Courses and Future

[jaws180]

Hi All

Recently took the Exam for my B-tech level 2 in Computer engineering to try get some experience and qualifications (hopefully i will have passed this one), to hopefully gain entry into the IT industry for future career, not sure what field I would like to end up with at the moment but was wondering what you guys felt would be the next course to give decent experience that a potential employer would look at as decent to give a try.

Some of the others i have seen were the A+, also the ECDL

Any ideas or thoughts?

[nemowolf]

Welcome to the Cert and Edu section! So let me start off by making sure that you understand a few things:

1. Everything we tell you is a suggestion and there is definitely no right or left answer to it

2. You will ultimately need to do your own research to see if anything we suggest is the right answer for you.

Now then ...

Starting with the A+ is probably a wise decision. It is seen as the industry standard for an entry level certification. Many companies will ask for this as a required or recommended skill/education/certification. It gives the employer the impression that you know one of a computer from another and understand the basic fundamentals of computing.

Now you mention "Computer Engineering" which edu speek for anything involving more than basic computer classes to me, so what exactly are you learning in these classes/tests??

Since you don't know where you want to go, i think this is a crucial time to experience EVERYTHING! If your in school, take a programming class, networking class, and if they offer it something with servers. That is your three main routes in computers. Every job you take can be, for the most part, placed in one of those three except for support jobs which you tend to lean into networking and servers but stick to the script.

So with that, give us more information on you and what you have done and want to do.

[jaws180]

Hi Nemowolf

Thanks for your response, basicly the only one i have done at the moment is the Btech level 2, this was the basics from building a system, installing os, networking, disk managements, virus removal, backups the company i did it with not sure if i can name them on here so ill leave them out for now, write the course then they arrange for the examination.

No schools or anything i am now 31 and trying to make a new start.

My history in computers i use to dabble a lot many years ago and ran a pc shop for someone, but gave it up (long story) when really should have gone into it as my own business, i am at the moment now where i am looking for a possible full career change from my present job and going back to computers for this, i have in the past done basic networking nothing on the major scale mainly LAN i also did JAVA & HTML Webdesign (all self taught) so really am just after a bit of guideance to maybe where there is a gap i could head into to start with then maybe change again in future.

I am also keen on possibly looking at becomming self employed in the future should i gain some more information on how i go about doing this also when i have a little more experience, hope this helps a little to give some idea of what and where i am about.

[nemowolf]

Hi Nemowolf

Thanks for your response, basicly the only one i have done at the moment is the Btech level 2, this was the basics from building a system, installing os, networking, disk managements, virus removal, backups the company i did it with not sure if i can name them on here so ill leave them out for now, write the course then they arrange for the examination.

No schools or anything i am now 31 and trying to make a new start.

My history in computers i use to dabble a lot many years ago and ran a pc shop for someone, but gave it up (long story) when really should have gone into it as my own business, i am at the moment now where i am looking for a possible full career change from my present job and going back to computers for this, i have in the past done basic networking nothing on the major scale mainly LAN i also did JAVA & HTML Webdesign (all self taught) so really am just after a bit of guideance to maybe where there is a gap i could head into to start with then maybe change again in future.

I am also keen on possibly looking at becomming self employed in the future should i gain some more information on how i go about doing this also when i have a little more experience, hope this helps a little to give some idea of what and where i am about.

This is good stuff to work with. If you want to go the route of working for yourself, you need to figure out who your clients are going to be. That is going to be where you need to focus on your initial studies. For instance, if you know that your going to be able to get some clients right off the bat but they want POS system support, make sure you know what POS systems they run and possible see if the manufacturer offers any certifications. I believe Dell for instance, makes POS systems and offers a certification in setup and repair of their systems specifically. If you know that you can work with some startup or small offices, think about serving their needs with a MCSA/MCSE or a Small Business Server Certification {LINK}. Once you have some business established, you can then grow your skill set to meet their needs and potentially to offer services of your own.

For instance, something that i have been doing a bit of reading into is the System Center manager. You could, from what i am reading, assign each of the computers that your client uses to the System Center you manage and do any remote maintenance such as updates, software installs and basic troubleshooting. So the marketing tells us at the very least. Might be a good way to maintain a service contract when your managing computers 24/7 remotely and only need to go onsite when something really bad happens.


Anyways, based on that information, do you have any questions?