dillon

Hi,

I know there are a fair few people on these boards who are in the IT industry so thought you might give me some advice.
Have found a company that is offering IT courses with a job guaranteed at the end of it. Now I know that anything that sounds too good to be true usually is, so am very sceptical. However, if the Certificates are recognised then I figure it might be worth a shot.
They offer:
A+
MCP (Microsoft Certified Professional)
Help Desk Analyst
CNA (Novell)
MCSA (Microsoft)

Any thoughts on if these would be a good thing to have under your belt, and if they really will help you get a job?
The company is www.excom.com.au

Thanks for any thoughts

bondipom

How old are you and do you think you would enjoy a career in computing? What do you do now?

Out of those certs the MCSA would probably get you the furthest. I would also consider doing a TAFE course.

Thomaz

I'm an MCSE and a CNE ('E' being Engineer which is a more advanced accreditation than the Administrator ones) which a few years go would have enabled me to easily get a job - well, they did but that is no longer the case. Nowadays most employers are looking for relevant experience to back the qualifications up but, as you say, they can't do you any harm and may enable you to get your foot in the door... an interview at least.

If you have no computer experience under your belt I would start with the A+ cert.

Good Luck

rouse

I would ask the same questions... how old r u, whats your experience with computers (and people for that matter)

Ive been in IT now for 8 years and started later than most people, but I had always had a way with computers and could figure out eventually how to fix a problem

If you have patience (you need lots of it) logical thinking, sarcastic attitute (to deal with users) and have time to take in lots of reading.... Ive been lazy for the past year or so and haven't had time to keep myself updated certification wise (or even reading) and its showing now Im trying to get local business migrated to Active Directory

I love it, I love the challenges, I love the fact every day can be different... but it also depends on who you work for.

My current employer was taken over by a large American company (GE) and we have stepped back at least 5 years, they are restrictive and want us to complete forms in triplicate for everything, taken the fun out of IT. So it does also depend on your employer, get a good one and you will appreciate them.

Any questions on how long etc for certification just ask

:lecture:

oozie04

Hello All,

My application is under progress and I plan to hear for Meds request in a couple of months. Since thread particularly is for IT People chances in Australia.. Please evaluate mine too... I have done MCSE, CNE, CCNA, MCDBA, OCDBA, MCDBA, CISSP, BaaN ERP. I am particularly interested in doing Audit kind of Job. Please advise about my chances. I have planned to CCNP from Australia as an effort to acquaint myself with the environment there. Please advise

Regards

oozie04

ianj

Lots of certifications there oozie but as mentioned previously have you the experience to back it up???

I work for an IT company here in the UK (for now at least) and although certs are good the experience is the key. I am an MCSA, MCSE (both 2K), CCNA & Cisco Specialist in Wireless but all that can mean nothing without the real world knowledge.

Dillon, is the MCP in something specific??? You will become an MCP as soon as you have done any MS exam and some are more relevant and worthy than others. If you do get to MCSA then you will have passed MCP status and be an MCP as well. Do you get to have a say in which electives you get to do as part of your MCSA or are the exams chosen for you???

I have just completed an Exchange 2000 course and passed the exam (which my nice company paid for) and so become an MCP in Exchange as well. There are certain certs that will be looked at better than others. Exchange, in my opinion, is a good one because about 90% of the world use it as their messaging system.

Got 2 more courses booked which will upgrade my MCSE 2K to 2K3 (subject to exams passed of course) before I decide to leave my job and get over to Oz. I feel that MCSE 2K3 will open good doors which when coupled with experience and the other specialist certs should hopefully help me get a good foot in a door.

Only time will tell but in IT things rapidly change and you have to constantly look at training to remain at the fore and employable.

Just my 2 peneth (well more like 10) worth.

Good luck

dillon

Thanks for all the help there.
I'm 34 and in the UK was a motor engineer doing accident investigation type stuff, but over here that does limit the work options!
I havn't got my Oz trade papers to work as a mechanic so that does not help, although I'm not keen to get back into that again. I was wondering about a career change and have always been fixing computers for other people so was wondering if this was the time to move into that.

brisnick

had a friend look into this the other day. apparently it was gonna cost $20,000.

if u really want a career in i.t. i reckon go for it as they give a further $6,000 of training if they don't get you the promised job within four months of compeltion.

my mate decided against it as he wasn't 100% sure i.t. was for him, and he doesn't have that kind of money lying around anyway!!

Thomaz

I find all these certs are very easy to get nowadays with all the resources on the net… forums, exam crams, braindumps, sample tests etc. Most employers know that – the term ‘Paper MCSE’ or whatever, is given to people who have the cert but no hands-on experience to back it up.

I’ve been in IT for 20 years and have been able to change jobs easily as my CV has always looked good with the certs on it (mostly gained through self-study) - being a CNE certainly helped 8 years ago when I first came to Sydney on a working holiday.

It has changed though in the last few years and I am now struggling to find something in Australia – I do currently have a job in IT but don’t like it (big American company ruining what used to be a interesting job).

I wouldn’t advise anyone these days to go into IT Support but if that is what you want, don’t spend money on training courses… build a small network at home to practice on, buy some exam cram books and with study and practice you should have no problems passing the tests. It won’t help you a great deal to do the job in the ‘real-world’ but having a cert or two on your CV may be the only way an employer will consider taking you on without experience.

And if you do get a job in IT, prepare yourself for a lifetime of further study.

rouse

I couldn't agree more.... Im a relative beginer only having 8 years in IT, but looks like you have the same problem I have.. large American company taking over, reducing budget, restricting any movement in IT... I dont mind mentioning my company - GE thats General Electric, they have made our lives misery (not just in IT) since they took over... but I believe they are very typical of the way large organisations work.

I was lucky, I packed in a job in Marketing, spent 4 months off work studying, took 4 courses privately for NT and Exchange (cost approx £300 each course) and found a fantastic company who were willing to put me through the rest of my MCSE.... that was before we were taken over BTW.

The IT budget is always the first budget to get cut when a business has problems. They dont see that cutting corners causes more problems later (like what is happening where I work, servers dying as they are so old etc etc) and its an easy (large) budget to cut.

I believe there is a movement in IT market at the mo in the UK (not sure about Oz) but it can be fickle

If you are sure this is what you want to do then you MUST go for it, but get more advice and dont spend all your money with a 'boot camp' type traning, they dont hold any credit in the IT world.... apart from the certification helping, when they find out you obtained from a boot camp... it goes against you

Self study, some private sessions maybe, and yes, build you own network at home, might be a good idea to subscribe to MSDN which give you all MS software to use on a beta or test basis, so you could setup servers, exchange, sql servers etc etc whilst doing the study for them... and you dont need mega powerful machines... theres nothing like hands-on experience

Good luck.....

Thomaz

I worked for an IT company in the UK for a few years and enjoyed it until CSC took over in 2000. The job then changed dramatically – new single skill teams were created meaning that work became monotonous. Within a short time all the fun had gone out of the job. The only positive was, because I have Australia permanent residence, I was able through internal contacts, get a similar role with CSC Australia. Not a transfer as I was forced to resign from CSC UK and start afresh over here. I thought what the heck, CSC have got to be better in Oz….

And you know what? They are ten times worse here! Jobs is even more boring and to add to that I have less pay, longer hours, fewer holidays and no paid overtime!

So that phrase ‘same sh!t different bucket’ certainly holds true for me… except there is a lot more of the brown stuff in Australia.

NickyC

That rings so many bells with me! I used to work for a medium-size Melbourne-based IT company that was taken over by GE. We had to attend a special GE-induction course where we were introduced to all that American touchy-feely, ra-ra stuff (went down really well with the cynical, laid-back Aussie staff), then all the naff motivational posters started appearing on our office walls..... I left soon after. The whole outfit was taken over again a few years later by CSC!

rouse

How weird, I guess CSC is a rather large concern then.

Its good to know these things as I do not want to end up in the same sh1t for when I look for jobs in Oz, I do intend to improve my lifestyle, at that may be change vocation. until then, I have to believe there is a nice little company out there in Oz who will welcome me with open arms and NEVER be taken over by GE or any other large money grabbing corp.

Rant over