Advice needed

Shen2009

Hello,

I am looking for a change of career and i was wondering whats the best way of achieving CCNA/MCITP

Should i buy the books myself and home study or should i fork $$$ to those special company that specialise in teaching IT?

And does anyone have any experience with those companies that teaches cisco and microsoft certificates? If so, can you list them for me pls?

RobertKaucher

You really have to be careful with companies that market to career changers and promise you CCNA or MCSE in six months.

1. They tend to be too liberal in their candidate selection and many people drop out without completing the course or getting a meaningful certification.
2. Many of those who get certified via companies like this resort to dumping. If you don’t know what a brain **** is just do a google search.

If you are a career-changer, what I suggest is you start with A+ and Net+. Give yourself 6 months of serious study to finish these certifications. Then consider MCITP Enterprise Support or the new, and not yet released, MCITP Desktop Administrator.

Three more months of serious study should be adequate to achieve that certification. Once you have A+ and Net+ begin to look for a job in a support role.

Once you have some experience and understanding of how a corporate IT infrastructure works, start on either the CCNA or MCTIP Server Admin/Enterprise Admin. While in your support role take every opportunity to assist with higher level tasks and demonstrate you ability in a respectful and humble manner. What I mean is that you should try not to be the know it all. Give yourself a year’s time to get situated and another six months to achieve the higher level cert. Also, be prepared to make a financial investment in computers and routers so that you can have a test lab.

If you lack self-discipline then go to one of the schools who teach tech skills. I was an assistant trainer for ComputerTraining.com and loved it. The senior instructor was amazing. He detested **** and was not afraid to tell students that they needed to put more effort into study. He compared the MCSE course to getting an associate’s degree in 6 months. That’s how much effort he thought students needed to put in.

What I saw were too many students who did not have fundamental computer skills being overwhelmed by the course load because they did not have a strong foundation to learn on.

captobvious

I am in the middle of changing careers. I obtained the CCNA through self study. It all depends on what type of learner you are, I seem to get more out of challenging myself than following someone's study plan. That's the geek in me, I don't mind staying up till all hours searching out answers.

+1 for starting with A+ and Net+ as this will give you a good base

Good luck to you and welcome to the forums!

veritas_libertas

Away around the companies that would be cheaper (usually) and would still give you hands (I assume that would be part of your reasoning) would be to go with a community college that has a Cisco academy. Many of these offer Microsoft classes as well.

JDMurray

I also recommend first checking the catalog at your local community colleges for Cisco and Microsoft classes. The official Cisco Networking Academy and Microsoft IT Academy programs are the ones to choose first. It getting to the time to sign up for Fall semester classes, so do it soon, as those classes tend to fill up quickly (I assume that's true in the UK as well).

rsutton

I've been in professional IT for 10 years but I've been playing with computers and technology all my life. I think it would be hard to get in to this field if you do not have a strong background/passion in computers. That is not to discourage you, but what I mean is that I think you need to love this field or you will easily be discouraged by how much you will need to learn and understand.

My advice is to play with all the equipment you can get your hands ons and be active in the IT commmunity through this and other mediums.

veritas_libertas

+1 for having a love for computer technology.

I am graduating with numerous people that only want a change of career or think that working with computers would be 'cool'. I on the other hand grew up loving the technology and always tearing computers apart (sometimes literally). When I decided to go down the networking path (Earlier on in life I was convinced that going in to what you loved would make you hate it) I would read the books for the classes completely through, sometimes twice to completely understand the topics. Why? Because I love knowing the technology inside and out. After seeing many students graduate not having a clue about IT I realize now that it was because they didn't have a passion. I now have the upper hand because while they were just trying to get by I was building a W2K3 server and learning how it works long before that class came up! That passion / love is what makes a good IT person IMHO. Please understand that I say this knowing that I have much to learn yet.

If that describes you please come join us!