General Discussion

[PandaDeer]

Any tech heads out there that can recommend IT qualifications, i'm thinking of getting into the IT industry and would need to start at the basics really so a maintenence, repair, rebuild course is what I'd be looking at.  But there's a lot of information out there so any suggestions from people who have qualifications in this area would be great.

Cheers

[ProjectVRD]

Whatever replaced the GNVQ Advanced in college level is all you need for that stuff. The whole thing about going to university because you will earn more is rubbish, and I can atest that with experience.

I am earning far more than those on my team who went to University simply because I am a better worker. Not mention I was already earning money when they were racking up debt. There are other friends of mine who are in other industries where University did nothing for them as an advantage. Modern Apprenticeship is what you want and for that an indepth college course will put you in good standing. You will prove your worth to the companies from that MA they take up on. Having a Degree doesn't count for much at all in the eyes of an employer once you are already in.

[dannyjt]

If you desperately want to go to college, then go for a BTEC national.

Whatever you do, do not go to a place which "Specializes" in IT training. Most of these places treat you like you know absolutely nothing about computers and you will spend the first couple of months learning how to do basic things and when I say basic, I mean stuff you teach your grandma. The jobs they "guarantee you" are jobs in a call center, reading out of a text book explaining how to fix something.

Qualifications in IT aren't really necessary, but I'd recommended you go to college and take BTEC national or whatever your local college's offer, as the current job conditions depending where you live is quite bad at the moment and having a decent qualification on your CV can help you stand out.

This may seem pretty obvious, but the best thing you can do is just learn. Get text books from your local library, research things on the internet (Be careful with this as you don't want to read something inaccurate or something too technical that it confuses you), mess around with your computers settings and files so you learn what everyhting does and also open it up, take it apart, study it's insides, learn how it all works, then put it back together again.

Your next step would be getting an apprenticeship or find a company which won't mind training you up, unless of course, you feel you don't need any further training, but a bit like driving, you never stop learning with computers.

[Elite-Hawk]

If you want an overkill, a BSc Computer Science degree would come in handy

[PIatformer]

I have accepted into College on an IT Level 2 course.

[ratchetnclank]

I work in IT as a Systems Support Technician and don't have any qualifications except a Computing A level.

Grades aren't too important if you can get over that you know your stuff in a interview.

[KillerBread]

I might want to do software engineering at my local uni in a year and a bit, I would rather do computer science but the uni doesn't do it >.> but im to lazy to travel somewhere else. Has any one done a software engineering course here?

[Elite-Hawk]

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ratchetnclank wrote:
Grades aren't too important if you can get over that you know your stuff in a interview.

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Very true, in I.T. experience is very important when applying for a job.

[PandaDeer]

Thanks for all your responses.

I'm 26 with no IT working experience.  Been working in shippign since I left college 8 years ago and just feel like getting a proper career, and Ive always wanted to be able to take computers apart, add stuff to them all that jazz. 

I've emailed quite a few people, BTEC, recruitment agencies, but the trouble is BTEC can't give career advice so asking them what their qualifications qualify you for was met with "sorry, can't tell you that" and getting a recruitment company to reply to you when you aren't sending a cv over to be sent out is damn near impossible.

[PatC_PSN]

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PandaDeer wrote:

I'm 26 with no IT working experience.  Been working in shippign since I left college 8 years ago and just feel like getting a proper career, and Ive always wanted to be able to take computers apart, add stuff to them all that jazz. 

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By all means give it your best shot, but be aware that you'll have a real challenge getting around the lack of professional experience in a job market that must be way over-supplied (with experienced people) at present.

I'd suggest perhaps trying to find niche IT areas/applications where demand exceeds the skilled supply. If there is such a thing then advertised hourly rates may be a good indicator.