Basic courses for new Technicians

[tmcd35]

Hi,

 

My Business Manager has said he would like to provide some training for our two technicians. I find myself at a bit of loss as to what to suggest to them/him.

 

Anyone know any good one/two day courses in general networking or windows server or 'how to be a good ict tech' that I can recommend.

[witch]

What has your local college got to offer? I did a 'one evening a week' 10 week course in basic networking and Server 2003 admin at mine which was helpful

[K.C.Leblanc]

Might be worth looking at the CompTIA A+ qualification.

 

When I did my one (years back), I just booked the exams and bought the text books.

[Jiser]

If I was the tech I would want learning materials - books/practice exams/cd's/videos. Courses are generally a rip off anyway no? So why not spend the 500 quid a day course and buy loads of stuff for them, maybe even cash left over for an exam.

 

N+/A+ are still electives for the MCSA/E & the Security + is also.

 

It would be great if all schools offered training/CPD for technicians.

[plexer]

Get them on something that trains them towards taking a microsoft qualification then at leat they could become mcp's

 

Ben

[Kitkatninja]

...Anyone know any good one/two day courses in general networking or windows server or 'how to be a good ict tech' that I can recommend.

 

I very much doubt that you're going to get a good course to cover everything or even the basics of what you're looking for. An intro, maybe, but nothing indepth.

 

I would strongly recommend looking into the NVQ's in IT/System support. The NVQ/iTQ program we're going to set up with the local colelge for the new person when s/he starts includes the Comptia A+, the MCSA and poss the CCENT as well as the NVQ/iTQ levels 2 & 3.

 

-Ken

[listerdl]

How much should I be paying for a CompTIA A+ qualification?

[K.C.Leblanc]

How much should I be paying for a CompTIA A+ qualification?

 

You can just pay to do the two exams they're about £70 each (that's an estimate, the price is set in US dollars). Pearson VUE: Computer-Based Testing Provider for Certification and Licensure Exams are the people to book them with.

[Kitkatninja]

How much should I be paying for a CompTIA A+ qualification?

 

The A+ qualification are 2 exams, each one costing £114 direct from Pearson Vue.

 

For courses it can cost anywhere from about £350 to £3000 depending on where you take the course. Some colleges bundle the A+ with iPRO hence a lower cost due to Government funding.

 

You can just buy [ame=http://www.amazon.co.uk/Certification-All-One-Guide-Sixth/dp/0072263113/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1234982301&sr=1-2]Mike Meyers AiO book[/ame] and/or [ame=http://www.amazon.co.uk/PC-Technician-Street-Smarts-CompTIA/dp/0470084588]PC Tech Street Smart book[/ame], purchase a copy of practice exams from a vendor like Preplogic and self study it - a cheaper option.

 

-Ken

[Jiser]

Yeh I got them books. Pretty detailed IMO.

 

A+ is pretty str8 foward. Was getting about 70% on practice tests from Boson without doing any studying.

[serverman_2001]

Hi there could not help but recommend the Train Signal course's, i use it for our technicians.

We purchased a 3 user site license for around a £1000 from October systems and that gave me everything, Sharepoint, DHCP, Win XP, Vsta AD four parts, Group Policy, DNS, Exchange, IIS,

Windows File Server, Windows Security, Wins, ISA, RRAS, Excel and Virtual server. My technicians have commented on what a valuable resource this is and now it comes with Win 2008 and all the content as pod casts

 

Daz

[littlehoops]

Hi,

 

I would look at Zenos - IT Training solutions for a changing world they do NVQ level 3 and some microsoft traing. should all be paid for by the lsc.

 

I have signed up. just waiting on my start day.

 

hope this helps

 

hoops

[GrumbleDook]

There are administrative costs with the advanced apprenticeship but nothing compared to the cost of the courses. We hope to have the Zenos guys speaking at our next IT Managers' meeting.

[Edu-IT]

I've just been looking at what our local college offer and they seem to do the compTIA courses for about £460 each. They're a level 3 course and I've already done a level 3 course so I suppose I could get away with studying it myself and then doing the exams. Question is, do you think it's worth it?

 

I'm in a quandary at the moment as to whether or not I should go to university or stick in current job. I know that if I go to university I probably am going to have to give up my job due to the amount of time university will take.

 

It's a difficult decision and if I am honest, I don't know which direction to turn in! I don't want to waste time.

[russdev]

I would go to uni if can afford it and haven't got to support a family etc then do it while you can as once get to certain age and have family it then becomes lot harder and more expensive.

 

Russ

[Kitkatninja]

There are administrative costs with the advanced apprenticeship but nothing compared to the cost of the courses. We hope to have the Zenos guys speaking at our next IT Managers' meeting.

 

That'll be interesting, the things you do just to get us going

 

I've just been looking at what our local college offer and they seem to do the compTIA courses for about £460 each. They're a level 3 course and I've already done a level 3 course so I suppose I could get away with studying it myself and then doing the exams. Question is, do you think it's worth it?

 

I'm in a quandary at the moment as to whether or not I should go to university or stick in current job. I know that if I go to university I probably am going to have to give up my job due to the amount of time university will take.

 

It's a difficult decision and if I am honest, I don't know which direction to turn in! I don't want to waste time.

 

A+ at level 3, how are they doing that? Unless it is grouped with the Network+ or the CCNA, iPro has classed the A+ at level 2. I would say go the self-study route, take a couple of practice exams and see how you go. If you get pretty descent scores, go for the exam without the course

 

As for the Uni or job question, why not do both? Quite a few of us kept our full-time job and went to Uni part-time in the evenings. If that's not an option for you, there's always the Open U, where's it's for the most part home study. Positive side: You get continous job experience as well as the qualification at the end of the program, plus it's cheaper (take a look full-time fees vs part-time fees). Negative side: Takes longer, 2-3 years longer (depends if you do the HNC->BSc route and whether or not you do the Hons parts or not).

 

-Ken

[PEO]

imo I would asses each of you technician's abaility, But a good start is the A+ It should only take them a month to read and practice the material before taking the harware and software exams. best book imo is Mike Myers as suggested.

 

I personally think university is not the way forward as it dosen't cover anything in depth like the A+ or any of the mcp exams do. which is what you need for an IT support role.

 

my technician has a uni degree and he agrees with me that it dose not prepare you for an IT role. He is studying the A+ and I've agreed to put him in for the exams soon as he and I feel he is ready.

 

next would be the N+ basic but but teaches you the basics should they wish to take on cisco CCNA course which goes in to some depth at the start with basic N+ stuff.

 

again mike Myers does an excellent N+ book. only one exam for this. I think self study is the way forward if budget is tight and cant afford to put them on a course at a local college.

 

I think you will need to put a couple of hours aside each week with them to answer any questions and give guidence where needed.