in for 4 years now )

Dont expect to start your career as a sysadmin - I worked my way up from a lowly helpdesk monkey.

[Russ]

i dont have any IT qualification apart from my GCSE, but its who you know not what you know. my advice.. get a job in ur local hospital, even if it aint in IT, do all there training courses and get to know the trainers. then when a job appears in it, you can say, "yeah i did that and that and that" and they think "ooh yeah u did, cos i trained you". think about it

[malfunction]

XTR - if you haven't done so already have you thought about extending you search to nationwide? A lot of the bigger employers are still doing graduate schemes and most will have some kind of arrangement for relocation (though if you don't own your own home that will only usually extend to a couple of weeks in a B&B). I started out at Norwich Union (well it was CGU back then) and even though it was old technology (IBM mainframe, COBOL programming) it gave me a lot of good experience (enterprise systems and database development, proper structured development environments, some mentoring and team leading).

It's not all been plain sailing since then - the job market is bloody awful at the moment - but I've been 'lucky' enough to move over to more modern technology since (Java based development) but unlucky in that the consultancy firm I joined went down the pan and now I'm stuck in London in a pretty dead end job - from which I'm finding it very hard to move on. Most of the job requirements these days are over the top or just far too specific (I've even seen a couple of ads for Java developers wanting 7 years experience (in Java) - which is a pretty tall order) and even for experienced positions they sometimes say (IMHO) stupid things like "must have 1st from a good University"

Hitman - from my (limited) knowledge desktop / network support can be easier (but not easy) to get into without having the qualifications / experience (esp. desktop support - where they may be more interested in your knowledge of PCs, Windows, etc and may give you a chance to prove your knowledge instead of insisting on qualifications)

[Comic Guy]

my only IT qualification is an MCP


Dont expect to start your career as a sysadmin - I worked my way up from a lowly helpdesk monkey.

How true this is. Not the monkey part!
You need to know what part of IT you like or think you like.
Good start is a+ and n+ but MCP's are good or if you know stuff try ccna.

[Kezzer]

"..BA Computer Studies..."
We used a lot of old programming languages (newest at the time being C++), and even some mathematical "functional programming" ones to help you get your head round things like recursive programming an so on.

I thought C++ was the oldest programming language around?

Well anyway, currently i'm at the very bottom working my way up. As i've gone through education i've found that everything i previously have done (GCSE's and any extra qualifications) have been completely pointless but have only aided me to get into further studies. Luckily for me i fluked my GCSE's and somehow got myself into college realising that i could easily do this work if i really worked at it. I then only truly decided to go to uni a few weeks back because i realised i could do it. The OU i am studying is purely so i can get a degree in something seperate without having to study it at uni which means i can get two degrees at the same time.

From here it all depends on what the uni think of me. Apparently us fellow rock dwellers get into uni easier because we pay more. *shrugs*

It takes years of qualifications and experience to get a decent job in IT nowadays, i've just found that every corner i turn i find myself at the bottom of the chain again...

Can't complain, i'm havin' fun whilst doing it

[PriestJPN]

On the face of it looks as if I'll have to go for an MCSE or something similar as right now my IT degree isn't doing much for me.

And I've been applying for about 5 jobs each day....

I guess that the best thing a lot of you can do is do volunteer IT work if you have the time; it won't really help you much with 'real' IT experience, but you'll get a reference or two for the CV to prove you are competent.