advice on I.C.T Career

[joel_uk]

Hello im new to the forum, anyhow to the point im currently working as an electrician, which involves long hours, working away, weekends etc.

anyhow wanting to change Career, to become a Trainee I.C.T Tech in a school, i have done a lot of work fitting new I.C.T suites, with Data and power sockets, also done a lot of patch panel/cabinet work.

I have keen interest to learn this as a Career, could anyone give me advice of companys to apply for in the South Yorkshire Area, Or should i go back to college and get qualifications in I.C.T? What sort of money would i be looking at first? ETC.


any advice would be very helpful thanks a lot joel

[Sylv3r]

Trainee ICT Technician in a school would probably be around the £13k - £16k mark but with your experience it may be more. It could be useful if you could find a school where you can help out over the summer holidays (or a couple of days anyway) perhaps one you know the people and have worked in before to see the ropes of what the job is likely is bring and what skills you need to develop. This also may be a good idea as you may decide its not for you.

[joel_uk]

yes thanks i suppose i could try my old school, and speak with the ICT Tech over there.

[SpuffMonkey]

If you're going to go back and get qualifications - forget IT and be an accountant or a lawyer - proper career paths, unlikely to be outsourced and decent money when you're middle aged.

[plexer]

With your existing skills I think you'd be better of getting a job with a computer solutions company where you can use your existing electrical and data cabling skills while picking up the ict side of things with some study on the side.

I think it'd be a waste of what you have allready done to go in as an ICT Tech.

Ben

[gremlin-01]

hi Joel

If you are seriouse about being a school techy then it would be worth while looking in to an A+ as this is entry level qualification. Unfortunatly i dont know price but you will get advice on the internet.

Cheers

[joel_uk]

Yeah a friend of mine workings for a Primary I.C.T company hes going to ask, id maybe rather do that as i like being on the tools. but like doing Computing as well

[KarlGoddard]

If you want to move for career / earning opportunities I'd probably choose another sector rather than education if you want to pursue being a techie.

But if you're a sparks and want to move into IT, as one of the other posts said, consider a move into cabling. Our cabling contractor have sparks who earn 10k pa more than me ! and I'm reasonably paid when compared to other techs in my area!

[joel_uk]

I dont want to do contracting tbh, theres always a lot of working away

[imiddleton25]

Not sure in we are too far away but about to advertise for a Tech in York
We will be offering a training budget so we will pay for qualifications as a top up to the salary. Will post full details when i have finished writing them.

[joel_uk]

right. well depending on wages, training etc might not be too far no