nix_pug

Seems to be quite a few people in IT on here so im after a bit of IT advice?

I graduated last year with a 2:1 in computer science, problem is everyone in Edinburgh is after people with experience of which i have none.

I found a place, ITFO - Home that is offering to sponsor the right kind of people through the training. They pay 1.5k an i pay 2k +vat.

6months training + 12 week experience either 10am-1pm or 6pm-9pm daily

The training includes a MCSA 2003, MCDBA plus placement

starting sal after training 26k, second year 35k, 3rd year hopefull big bucks.

anyone done one or heard anything about it?

cheers

Nick

SJ_Skyline

No offence mate, but The figures really don't add up.

My advice is to get your CV out to as many companies as you can think of. Once you're in the door you will find it easier to move sideways and get the training you want/need.

I think you may have missed the boat though - why didn't you hit all the companies when you were in your final year? They were doing the milk round and you had your university's career centre at your disposal to help put you in touch.

KiwiGTI

Just approach some of the big solution providers :

Fujitsu
IBM
LogicaCMG
Capita
etc

They are always recruiting.

Infractfree

I didn't realise people even bothered with MS certifications any more. The days of earning decent money with paper IT qualifications are long gone.

nix_pug

I took the lazy route when i finished uni and did some construction work, got 17k in 6months plus quite a few k in stripping out old copper cables . I have 75% of racing mini built, a nice an shiney audi S3 and 5months without setting an alarm clock and now money is starting to run out

Obviously the place is going to feed me the better salary grades but they dont look far off when searching for .net posts on the jobsites.

monkeysan

simple advice from me - DONT WORK FOR BT!


i was sent on Microskum cert training last year, still waiting for exams.................

ChrisB

nix_pug

No offence taken, i just thought id post the question and see what kind of response it gets from people in the know. The last thing id want was for people to say go for it and it turns out to be a con/***** up!!

nix_pug

lol

yeah that does seem like a bit of a bodge

BlkKnight

My only bit of advise for an IT starter is:

Whatever you learn in Windows - force your self to learn the same in *nix

This will make you much more knowledgeable & will give you a better understanding of "how stuff works" (rather than tick the buttons & hope).

Ultimately will make you more employable.

Nash_Impreza

Forget the training mate - get your foot in the door.

I'm in IT Myself and i have been for just over 4 years now.

i started on 10K PY which then moved to 15.5K after 3 years.....then i moved to my current company ComputaCenter and i'm on just over 20K PY...

.....and i have no IT Qualifications

To the fella that said dont work for BT LOL I'm on the BT Contract at the moment LOL what Dept do you work in?

SJ_Skyline

Nick - YHPM

jonc

Like Nash says, forget the training, don't fall for the sales pitch. Its highly unlikely you would get 26k for your first job in IT with or without the training. As you already know, employers look more for experience than qualifications. MCP/MCSE etc are a victim of its own success, every tom, dick and 'arry has one and just because you have that qualification, doesn't mean you can do the job and employers know this. We had contractor who join us and was supposedly MCSE qualified and yet on his first day, he didn't even know how to setup his own PC! He was out by the afternoon! Some have advised to avoid BT and there are others like the BBC who also have a bad reputation. However, I wouldn't discount them since they are always employing and although pay may be low, you can't be too fussy and will allow you to build up your experience and give you just enough to have a foot in the door for a career in IT.

One thing I would say, is that the IT career isn't what it used to be where employers will take in and train people up and money is no more than what other industries offer. You are expected to hit the ground running. Its no longer easy money since there are lot of available candidates, and employers expect you to work your **** off if you want good pay.

Avi

The only reason i do them is because work send me on them and i get a week of work.. usually early finishes as well

I wouldn;t even bother if i had to fund them myself. Unless you are doing a specialist job.. ie certified in Exchange for an exchange administrator.

When we interview.. it;s all about experience in the industry. I started at the bottom literally putting PC's on desks for 10k a year. After 6 Years i'm on reasonable money now.. I work in the NHS though so i'm never going to earn the big bucks

Wind back 6 Years and i would probably have taken a different career path!

Andy Tang

iTrader: (3)

There is no way I would offer £26k to someone with an MCSE and no IT work experience.

AllenJ

I'm currently interviewing for a middle-weight .NET developer, and it's sad to say half of the CVs that come through are rubbish, the ones that looks ok cannot defend their so called experience or IT certification.

My advice is to learn on the job and get the certification to back up the technical skills, unfortunately must people get the certification without any technical knowledge.

Training schools will teach you how to program 'Hello World' which is of no use to any employer.

Good luck.

Monkeybone

Those salaries do look a little optimistic.

Not saying they aren't attainable, grads for accenture etc start on that and more, but this isn't a "grad" position as such.

I'd be very wary, especially as you have to sink in a lot of your own cash.

We've got a trainee/development analyst programmer role at my place going at the moment and that starting is 18,500 to 21 something depending on experiance. This will rise over time but *only* by about 1-2k a year, and even then when you hit a certain pay level it starts to get to progress to the next. But then that is down here at the ends of the earth.

KiwiGTI

If you know your stuff the money is prety much limitless, can't believe some of the salaries being mentioned on here, they are pretty much unsurvivable and if that was all I could get in the IT industry I'd be doing a much more exciting job.

BTW, the NHS are one of the biggest payers, as are many government IT contracts.

As has been mentioned there are a lot of useless people around IT, many cowboys, liars, blaggers etc. If you can prove you are serious and keen about learning then once you get a foot in the door you can really shine if youjust work a bit harder than everyone else.

stevem2k

You don't need any more managers anyway Andy