IT Course

bignose3838

Can anyone tell me which courses I should take to get a career in IT?

kippy

What field of IT?
Programming/Support/Project management. Have you any idea what you want to do at all?

bignose3838

Not sure what field I've been using PC's since I was a kid and always wanted to work in this area, any recomendations?

Zeouterlimits

Well can you pick out any aspects that appeal to you?
Have you done any programming? (if not, do you like Maths?)
Are you interested in hardware (a la PCBs, processors etc}?
Or in networks and how they work?

Pick something and look into it, try and find out more about the different aspects.

bignose3838

Yeah I've built my own PC before and often fix problems with friends laptops and PC's. Is it a good career do you think?

kippy

There are a good few very different areas you could get into.
You might want to start here:
http://www.careerdirections.ie/

If you want to get into the support/networks side of things I couldnt recommend highly enough the accelerated technician course in GMIT castlebar.
http://www.gmit.ie/castlebar/cert-it-support.html
I think it is offered in other IT's as well.

Kippy

calex71

you could go the whloe A+ and N+ cert route, and even do a college course to be honest all you'll have after those is a piece of paper and feck all else. employers want experience right now or better certifications, such as MS and cisco etc, the mcse / mcp / .... are far more practical than anything i did at college yet employers like to see you went to college so go figure

any way give the chance at rolling back the clock 10 years i would have been in the situation you were , ie have a a good unterstanding of pc's @ 18 /19 years old , i would have done the MS certs instead of college had they been free!!!! xp is a good one to start on, as its a very good intro to server 2003 and AD without being too technical,and really good if you work through the practical stuff and build server etc yourself, ( remembers wondering why dhcp didnt work only to realise 2 hours later i didnt add a scope )

if could start i over i would have skipped college / 3rd level but thats only because i can look back at it now and say well i really didnt need to sit in x amount of lectures and not need to know x y and z it did give me a good platform to build on and employers do look for 3rd level qualification. College did actually help me work out what i wanted to do.


Edit: OP i've worked with people in the past on helpdesks who were only hired because of the fact they could speak french etc and barely know how to switch on a pc!!!!! as im sure have many others here, its worth pointing out that many of these places will pay/sub for you to sit exams for MS certs etc ;-) no harm in applying for a 1st level helpdesk job to be honest and learn by doing

Col_Loki

you could go the whloe A+ and N+ cert route

no harm in applying for a 1st level helpdesk job to be honest and learn by doing

+1 . Thats some good advise.

I would say try to do a bit of study and get the A+. It will give you a broad understanding of what you are getting into and will help to get you a starting job in it.
A few options to do this.
1) Do a training Course - Expensive
2) Online/CD Lectures like CBT Nuggets - www.cbtnuggets.com
3) Book learning
4) FAS Course (Available online OR Lectures AFAIK). http://www.ecollege.ie/site/html/courses.htm

I personally like the Online/CD Lectures as you work at your own pace, its a cheaper option and i find it much easier than reading through a boring book.

Starting with A+ / Network+ and then maybe doing some Microsoft Exams when you are working with the products (supporting XP/Vista/Server2003). I think it would give you a broader picture of what you are getting into and let you find what area you like/are good at.

boseytal

I'm currently doing the A+ (601 & 602) and Network+ thru FAS. Back in January, I turned 21 and wanted to get into the whole 'career' buzz. I've known my way around a PC for quite a while, and had a strong interest in it. And i have to say I'm loving it. Finding some of the networking kinda tricky, but it's all about the practical work if you ask me.


The FAS route appealed to me the most - its a 52 week course, comprising of 16 weeks on-the-job and the rest in a FAS Training Centre. Before starting, I wrote to a local IT Repair and Networl Maintenance company, and they let me do my work exp with them. I also get some part time paid work from them now.

FAS pay a supplement of 200 quid a week, wiht another 60 for accomodation, so my advice is, if you can live on that, give it a shot.

Also, I'm currently studying my Server 2003 MCP through the FAS eCollege. It's free to do one course along with your main certification. Another advantage!

Col_Loki

Also A+ and Network+ Can count towards your MCSA (Microsoft Certified Systems Admin). If you have the two it counts as the elective exam....so you only have to get 3 MCP's and not 4.

kippy

The vendor certs are nice however I would highly recommend doing an 18 month accelerated cert first (6 months of this is work experience, which is along a great benefit of doing this +only 12 months college)
After you get your college cert you can get the company you work for to in general pay for you to get your vendor certs while at the same time gaining experience.
Kippy