hi,
let me introduce my situation. i am an 18 year old living in the south east of england. i have been working for 6 months full time for the ministry of defence as a computer engineer and want to gain some more qualifications to get a more interesteing, challenging and well paid job. the problem is i cant seem to find any courses to match my demand, and i just want some advice from employers and people who have taken the same route as me.
i was educated at a grammar school and have 10 GCSE's which works in my favour, however i didn't goto sixth form at that school becuase i knew i wasn't interested in alevels in broad subjects and i didn't want to goto university. i am only interested in computers and more recently cars as a career prospect. i couldn't afford to goto university if i wanted to and i am not interested in the idea of taking out loans etc to finance my way through it, basically the idea of being a student doesn't appeal to me at all. after my GCSE's i took and passed a BND in Computer Studies which was a 2 year full time course at my local college. i learnt absolutely nothing from the course becuase i have generally been self taught from family and trial and error and a natural interest in computers. the good thing about the course however is i got the grades i wanted (distnictions and merits) and it also included a 6 week works experience phase which fortunately was at the MOD. i completed the works experience and really enjoyed the work which was good becuase it affirmed my thought of wanting to work in the IT industry. after the college course i then took up employment in the same post at the MOD becuase the person i was learning with vacated his position. i have been working here for 6 months doing general helpdesk support if i was to classify it as anything. i basically am involved in the smooth running of the 200 or so PC's at the base, and the integeration of new hardware, new systems, printer problems, user problems, and the administration of a 25 computer internet suite for service people at the base to use for education and internet purposes.
as part of working for the civil service it is possible to get part, or full financed courses in what they deem to be useful and career enhancing qualifications and as i dont plan on being a civil servant for much longer i think it would be an excellent copportunity to try and find an applicable course, take it and then get a job in the private sector for more challenging and exciting work. (not to mention the improved salary). i think for my age i am not on a bad salary at all. its about 15K if you include the pension and oher benefits like lots of days off, etc combine to make it a great first job for an 18 year old.
my problem is i cannot seem to find any courses that are suitable for me. all the CISCO courses i can find are obviously network based and all that which im not really that interested in, although i might consider moving in that direction. the other options are the MCSE's MCPs, etc but i dont really know much about them. from what i understand the MCSE is a great course but i think it again has a high focus on networking and suchlike.
i have number dyslexia and have a logic problem when it comes to programming so unfortunately anything of that nature is out of the window. ideally i would like to progress in the hardware field, either as an engineer, system designer, etc something of that nature that has a future. i might be interested in server administration too depending on the money and what the job is like.
it would be great to hear from people in that portion of the industy to see what their views are on qualification courses and which they reccomend. apart from the microsoft and CISCO courses what other industry recognised decent courses are there about that would be useful for me do you think?
many thanks for any replies as they would all be greatly appreciated.
-ross
let me introduce my situation. i am an 18 year old living in the south east of england. i have been working for 6 months full time for the ministry of defence as a computer engineer and want to gain some more qualifications to get a more interesteing, challenging and well paid job. the problem is i cant seem to find any courses to match my demand, and i just want some advice from employers and people who have taken the same route as me.
i was educated at a grammar school and have 10 GCSE's which works in my favour, however i didn't goto sixth form at that school becuase i knew i wasn't interested in alevels in broad subjects and i didn't want to goto university. i am only interested in computers and more recently cars as a career prospect. i couldn't afford to goto university if i wanted to and i am not interested in the idea of taking out loans etc to finance my way through it, basically the idea of being a student doesn't appeal to me at all. after my GCSE's i took and passed a BND in Computer Studies which was a 2 year full time course at my local college. i learnt absolutely nothing from the course becuase i have generally been self taught from family and trial and error and a natural interest in computers. the good thing about the course however is i got the grades i wanted (distnictions and merits) and it also included a 6 week works experience phase which fortunately was at the MOD. i completed the works experience and really enjoyed the work which was good becuase it affirmed my thought of wanting to work in the IT industry. after the college course i then took up employment in the same post at the MOD becuase the person i was learning with vacated his position. i have been working here for 6 months doing general helpdesk support if i was to classify it as anything. i basically am involved in the smooth running of the 200 or so PC's at the base, and the integeration of new hardware, new systems, printer problems, user problems, and the administration of a 25 computer internet suite for service people at the base to use for education and internet purposes.
as part of working for the civil service it is possible to get part, or full financed courses in what they deem to be useful and career enhancing qualifications and as i dont plan on being a civil servant for much longer i think it would be an excellent copportunity to try and find an applicable course, take it and then get a job in the private sector for more challenging and exciting work. (not to mention the improved salary). i think for my age i am not on a bad salary at all. its about 15K if you include the pension and oher benefits like lots of days off, etc combine to make it a great first job for an 18 year old.
my problem is i cannot seem to find any courses that are suitable for me. all the CISCO courses i can find are obviously network based and all that which im not really that interested in, although i might consider moving in that direction. the other options are the MCSE's MCPs, etc but i dont really know much about them. from what i understand the MCSE is a great course but i think it again has a high focus on networking and suchlike.
i have number dyslexia and have a logic problem when it comes to programming so unfortunately anything of that nature is out of the window. ideally i would like to progress in the hardware field, either as an engineer, system designer, etc something of that nature that has a future. i might be interested in server administration too depending on the money and what the job is like.
it would be great to hear from people in that portion of the industy to see what their views are on qualification courses and which they reccomend. apart from the microsoft and CISCO courses what other industry recognised decent courses are there about that would be useful for me do you think?
many thanks for any replies as they would all be greatly appreciated.
-ross