ICT Apprenticeship.

[neon]

After you have the nvq level 3 I was offered something called the ipro which is worth 100 ucas points, with that you can do hnc/hnd and progress from there, alternatly there is a level 4 and 5 although the college I attend doesnt offer them.

You are building good quals if you have A+ and N+! Maybe look at mcse? ccna?

[Tunster]

I did Level 2 in IT Practitioner but did Level 3 units to get the course finished earlier. I could of done Level 3, but I was heavily involved working my way up at the school after getting employed full-time (as I did 4-day weeks as an apprentice).

Since doing the job I am now, networking is now the speciality I want to go in (most likely won't work for another school after this job). CCNA is very hard to do and needs a good understanding of basic networking. MCSE will take you towards desktop/server support. Depends where you want to specialise in.

[SC92]

I've just finished my level 2 apprenticeship as an ICT Technician and like others have said, I believe its a great way to get your/someones foot in the door of IT. I came fresh out of college after doing 2 BTEC Courses in ICT Practioning, so I wasn't all that qualified but the job role sorted that out extremely quickly. The coursework itself I had to complete was extremely basic, I would have a fornightly meeting with my assessor and I would have completed the work set in about 4-5 hours. The best thing about what I did was the actual job role as such. I wasn't actually required to do anyhing hugely technical (just the usual toners, printers, laptop trolleys etc) whilst on my apprenticeship but I got stuck in and I now have a full-time job out of it. I'm 19 years of age and I now have the FULL responsibility of running our, albeit really small, network of 30 imacs. Been a great experience for me and I genuinely enjoy coming to work everyday.