BM08

Right was thinking i should go back to college after about 5-6 years of working and realising i wont get anywhere without some decent qualifications

I was looking at going part time(couple of nights a week) and then i could still keep my job and get some cash in.

Was thinking of doing NVQ level 3 in I.T, ive no idea what it entails, ive rang this number that i got off the college website and this lady said shes not sure who runs the level 3 course so she will find out and give me a bell today or tomorrow.

Any advice of course that might be better than the one i was looking at? or folks that have done a similar I.T course?

BM08

anyone

nilrem

try and do a hnc mate! thats at level 3 then the second year it becomes a HND! then it equivalent to 1st year degree students apparently! level 3 is AS level and level 4 is Alevel... level 5 is 1st year degree! hope this helps!

BM08

cool thanks for the info mate

skeg

I did computing at uni, how old are you, Gti? Can't you just go to uni mate and do the bsc hons degree in internet systems or software etc? If you need to work mega hours then just do it via open uni then you can do it when you like and just go to the centres for the exams. Plus you'll still have money for all the books you need. Wish i'd done it open looking back even if you miss out the fun stuff.

Jemma

Im starting with the Open uni soon, would prefer that to college (tried college and didnt like it ) Open Uni, help with expenses, well i dont earn a lot at all, and im entilted to all course fees paid and a Ł250 grant to put towards upgrading my pc and course materials (my course is online, other than the exams)

Paddy

I was at uni down in southampton and we all did various jobs but my best mate worked at TGi Fridays and paid his own way through the whole course with the wages [he did 2-3 nights a week including saturday]. He lived off the tips [for beer] and also got to have a lot of sex with dirty waitresses. Reason I mention him is, he was 5/6 years older than all the other students like yourself and I'm 100% sure that helped him get that job because he was seen as more reliable

I don't know anything about the course, but good luck!

Stephen_B

I'm currently doing a national diploma in ICT at college. Thats the course you want to do for any ICT job, then you can move onto the HNC/D after

BM08

im 23.....

All this mention of uni scares the crap out of me

Plus all ive got is a few grades from high school

Some good info to think about so far though, so thanks for that

BM08

just googled that and it said age group 16-19 and full time, so wouldnt be any good for me

skeg

Lots of thing in life are scary but you're over 21 so classed as a mature student therefore would get extra consideration. A levels/points requirements won't matter as much and i bet if you did a ucas form and selected 5 universities you'd get into a couple if you put on the form things you have experience with and are enthusiastic about. (as long as you don't apply the highly recognised ones). There was some old goat about 60 on ours how did he have GCSE's and Alevels? He was doing it just as a hobby, something to do. Depends also how many and who apply. Money talks though and they need it.

Still Open is worth a look as they have all sorts not just degree and you can break the modules down instead of taking the whole lot at once. Equally as recognised as a brick uni.

http://www3.open.ac.uk/courses/bin/p12.dll?A02

*Edit better link, here knock yourself out fellow geek.

http://www3.open.ac.uk/courses/class...computing.shtm

boy_in_blue_x

you can be any age (we had a 32 yo and a 26yo doing this course)

but you need at least a c in eng and math and 3 other gcse's

oh and its only 3 days a week so plenty of time for part time work!

ive just finished the course this year and its a piece of piss honestly

if you dont have the grades you can do a national certificate - but i would suggest you do the national diploma for IT practitioners and not ICT as it has a more wide spread course so you can go into many different areas of IT and employers prefer this course

BM08

with a course like that what kind of work does it entail?

Also how would i go about finding out my grades from high school? ive lost most of the paper work i got just before i left

BM08

Thanks for the links mate, ill have a butchers when i get chance

boy_in_blue_x

it involves a whole range of things from web development (there is a fair bit of money in this) through software development to networking, the second year gives you the option of doing networking which is hard and boring or software development which is fun and not so hard. there are things you would enjoy and things you wont like anything in life (but the tutors will teach you anything you dont know, you dont need to be a computer wizrd to pass or get in)

grades from high school could be on a database like aqa ( it depends on what board you took your exams on) but in most cases if you dont have the results on paper to prove then you will just have to sit a little test which isnt hard to pass at all, you can blag getting through without the results like a friend on mine did lol

if you need any more in-depth info then pm or just ask in this thread i guess

BM08

boy_in_blue_x thanks for the info chap

I rang up my local college friday and they should get back to me on monday so ill just have a word with them as someone else said i think my age is in my favour aswell going by what other people have said

boy_in_blue_x

your age will give you an advantage in many way but one thing i noticed is that you will find it harder to get on with the other students, but that all depends on what your personality is like

but in the end your not really there for friends you are just there to learn

don't let that put you off though, it's good laugh

Turbocabbie

Im trying to get out of IT, Ive been doing IT and server support for a few years, everyone thinks its a gold mine and the market is flooded, ive spent a few years doing IT qualifications and would have been better off learning a trade such as plumbing.
I have to do shift work including nights and weekends to support servers and the rewards are not what many people expect.

I currently work for a international hosting and ISP and I know for a fact the company I work for ignore NVQ's
The company I work for and many others ignore general qualifications and look for industry certificates such as Cisco certification and LPI's etc

Don't bother training for web development as there is NO money in this and designers are easier to find than plumbers these days, not to mention websites such as freelancers.net have killed freelance work as you can get a designer from the far east doing site design for less than any European designer.

You would be better off doing a industry certificate, focus on the specialist area you wish to get into..all the learn all, known little courses have little meaning to the industry... check IT job sites for what qualifications are looked look for, They simply do not look for NVQ, ICT or national diplomas by large.

boy_in_blue_x

this is not true, a friend who has just done the same course as me is earning 2k a month easily in web dev without putting a lot of effort in, and he works from home

a lot of people are moving out of the networking side of IT but the software industry is still booming