ICT/Computing qualifications

[Bugz]

Hi guys,

anyone know of any that are recognised and can be done part time via home? I'm already in a uni degree so I don't want anything massively demanding.

My uni offers 'Microsoft Office Special 2007' qualification although exactly how credible is this?

I have a lot of experience with maths (i'm currently studying it) so I was learning more towards the comp. science side although do such qualifications exist that can be flexible to my needs?

Cheers.

 

[Roo Stercogburn]

Depends what aspect of IT you are interested in. If going for desktop support, arguably the office qualifications might be useful but the Win7 or Vista MCTS are more useful from a prospective employer's point of view. If going for a development or server side job its zero use. If you're leaning towards development then you want development qualifcations, for example .Net or SQL.

However, if its just because you fancy it, there's nothing wrong with that. Not enough info in original post to say really.

 

[kirennia]

SQL.

Can you please cut out this kind of swearing, there's just no need for it...




</Recluses to his nightmares.>

 

[Raven]

I am doing SQL at the moment, fairly basic stuff using visual studio for company reporting and such but want to learn what happens in the background too. Thought it was a good idea when I was asked if I would be interested! Still, something else to add to the CV

As for the basic IT skills, MS office and whatnot, its a really good thing to learn properly, you would be amazed at the lack of basic IT skills people possess. Having some sort of qualification in it on your CV can only be a bonus imo. Is it a Microsoft certified course? I am completely self taught in office but would be interested in getting a qualification in it.

 

[Bugz]

I am doing SQL at the moment, fairly basic stuff using visual studio for company reporting and such but want to learn what happens in the background too. Thought it was a good idea when I was asked if I would be interested! Still, something else to add to the CV

As for the basic IT skills, MS office and whatnot, its a really good thing to learn properly, you would be amazed at the lack of basic IT skills people possess. Having some sort of qualification in it on your CV can only be a bonus imo. Is it a Microsoft certified course? I am completely self taught in office but would be interested in getting a qualification in it.

It says it's a globally recognised qualification and is a Microsoft Business Certificate so it must be Microsoft certified. My uni offers is for 50 quid to uni members which includes a course book. I can't imagine external is much more expensive as it's all self-learning.

Sorry for not being clear in the original post. I was looking to do the Microsoft Office Specialist purely because I think it'd look good on my CV and to be honest, I'd love to know how to use excel/access to their fullest anyway.

But I'm really leaning towards anything I can sit externally that involves some kind of mathematical element. But I get the feeling this is mainly restricted to full time/part time uni courses as opposed to individual self-learning? My actual job in the future will hopefully be in finance or management, so I won't be pursuing this as a career but more a past time.

 

[Roo Stercogburn]

Externally, you'll pay £88 for the exam + the cost of whatever course materials you need, so yeh, sounds like a good deal

 

[kirennia]

Personally, if I had £50 spare and the time to do the course, I'd do it even though I'm quite good with office. Those bloody pieces of paper will help and £50 for another line on your CV isn't to be taken lightly.

 

[Roo Stercogburn]

I've just done 5 exams within about 4 weeks. My head was fried after that hehe. MCITP Win2008 server admin and Exchange 2010 enterprise messaging.

 

[SilverHood]

As Roo said, for support they're pretty decent.

I asked the some of the devs at work what they thought about things like Sun Certificated Java programmers and the opinion was mixed.
If you had degree in IT and previous development experience, then little to no use. If you had a non IT degree, then yeah, they could help get you an interview.

I've done the basic Oracle SQL certifications, and it was pretty useful as there's lots of non standard knowledge covered. However, I dont have room for it on my CV so it's somewhat moot

 

[ECA]

I took the MSDOS5 Upgrade Training, now I get all the girls.

YouTube - Silly MS-DOS 5 Promo Video

 

[Scouse]

I actually feel a bit sick after watching that.

If that video doesn't scream "career change" I don't know what does

 

[Roo Stercogburn]

Yeeeigh that vid.

I think I'll take up lion taming.

 

[Jupitus]

Fucking LOL

 

[old.user4556]

The best IT advice I can give is: don't go into IT.

If I could go back in time and give myself a shake, I'd be a dentist.

 

[Scouse]

The best IT advice I can give is: don't go into IT.

This.

It doesn't pay as much as it used to, there's less jobs about (and loads are being exported whilst people in the UK are being laid off) and it's miserable inside all-day-long work

 

[SilverHood]

IT pays good as long as you're in a few fields... finance, medicine / pharmaceutical or ancient tech (old IBM mainframes, etc).

 

[old.user4556]

Ohhhhhhhhhh I beg to differ .

I wish I could talk about why but I'm one of these over cautious types who fears his employer might read this one day.

 

[Chilly]

you clearly had a shit job then big g. its not a top earning job but its by no means chump change. Im in the IT game and doing very well - basically just doing very high performance java coding - big market for it.

ok, you'll never earn what a stockbroker can but then its, frankly, easier - you dont have to suck trader cock all day in the city for your dinner.

 

[KewelGuy]

Hi guys,

anyone know of any that are recognised and can be done part time via home? I'm already in a uni degree so I don't want anything massively demanding.

My uni offers 'Microsoft Office Special 2007' qualification although exactly how credible is this?

I have a lot of experience with maths (i'm currently studying it) so I was learning more towards the comp. science side although do such qualifications exist that can be flexible to my needs?

Cheers.

try this

I did my MCP in 3 days then sat test and passed .
MCSE, SCJP, CCNA, PMP, CompTIA, A+, Network+, OCP, Security+, Practice Test -uCertify

Take your time and get professional Microsoft and Cisco quals. which are most usefull in real life:

 

[old.user4556]

you clearly had a shit job then big g. its not a top earning job but its by no means chump change. Im in the IT game and doing very well - basically just doing very high performance java coding - big market for it.

ok, you'll never earn what a stockbroker can but then its, frankly, easier - you dont have to suck trader cock all day in the city for your dinner.

It's not about the money and my career is very good. Like I said, I won't talk about it here.

My opinion still stands, I wouldn't recommend anyone gets into IT.

 

[Chilly]

It's not about the money and my career is very good. Like I said, I won't talk about it here.

My opinion still stands, I wouldn't recommend anyone gets into IT.

Well the post you made which I replied to was very much about the money. The money is fine, so therefore you probably dont like the constant stream of incompetent fucks you work with

 

[Jupitus]

The money can be absolutely great if you a) are very good and b) you get your career tactics right. You can't stay still for any length of time, unless you are lucky enough to be in a position where your employer is getting you the very best training along the way in all the latest tech. You need to make sure that you are gaining skills all of the time, whether that be in other technical areas OR gaining specific skills in a specialist area which is a bit more risky but if you pick your specialisation correct can be very worthwhile in both career and monetary terms.