Re: Career advice for a young PC enthusiast.

On Sat, 4 Aug 2007 14:13:17 +0100, "Gaz" <gazter@xxxxxxx> wrote:

Gordon Walker wrote:
Hi,
Right, I've been asked for career guidance for the son of an old
friend - who wants to get into "computers" but wants to go down the "self
study" route. I've suggested HNC/HND or perhaps a BSc but he doesn't want
to take this path - not yet and his past educational acheivements aren't
great and gets sweats when I mention part-time college or university.
Apart
from Comptia A+ & Network and MCP - what else is available to study.
Have
also tried to place him with a few local PC shops to gain some hands on
experience but one went bust and the other has the attitude "if hes not
trained then dump him!" Also which guides for A+ & MCP does the group
recommend and I've been told that discounted vouchers exist for the exams
but should be looking at around £199 per exam. I take it that you can
still
sit the exams with out any mandatory courses or has this changed? Any
cheaper solutions exist and wheres the best place is Glasgow or the North
East of England to sit them. Phew! I'm now going back to study my German
and practise on the girlfriend! :-)

Regards,
Gordon Walker.
mbey76@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The A+ and MCP can be valuable in giving you a grounding on what to do, but
nothing beats experience and a sharp mind when it comes to combating some of
the more tedious computer problems people have.

He has to ask, what does he want to do? Does he want to repair computers?

Working in the residential and SOHU market, if he is doing it for someone
else, he isnt likely to earn much more then minimum wage, if he wants to
work for himself he could, with a bit of effort, earn between £20,000 and
£50,000 a year.

Working for businesses can be more lucrative, but a higher level of
knowledge is needed. The more he knows, in the business market, the more he
can earn, if he learns how to manage servers, he would have a skill that
command a £200 to £300 daily fee.

Fixing a PC is largely childs play and, can be done with a small amount of
knowledge, managing the servers is a different kettle of fish, and isnt
something that should be attempted without passing the necessary microsoft
certified exams.

Gaz



Gaz

I do have to disagree on your last statement

"and isnt something that should be attempted without passing the
necessary microsoft certified exams"

this is not true, I know people who have sat the MCSE exam - by
reading books and then passing with a high percentage yet when they
actually sit at a server - they have no idea what they are doing.

Thse MCP and what ever you call them, are great, but at the end of the
day experience is what counts - you may have to read the odd book to
get a grasp of the functionality of a certain system, but these days
alot of systems are based on the fundamental industry standard (for
example LDAP, based on the X500 protocol, for authentication). As long
as you are knowledgeable in the fundamentals of a particular system,
then learning a new system should be straightforward as long as you
put in long hours and have the desire to learn.

I manage a server infrastrcture based on Citrix, IBM ISeries
(Mainframe), Lotus Domino , Microsoft Active Directory and Novell OES
eDirectory - and I havent even sat one exam for the above yet I am
very good in managing these systems and can resolve all issues with a
given SLA we work on be it hardware failure to operating system
issues.

I am sure you will disagree with my point, and thats normal and others
may have different view to me.
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Career advice for a young PC enthusiast.
    ... Gordon Walker wrote: ... from Comptia A+ & Network and MCP - what else is available to study. ... recommend and I've been told that discounted vouchers exist for the exams ... knowledge, managing the servers is a different kettle of fish, and isnt ...
    (uk.adverts.computer)
  • RE: microsoft certfication dumps available for free
    ... What if instead of questions you can memorise by rote, the exams were full ... The scenario calls for you to migrate all the servers to 2003 with Exchange ... Put five or six scenarios in each exam, with the pass rate being based on ...
    (microsoft.public.cert.exam.mcse)
  • Re: A+ and MCP as prereq to MCSA & MCSE 2000 & 2003
    ... I WAS HORRIFIED TO LEARN THAT AN MCP ... ANY OTHER SECURITY RECOMMENDATIONS? ... >>> EXAMS I SHOULD PURSUE HERE? ... >>> SMARTASS OPINIONS ESPECIALLY WELCOME ...
    (microsoft.public.cert.exam.mcsa)
  • Re: US job market
    ... and try to defend the exams or certs on face value alone. ... Lack of fundamental understanding of the MCP process - from both sides. ... or *claim* that a certification [means someone is an expert in the subject ... other good things (beyond expertise) that are also valuable. ...
    (microsoft.public.dotnet.languages.csharp)
  • Re: Implementing dhcp servers and dns servers
    ... pass total 7 exams and have to have a broader knowdlege about network and ... You're an MCSE -AND- an MCP?! ... That MCP must have been hard to get! ... I think you have to take ALL of Microsoft's exams to get that MCP title. ...
    (microsoft.public.cert.exam.mcse)