hi people... im looking for a change in career and im thinking of i.t. due to current employment commitments i need to do distance learning, and computeach look a friendly bunch.

anyone any dealings or know of alternitives?

all comments appreciated

thanks

pat

I had to work with someone who "qualified" through them. Although they teach you enough to get through your MCSE or whatever, they don't actually teach you what you need to do the job. There's a huge difference between the book way and how you do stuff in real life situations.

You're probably better off buying the books and working your way through them rather than paying £xk for them to basically give you the same info.

see your point but im pretty lost to start with... even with studying the books id turn up on day one pretty green. and proberly relieing on poor info.

im hoping to get up to mcad with them and then get experience through employment.

could teach myself as you sugest but id still lack the hands on bit.

im currently earning good money and getting into it at mcp/mcdst will be a bit of a drop.

hope this is making sense as im very new to it

DON't DO IT!!!! WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY!

just get good A+ books study then book a test yourself!

P.s i know from experience.

Are you sure about going into IT. As an IT person working for a large european company, I can say that the IT industry isnt what it once was. Pay has been static for a few years now, and the number of staff working within the industry is reducing all the time. Cutbacks through redundancies are common place.

As for computeach, its one way to get to know the basics but its expensive for what you get. I learnt the hard way on the job, and am now experienced but its taken nearly 20 years to get where I am today.

Are you sure about going into IT. As an IT person working for a large european company, I can say that the IT industry isnt what it once was. Pay has been static for a few years now, and the number of staff working within the industry is reducing all the time. Cutbacks through redundancies are common place.

As for computeach, its one way to get to know the basics but its expensive for what you get. I learnt the hard way on the job, and am now experienced but its taken nearly 20 years to get where I am today.

I also work for a large European company and they are starting to outsource a lot of the IT work to India. The jobs are not there anymore and the Computeach principle is based you can earn big money in IT, companies can now employ staff in India for far less.

Also the IT industry is very ageist, I know one or two people in their late 20's were regarded as 'too old'.

red the training there offering is more than just books. theres downloads , forums ect.

how long ago did you experience them?

mannyo thanks for the reply. i hear what your saying but my current job wont sustain my income for long due to internet pressure! im maxed out at 28k pa. and work 43hrs weekly including weekends. retail sales.

the way computeach have put it across is that to see this income through programming id need to become a msoft applications developer-visual basic. this sound right?

do you think its possible to gain this knowledge instead through books/forums and then take the exam?

if your not in i.t its very hard to understand the career path. meeting these guys has filled a few gaps already. but im not sure of my next move.

out sorcing is a thing we all have to live with... it,ll balance out.. if it all went to india id just move there... ive heard goas nice:thumbup:

ageist attitudes can happen anywhere. yet to be affected but i`ll watch out

I also work for a large European company and they are starting to outsource a lot of the IT work to India. The jobs are not there anymore and the Computeach principle is based you can earn big money in IT, companies can now employ staff in India for far less.

Also the IT industry is very ageist, I know one or two people in their late 20's were regarded as 'too old'.

:iagree:

Very few jobs on offer, even degree graduate jobs want two years experience.

Lots of companies are sending work to India and there isn't likely to be much work. The money certainly isn't there any more either.

As for cr*puteach, save your money. If you really want to go into IT do a collage course instead and actaully learn more than just how to do an exam.

It has already been said but the exam teaches the by the book way of how to do something, not the real world way of doing it.

I am sure that many of us working in the IT arena think about getting out. I think the only way of making money is being a consultant, or offering a specialist service to small business and home users. As to how long even that will last i don't know.

I changed my career nearly 2 years ago to go into IT.

Firstly, I was 39/40 at the time in the Army as a mechanic and getting chucked out at 40. Anyway, I didn't want to do the spannering anymore (not that I did really, more the management side of it) so choose IT. I enrolled on a 7 week course with another company like computeach. I also did another 3 weeks later before I left the Army. I was lucky that the army paid most of the fees, as it was not cheap. It

taught me the basics really and certainly not up to any certification level. Apart from the basics I learnt how to do my CV for IT which probably got me a job!

I was lucky to get a job as a contractor with a global 'blue chip' company who only took me on for 3 months (hopefully rolling) as a 'Junior' firewall engineer i.e. they were happy to teach me the job, especially as I didn't have a clue :confused: . I was looking into doing desktop support (A+,N+ and MCP's) and this came up, so going down the security/networking route (CCSA/CCSE and CCNA) now.

I've been there 20 months now and the team has been outsourced to another global 'blue chip' company. I know that most of the work I do now will get outsourced again to India, so my time might be up soon.

However, I have the 2 years experience that the course could never give me and I am looking at getting some quals now.

From other posts they mention ageism well I was old to start off.

The money, well, as a contractor, rates can vary, I'm on 22pph plus I only have a 10 min drive to work too!

I was lucky, but most of the guys I was on the course with got jobs, I think!

It was a start and I haven't looked back yet! But I agree, it does not turn you into a competent engineer overnight as I'm still learning everyday, honest.

I run a training company

There are better options than computeach, depending on where you are. For example one company I do business with in Cardiff run a succesful academy with a combination of distance learning and weekend classroom sessions, I know of 2 major UK training providers that offer similar things with walk-in learning centres combined with distance learning.

Some places in the UK seem to have an easier route into the IT job market than others, the North West and North East seem to be going well at the moment, but I am basing that on the amount of training I am delivering in those area's.

Most of my Training is South Wales, North West, North East, most of my consultancy is London, Scotland and Northern Ireland, just seems strange how it breaks down sometime.

Which one you run then fluffmeister (feel free to PM it)