Has anyone done one? Any good?

No, but would expect them to be next to useless

These ones? not done but check what qualification you get and then search

http://www.theitjobboard.co.uk/
http://www.cwjobs.co.uk/

for jobs that require that qualification

Mikey do you already have any IT role? If not I wouldn’t try to break in using that method. those salaries will be mostly achieved by people with lots of experience, its a competitive market. Best way to break in these days is try and get a helpdesk position and then show your aptitude, unless you have some funding source – in which case its not as much of a gamble

Its the same as the thread on PRINCE2 – a qual no more makes you a project manager than a Microsoft cert makes you a subject matter expert. Time and experience do that in conjunction with a qual.

I say this because I see it a lot, when people apply to roles when we recruit, but also as several of my mates either took Microsoft or cisco routes when leaving the forces. They got the certs, but still cant get positions in IT as they have no practical experience relevant to the certified level.

Hope that helps

Mikey do you already have any IT role? I

I’m actually an IT technician, but I am also the company’s IT manager, managing the relationship between ourselves and our IT support company. I also deal with day-to-day issues and manage software licences and buying in hardware.

OK, sounds like a common thing these days. Having done a range of training over the years, just beware there’s a huge variation in quality of courses.

Depending on your learning style there are often better value options than courses. Stuff like CBT nuggets or plurasight are around £500 quid a year for as much e-learning as you can physically stomach. Microsoft, VMware and Cisco all have some free stuff if you look hard enough. VMware and Microsoft both have hands on labs for free as well

Microsoft and Cisco still have fewer restrictions on gaining quals – you can self study and pass the exams. VMware and several others, you need to go on official and verified courses.

There’s also a bigger move towards time locked certifications. I kind of got out of step on that, my last big certification round would have cost me nearly a grand in exam fees to update my Microsoft stuff and re-cert my Cisco CCNA and that was 9 years ago. They haven’t got cheaper either!

Ahhhhh, sorry: That should have said “architectural technician”, not IT technician (bloody predictive typing).