Is this even worth my time?

[Michael]

I left high school with pathetic GCSE's; Nobody but myself to blame, I preferred to skive off at home instead of going in half the time, and i can count how many homework assignments i actually completed on one hand.

Anyway, as a result of such I had insufficient qualifications to get on to a course even remotely interesting at college, so am currently doing "GNVQ Foundation ICT"... which translates as "Training for office monkeys".

Before I can start on anything even remotely decent I will have to spend a year completing the foundation, and then do the whole thing again but at intermediate level. I think then, and only then, can I move onto a course which holds any bearing to the career path i would like to take. These are listed here: http://interact.blackpool.ac.uk/Computing/index.htm

Working my way to the course(s) I would like to take isn't the issue, it's just the face that I actually am beginning to hate the course I am doing, and the prospect of sitting around for an extra two years (Which could be a fair amount of money if I had a job) on a course teachig me things i taught myself when I was nine is putting me off. I can already strip/build/fix/network a computer, i can code HTML, Javascript, and PHP, I can work with MySQL databases and I damn well know how to operate MS Office

I don't have a real reason for posting this, just want to see what other peoples opinions are, what they would do, etc. If they would give me the chance i would prove my worth and show them my skills, but from their point of view I have to waste these two years on this worthless course.

[Theo]

I've been in a similar situation to you - I failed 6th form college, i.e. came away with an E grade in Performing Arts and nothing else. I'm now in my second year, doing a degree in Multimedia and Website development.

Have a good think about what would work best for you. A REAL good think. Are you mature enough to attend 6th form college/extended schooling/etc? Do you even want to do this course? Would you get anything from it other than a qualification?

Or... Would you gain more by going out into the big wide world, working for the man, developing yourself as a person, finding yourself thirsting for something BETTER?

From how I read your post, you really would benefit from working for a couple of years before going onto further education.

To gain entry to the course I'm on, (At Bolton Institute ), I had to successfully complete a 4 month "balancing course" which was basically a bit of GCSE Maths, IT, and Problem Solving. The way the Institute sees it is - if you can pass that, you can pass a degree/HND, and I'd agree with that.

There are people on my course ranging between 18 and 60 years old. Some of them are RIGHT THICKIES, but they do well because they're prepared to put the work in. I do well because I'm far more mature than I was 4 years ago, and I do the work because I want to succeed, rather than I have to. Although... this 2500 word essay I have to do on Sense and Perception is a right bugger!

Blah blah blah. Hope that helps. Have a talk to a careers advisor as soon as you can - Connexions will help you. Don't let them dictate to you what you want to do, though... they'll do their best to slam you with a Modern Apprenticeship as quick as you can say Testicular Mingitus. (Nothing wrong with a Modern apprenticeship, btw!).

[Michael]

Thanks for your reply Theo, re-reading my post I realized I hadn't portrayed the fact I am actually currently on the foundation course well enough. I have been on it since September and it's quite depressing really. I will ask if there is a careers advisor at the college, or head off to Connexions and talk with them about it. Ideally i'd like to be earning some money, but don't particularly fancy getting a toss job stacking shelves or serving burgers.

I'm prepared to sit out the course and get the foundation qualification, it ends in July after all, but I don't really want to spend another year doing it all again jsut to pass intermediate. If the chance came up i'd take a job with a web-design firm or something and drop college all together, but thats unlikely.

What are the chances they would bend the rules if I showed them what I am capable of?

[Theo]

Best thing that you can probably do is build yourself a couple of portfolios - a paper portfolio and a web portfolio. Seeing as you don't have qualifications, nor working experience, you'll need a hard copy of everything you can do in order to show companies how skilled you are.

Your paper portfolio should include drawings of interfaces, graphic and web design ideas, site maps, written essays on interfaces, user requirements - anything you can think of that might (and might not) appeal to an employer. Keep everything organised, well presented and professional.

Your online portfolio should be similar - but should mainly showcase your skills as a web designer. There are plenty of great examples on the net. A decent example would be www.blacksails.co.uk - owned by a friend of mine. They're doing pretty well, and Al is only about 20 years old, if I remember correctly.

Most companies will say either "Come back when you've got the qualifications and we'll talk" or "Come back when you've got some experience and we'll talk", but there really are some sympathetic companies that will give you at least an interview/advice/or perhaps some work experience.

The Tickle Group are a cracking little Bury-based web design company that I thoroughly recommend you getting in touch with - even for just a chat. Mr Tickle (that's his name!) took time out of his working day just to have a meeting with me. So seeing as you're only about an hour or two on a train away, I'd say go for it.

Hope that helps a little more.

-edit

forgot...

www.tickle.co.uk

[Theo]

BTW, you're up awfully late on a school day

[Proplus]

I'm afraid, speaking from an employer's point of view, not many will be willing to take you on for a job. You could be totally proficient in your IT skills, but your lack of education screams lack of discipline.

I meet many people from many trades in my line of work, and I remember once I met 2 men who at the time was working for IBM, I asked them what qualifications they had to get into such a big IT company......one said he had a degree in geography whilst the other had a degree in English. So you see, the 80% of the time, the actual stuff you learnt whilst in education doesn't really matter as its never perfectly what is required in a job. The job will normally train you anyway. Employers are looking to see if you had the discipline of going through further education, not so knowledge itself, but with further education you learn the process of research, team work, meeting deadlines, self-discipline, etc. which a lot of graduates don't realise at first.

Put it bluntly, whats the point in employing a 'wonder' in the trade when after a few weeks/months he's going to turn up late for work, take days off, doesn't meet deadlines and/or loses interest easily. You might not be like that, but your track record on your CV will scream you are.

As for web-design companies, there's so many people out there now that has the skills to do it. With so many choices, employers can pick from the best there is to offer. A person with no educational background but skilled might get in, but chances are you'll be put on a 6 months 'trial' contract and on minimum pay.

A good friend of mine who didn't even get to college was excellent at web programming, he got his break via a company who was owned by his father's friend. They gave him a job and his pay was only dependant on his work, no base pay at all. After 4 months of no pay (they're not going to give you an assignment to do with his lack of experience), he got fed up and left......the company's called UK Online.

Hate to put it bluntly to you, but its a dog eat dog world out there. Finding these 'kind' employers is like winning the lottery now. With the IT industry boom past and the state of the economy, employers are going to look after their business/money closely. You might hear about fortunate stories of people being picked up out the blue and doing well for themselves, but that was in the boom when there was a big demand for IT skilled workers, times are different now.

[Michael]

I understand this completely Proplus, which is why i started this thread in the first place, to see what would benefit me in the long run; Completing 3/4 more years in education, or taking my chances and jumping in at the deep end.

The problem i hear of so much nowerdays is people getting all these qualifications, finishing university, and then being refused jobs all over the place simply due to lack of first hand experience. I've seen it on a few occasions right here on these forums infact.
Whatever is said here i'm not suddenly going to change my lifestyle over night, i plan to sit out my current course, and then make the decision; Possibly apply for a few jobs and enroll for a further course incase i can't land a decent position somewhere.

Moving back to Theo's advice, i realize that i do not actually have much to show for my previous work, and a paper portfolio may indeed benefit me a great deal, so at some point in the not-so-distant future i may start backtracking on my previous works and begin a portfolio.

Thanks for the advice both of you, and i'm open to more

[Theo]

Thanks for the advice both of you, and i'm open to more

Never mix cherryade and appleade

[yamangman]

If you complete the first year of this foundation GNVQ, you should easily be able to talk your way onto a National Diploma IT course at some institution in the country. Just show them the things you are capapble of involving computers. You wil have to retake Maths and English GCSE during the first year of the course if you choose to do such a thing, but that shouldnt be a problem because you have learned the error of your ways now right?

On the subject of 'bunking' off school, my attendence record for my final two years was 52%, and I still completed 10 GCSE's 5 of them being grade A

[Clstrphbc_donut]

Micheal, Blackpool & The Fylde College wont bend the rules.

I was a grade short of what i needed to take higher ICT, and they wouldnt let me.

Instead, i was going to be asked what a sound card does....what does "CPU" stand for, and how to work Office...

[Proplus]

Tell you what, rather than just some sectors in the IT industry like web design, branch our and improve you computer graphic design skills, people with these skills are well sort after in many industry sectors.