Topic: RAWK IT professionals - any career advice?

[Claire.]

Do they watch you do the exam?!

Good luck mate

[Buck Pete]

Do they watch you do the exam?!

Good luck mate

Yes basically they do Claire and thanks!!

There are quite a few companies out there. ProctorU and PeopleCert are 2 of the big ones training companies use.

They supply you (you download it) with a piece of software called Exam shield which you install a few hours prior to your exam.  This is configured with all your specific exam details and Unique ref numbers etc.

Your WebCam and Mic are active and you show them official Photo ID at the start and give them a 360 view of your room and desk etc.  Then do the exam on screen with an invigilator watching throughout.

Its great as i personally feel sharpest later in the evening so a 21:15 start is great with no distractions.

[dudleyred]

Doing the exam online at 21:15 via PeopleCert and Exam Shield.  Got me new Webcam setup and didn't realise I looked so handsome while working.

modern technology eh!! 

Yes basically they do Claire and thanks!!

There are quite a few companies out there. ProctorU and PeopleCert are 2 of the big ones training companies use.

They supply you (you download it) with a piece of software called Exam shield which you install a few hours prior to your exam.  This is configured with all your specific exam details and Unique ref numbers etc.

Your WebCam and Mic are active and you show them official Photo ID at the start and give them a 360 view of your room and desk etc.  Then do the exam on screen with an invigilator watching throughout.

Its great as i personally feel sharpest later in the evening so a 21:15 start is great with no distractions.

not sure i like the idea of being watched remotely but it sounds a great process that will work for some. Presume they tell you pretty instantly whether you've passed given its online?

Good luck with it - let us know how it was etc

[Buck Pete]

not sure i like the idea of being watched remotely but it sounds a great process that will work for some. Presume they tell you pretty instantly whether you've passed given its online?

Good luck with it - let us know how it was etc

Yes, they give you your "unofficial" pass mark and grade immediately following the exam.  Then the official confirmation gets to you a few days after.  I presume they check you've not been cheating and it has to be verified by someone independent.

Cheers DR - Your Foundation book recommendation was superb it really did give me a good base of understanding before I took on the course syllabus.  Do you recommend any Practitioner material to read before the Practitioner course?

[dudleyred]

Yes, they give you your "unofficial" pass mark and grade immediately following the exam.  Then the official confirmation gets to you a few days after.  I presume they check you've not been cheating and it has to be verified by someone independent.

Cheers DR - Your Foundation book recommendation was superb it really did give me a good base of understanding before I took on the course syllabus.  Do you recommend any Practitioner material to read before the Practitioner course?

no worries - i liked it as it was short! i get distracted too easily

Not got a recommendation for practitioner i'm afraid. I turned up to the course and they went through the bits that were important and I found it was enough to get me through. That said my knowledge is probably basic as a result and i've not used any of it since the exam annoyingly.

[Buck Pete]

Yay!! I passd my PRINCE2 foundation exam. Scored 72% which I will take all day long as it was so much harder than I anticipated and not one question was an instant select answer then move on type of question.  The mock tests I did were nothing like that.

I honestly thought I had scored MUCH lower than what I did. It was like Istanbul all over again waiting for my results to pop up on the screen at the end.

Used the full hour too.

Totally made up I passed and onwards to the Practitioner study.

[dudleyred]

Yay!! I passd my PRINCE2 foundation exam. Scored 72% which I will take all day long as it was so much harder than I anticipated and not one question was an instant select answer then move on type of question.  The mock tests I did were nothing like that.

I honestly thought I had scored MUCH lower than what I did. It was like Istanbul all over again waiting for my results to pop up on the screen at the end.

Used the full hour too.

Totally made up I passed and onwards to the Practitioner study.

Nice one. Congratulations

Very much the reaction I had to it. Much harder than practice online!!

[Claire.]

Yay!! I passd my PRINCE2 foundation exam. Scored 72% which I will take all day long as it was so much harder than I anticipated and not one question was an instant select answer then move on type of question.  The mock tests I did were nothing like that.

I honestly thought I had scored MUCH lower than what I did. It was like Istanbul all over again waiting for my results to pop up on the screen at the end.

Used the full hour too.

Totally made up I passed and onwards to the Practitioner study.

Well done

[Ciara (with a capital "C")]

Congrats!

[Buck Pete]

Cheers Guys

[BigAl24]

Well done mate!

[PaulF]

Yay!! I passd my PRINCE2 foundation exam. Scored 72% which I will take all day long as it was so much harder than I anticipated and not one question was an instant select answer then move on type of question.  The mock tests I did were nothing like that.

I honestly thought I had scored MUCH lower than what I did. It was like Istanbul all over again waiting for my results to pop up on the screen at the end.

Used the full hour too.

Totally made up I passed and onwards to the Practitioner study.

Well done Pete, I started looking at some of the Prince 2 training stuff and it was duller than watching United v Everton.  My brain couldn't absorb more than a sentence at a time.
I've heard the exams are really tough, not only do they test your knowledge but the wording of the questions is really hard too!

Are you planning to use your new found skills to go damage some projects?

[Buck Pete]

Well done Pete, I started looking at some of the Prince 2 training stuff and it was duller than watching United v Everton.  My brain couldn't absorb more than a sentence at a time.
I've heard the exams are really tough, not only do they test your knowledge but the wording of the questions is really hard too!

Are you planning to use your new found skills to go damage some projects?

Cheers guys

Duller than an in-flight magazine produced by Air Belgium

(Kryten Red dwarf, 1997)

Nah, I actually quite enjoyed it as far as IT/Professional courses go.  My CV is already generating some interest from recruiters and got a few in the pipeline. 

Started my Practitioner course tonight as I want to get fully certified ASAP and take both certificates to any interviews.

[Buck Pete]

Brilliant Pete! Still chewing over whether to take the plunge myself, so keep an eye on your inbox in the next couple of months

Nice one mate.  Go for it.

I'd totally recommend the book recommended to me by DudleyRed.  "PRINCE2 for beginners" by Bryan Mathis.  You could probably pass the Foundation exam using this book alone but I advise on taking an official training course too. 

To be honest its the exam that is mega expensive so even without official training the exam is £400.  For an extra £100 you get the online course which covers everything in the book I mentioned and more.

Good luck and feel free to PM if you want any info.

[manx_red]

Hi all!

Cracking win last night and buzzing this morning!

Loved reading all this. Nice to see others in a similar boat to me. Loved Buck Pete’s success story with Prince2 (which I’d never heard of) congratulations!

Can you all sort my life out now please?! 

I’m 34. Academically, I have nothing in IT. I left school at 16 and I have worked my way up to be a right-hand man/office manager/Techie of a small retail business for the last 10 years. The entire business is very disorganised and is not going anywhere because the owners will never change. I’m demotivated and bored out of my skull and am looking for a way into a professional IT career with a future. I earn 30k and can afford a small drop to around 25k in the short term to cut my teeth somewhere if needs be.

I am quite handy as a general small business go-to tekky for basic IT stuff. I set up PC workstations. I can wire ethernet ports, patch cables, configure switches/routers/access points. OS installs, Hardware/Desktop builds, software installs, MS Office 365 administering exchange/sharepoint etc. I also task all web development and bug fixes to our 3rd party developers and give things the final check before they go live. Testing etc. I am a bit Windows type-cast at present, but I have mucked around with Ubuntu a bit and despite my hatred for Apple I can find my way around a Mac with help from Google too. No real server experience sadly. I’m essentially a useful and resourceful guy who finds the answer to problems with logical research, but am not a professional in any specific IT field.

I’ve spent the last few years trying to figure out what area I want to go into. I’ve dabbled with loads of free online learning courses in Python, Java, PHP and so on, I’ve discovered I just don’t like code. So web development and database code stuff is probably not for me, sadly. It’s now clear to me that I enjoy the hands-on stuff more than the coding stuff. So I guess an ‘infrastructure engineer’ is the way forward for me. The Project manager (Prince2 etc) stuff I’ve read on here is also potentially interesting. This could lean on my 3rd party web developer managing experience, but I worry I might not have enough technical knowledge for it on a larger more corporate scale.

So, with the above in mind - with not a single relevant qualification to my name and only office experience in day-to-day small business IT to show, what qualifications should I start with to get a foot in somewhere with more career prospects? I can’t seem to get an interview with my current CV.

If going the infrastructure way, do I start with ComTIA A+/Network+? Should I really tick these off? Or should I jump in deeper with CCNA? MCSE? Maybe something else? Do I need ITIL?
There’s so much out there it’s hard to know where to start. Shortcuts are great. I was hoping there’s someone reading this in the industry who does this sort of thing who can advise me the quickest way in to the industry, so I can learn on the go and get trained on the go, i.e. just tell me the best thing to study and pass short-term to get a foot into a bigger more structured business where I can develop? Or is this delusional?

Oh by the way, I also have 2 young kids and no spare time or cash for learning anything and spend what little time I have following Liverpool, reading Rawk, and tracking private jets in transfer windows 

[WAQS]

Can you all sort my life out now please?! 

Just my opinion but based on the circumstances you describe mate, the best chance you have to get into a infrastructure role is to first find a role in support  - either 1st/2nd line. Not sure what city you're in but if London then you could easily find a role on 25k+ and then one year later walk into a 2nd line role. Support roles in legal/finance pay well. I've worked in both but prefer finance. Legal is far more demanding and way too many dickhead solicitors/partners you have to put up with on a daily basis.

Also infrastructure engineer is a vanilla term and you'll have to consider at some point what area specifically interests you. You may not know this yet until you get some exposure/experience.

End User Computing
Voice
Networks
Data Backup/Restore
Cloud

Above are few areas in infrastructure. I myself started in a helpdesk role and then moved up but I'm more interested in development now and am learning python to hopefully take a step towards that one day.

[manx_red]

Just my opinion but based on the circumstances you describe mate, the best chance you have to get into a infrastructure role is to first find a role in support  - either 1st/2nd line. Not sure what city you're in but if London then you could easily find a role on 25k+ and then one year later walk into a 2nd line role. Support roles in legal/finance pay well. I've worked in both but prefer finance. Legal is far more demanding and way too many dickhead solicitors/partners you have to put up with on a daily basis.

Also infrastructure engineer is a vanilla term and you'll have to consider at some point what area specifically interests you. You may not know this yet until you get some exposure/experience.

End User Computing
Voice
Networks
Data Backup/Restore
Cloud

Above are few areas in infrastructure. I myself started in a helpdesk role and then moved up but I'm more interested in development now and am learning python to hopefully take a step towards that one day.

Thanks for this. I'm glad you say that because 1st/2nd line support is what I've been applying for so it sounds like I'm on the same wavelength. The problem is, most of them seem to want server experience using MS Server 2008/2012 or Azure. Active Directory is always top of the requirements list, and I've never used it in my current place because we don't have a server set up. We just have a peer-to-peer file sharing set up.

I have no doubt with the way I am in general, I'll be fine with minor training, but it's hard to get a foot through the door without that solid server experience on the CV. I keep toying with the idea of taking a loan out and doing a fast track MCSE Cloud Server course and exams, but that will set me back nearly 2k and I don't even know if I fully trust these fast track courses - https://www.training-square.co.uk/microsoft-mcse-mcsa-windows-2016-training/MCSE_windows_server_2016_courses.php

I guess the ideal solution would be to get a 1st/2nd line job that invests in me after probationary period and pays for my training, not asking for much am I? 

Good luck with Python. From someone else I've spoken to, I hear it's a very lucrative thing to learn right now because of the demand for Python devs. I spent a while on here https://www.learnpython.org practising but in the end decided it's just not for me.

[WAQS]

Thanks for the link. Will defo check it out.

A lot of the essential skills in 1st line can be learnt fast mate. No need to pay for courses or anything. A lot of it can be learnt by google or YouTube.

Common tasks for 1st line:

Active Directory password reset
Active Directory account unlock
Active Directory adding/removing user to a security group or distribution group

Most of the troubleshooting at 1st line level is very basic. It normally involves just killing a process via task manager or enabling an add in for any of the ms office programs which probably glitched out. Or the good old “please restart your pc” lol. Check out some YouTube videos or if you actually want to get familiar with AD you could easily set up a virtual machine at home and install Windows Server 2012 and mess about on AD creating users, groups etc.

When I was in 1st line I had the below in my CV and had no issue getting 1st line job offers.

Active Directory
MS exchange
Office 2010/2013/2016
Citrix Administration
Windows
Mac

1st line roles the most important skill is your customer service ability. Seen plenty of people in banks working in 1st line who know fuck all but know how to talk to people and keep them calm.

Happy to answer any questions

[Claire.]

You looked on the Microsoft virtual academy? there's a section on there for IT Pros/Data Pros, I believe it's all free to access.

[manx_red]

Thanks again WAQS. That's really useful advice.

Customer service isn't a problem - Plenty of experience there. It's one of my strong points (even though I hate it at managerial retail level).

I will do as you say and stick MS Server 2012 on a virtual machine to learn AD. It sounds easy enough, but equally I need to know what I'm talking about to begin with. It's great to hear I could (by the sounds of it) learn AD myself an essentially blag it to begin with. Everything else you mention (task manager, addins, crashes/restarts etc) is every day stuff I've done a million times.

Can I just ask you...
Did you do 1st line in a service provider? Or as part of a companies internal IT dept? I was hoping to avoid a service provider and work in a company IT team, as I figured it would be less intense and more lucrative on the career path with other options in the business etc. Maybe that's wrong?
How long were you doing support for? A year in 1st line, then maybe another year in 2nd line? Are you still in 2nd line? Or did you branch off elsewhere before taking an interest in Python?

Sorry if I come across nosy, it's just this is the first time I've spoken to someone who's actually done support and I'm just interested to know more about your journey. Everyone else I've spoken to in IT is either a developer telling me to learn a language in my spare time or a fat cat who just tells me to take further education, so it's great to get the thoughts of someone who's done it. Feels much more real and actually far more inspiring.

And Cheers Claire, I'll check that out too

[WAQS]

Can I just ask you...
Did you do 1st line in a service provider? Or as part of a companies internal IT dept? I was hoping to avoid a service provider and work in a company IT team, as I figured it would be less intense and more lucrative on the career path with other options in the business etc. Maybe that's wrong?
How long were you doing support for? A year in 1st line, then maybe another year in 2nd line? Are you still in 2nd line? Or did you branch off elsewhere before taking an interest in Python?

Sorry if I come across nosy, it's just this is the first time I've spoken to someone who's actually done support and I'm just interested to know more about your journey. Everyone else I've spoken to in IT is either a developer telling me to learn a language in my spare time or a fat cat who just tells me to take further education, so it's great to get the thoughts of someone who's done it. Feels much more real and actually far more inspiring.

And Cheers Claire, I'll check that out too

No problem.

1st year = 1st line support at a service provider
2nd year = 1st line support internal at a law firm
3rd year = 2nd line support in finance (public sector)
4th year (present) = 2nd line support at an investment bank

Getting bored though lol. There’s a lot of people in support in their 40s/50s who are stuck there because they kept chasing the pay rise and didn’t branch out into something else. Your goal to get to infrastructure level is a good one to begin with.

[manx_red]

Thanks again for sharing this. Totally hear what you're saying. I have a mate who works as a product owner/team leader for a large corporate business travel firm. Nothing to do with IT support, but he's keeping an eye out for a support role on the IT floor for me, and he literally told me the same thing - that there's a few 40/50 year olds who've been there for ages who are quite happy and settled but not going anywhere. I could learn from these and move on once I have the soaked up the knowledge etc. He's seen others do it before. He reckons I'd be in and out of there moving up the chain in 6-12 months.

This is all really re-assuring and I'm excited about it again. I'm going to get cracking with a Server 2012 install and start mucking around with AD 

[PaulF]

Is it worth considering persuading your current firm they need the benefits of a small domain and the joys of active directory? You don't need a beast as the domain controller but you do need a reliable backup. Don't know what industry you are in but you can probably spin a security angle to make it worth their ROI.

[manx_red]

Hi PaulF

Yeah I've approached it. The problem is, the business I'm in is way too focused on sales and trying to convince the owners to invest in IT is difficult. I've tried this approach and the answer wasn't specifically 'no' but more of a 'not now'. As a business we are always inundated with unmanageable workloads in areas we should not even be managing. I for example am geared towards IT support and web project management, yet I'm also heavily involved in customer service, HR, sales, logistics, stock control, you name it. Like spinning plates. There's no real business logic. The owners will never change etc. You get the picture. I just need to be a bit selfish and get out of here and focus on developing myself now. I've been here long enough.

[Grobbelrevell]

I think in general my advice would be to have a clear idea of where you're going and why. Without that, it's very difficult to make reasoned decisions along the way.

This is me speaking from experience, by the way. I came out of uni and after bumming around at Barclays for a couple of years I got into a Software Support role within a SaaS business. I ended up doing several years in support roles across a couple of different companies (first line, second line, team lead), eventually becoming very bored at the primarily reactive nature of the role, and frustrated at what I perceived was a lack of career progress to that point. My problem was that I didn't know what my ultimate career goal was, let alone the next step towards it, and the support role I was in had stopped challenging me. I worked alongside people, as described above, in their 40's and 50's, who had (very openly) called time on pursuing a 'career' and were happy enough to cruise along in a comfort zone. That wasn't where I was and I did fear for a period that i'd spent several years walking along what was a one-way street towards a dead end. That's how I felt. I knew I liked the relationship building/human interaction/problem solving elements of the roles, but not so much the reactive, fire-fighting nature of it all. Through a turn of fate my previous company made the decision to implement a Customer Success Management team, and asked me to move into that area and build it out from the bottom up. It's a role that I feel i'm suited to and I enjoy it; the proactive (driving towards predictive) approach, the chance to drive and influence wider strategy, but also retaining that payoff that you get in support of knowing that you've made a difference to (a) a customer - a person - and influenced their day/week/month in a positive manner, and also (b) to the business in maintaining/retaining/expanding an account and directly contributing to the bottom line. To a large extent I found my way by chance, but equally I was looking for it, and ready to grasp it. As a result I can see where I am and where i'm going again, and that's a big thing I think.

I guess what i'm getting at is; don't drift, as I did. If you don't know what you're aiming for right now then take a step back and think it through. What do you enjoy in your current role? What do you dislike? What roles are there which your current skill-set and experience would translate into and qualify you for, but which offers better prospects and/or a better fit in terms of what you enjoy? Alternatively, if the issue is the company and not so much the role, then start looking around. LinkedIn is great at allowing you to put feelers out in a subtle manner, and you never know from there. It's always good to be aware of the opportunities that are out there as well, whether you intend to pursue any of them or not. At the very least it keeps you up to speed on market rate for your area of expertise. There's nothing worse than drifting through, day after day, feeling unmotivated and unsure of yourself and your direction and we all spend far, far too much time at work to be accepting something that we don't enjoy easily. It sounds like you've got an idea on this anyway, manx_red, which is great to hear.

[manx_red]

Yes I agree with your points Grobbelrevell. At this stage I'm not worried about drifting elsewhere because the issue I've got is that I am drifting right now! I'm stuck in a business that keeps promising growth and expansion but is being let down time-and-time again by poor leadership and decision making from the top. It's clear to me now more than ever that I need to move on. I've asked myself all the questions you mention about direction and what I enjoy most, etc, for a couple of years now trying to figure it out. The segment of my current role I enjoy the most is looking after the tech in the business and helping others with their tech problems. I find that your typical office worker seems to lack the understanding (or perhaps desire?) to think for themselves and solve even the most basic general IT issues. My attitude has always been to sort it out myself through online research. It's that attitude that's essentially made me the 'techie' here. Everyone calls me for help. Password resets, crashes etc. I quite enjoy it, but I particularly enjoy installing and configuring new kit and patching new network areas, configuring routers etc. Haven't got a clue what I'm doing half the time, but that's what I like. It's satisfying being good at something through basic tenacity and research due to a general interest in the subject. That's why I have come to the conclusion an 'Infrastructure Engineer' of some capacity might be a good target for me, but it sounds like I will need to get my stripes in support 1st/2nd to begin with, as I lack an awful lot of knowledge and specific experience in this field. I guess my plan would be to do 1st/2nd support for 2-4 years, maybe try and get some certifications along the way and see what opportunities present themselves along the way. If I turn 40 and I'm still doing 2nd line support I'll let you know so you can say I told you so 

[BigAl24]

So I'm also after advice please;

I've been working at the same place now for circa 9 years and for a few months have been in bit of a rut. I've been in IT/projects now for around 3 years. I live in Bournemouth.

I was approached by a recruitment agency last week regarding a job in London - for another housing association in Kingston Upon Thames as a contractor, they are migrating to the housing management system we use and they apparently see me as a perfect candidate.

I have no real responsibilities - kids or mortgage, so I'm willing to take the risk. I live in Bournemouth so would relocate to London. They are offering me almost 4 times more than what I am on now and personally feel this could give my career the kick up the arse it needs. Due to the no kids/mortgage, I'd be willing to take into account the lessened job security.

Has anyone done any contractor work before or made the transition? Does anyone have any advice? I have a phone interview tomorrow and my gut says yes to go for it.

Cheers all 

[Claire.]

I've worked with a lot of contractors and they always say that the extra money you earn is great but you have to take into account that you might be out of work for a few months. If you're comfortable with that or like the prospect to give you a boot up the arse then cool - I'd have a look around and see how many jobs there are for your skillset, and then you know you've got somewhere to move on to when that contract ends. Also, make friends with an accountant.

You might be in a bit of a niche with your skillset.

[WAQS]

Also make sure you save up money for any periods between contracts. This is what my friend does and he always has minimum 10k in there no matter what.

[Mark Walters]

If you're contracting also remember that you may have to pay into your own pension pot and the benefits you get from being employed (sick pay, holiday pay, health and life insurance, gym membership, etc.) you will not get from being self-employed. So do the maths first.

[BigAl24]

I've worked with a lot of contractors and they always say that the extra money you earn is great but you have to take into account that you might be out of work for a few months. If you're comfortable with that or like the prospect to give you a boot up the arse then cool - I'd have a look around and see how many jobs there are for your skillset, and then you know you've got somewhere to move on to when that contract ends. Also, make friends with an accountant.

You might be in a bit of a niche with your skillset.

Also make sure you save up money for any periods between contracts. This is what my friend does and he always has minimum 10k in there no matter what.

If you're contracting also remember that you may have to pay into your own pension pot and the benefits you get from being employed (sick pay, holiday pay, health and life insurance, gym membership, etc.) you will not get from being self-employed. So do the maths first.

Thanks all. Appreciate all the advice! I've done a bit of research and in the whole of the social housing world, there are only around 150 experts on the system I refer too, so I am in a decent position!

I'd absolutely look at saving up whilst I'm earning better money too, just to ensure I am okay if the worst does come to the worst. I've worked out I would be financially so much better off. It's just weighing up everything else. I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow

[Buck Pete]

Man do it Al

I remember when i had a piddly flat with a tiny mortgage and no ties.  Was late 90's when ANY IT skills were in demand. I was into Desktop support.

Landed a contract for £40 an hour. Company down in Reading threw in a company car and paid travelling time and most of the day was spent travelling to and from site around the UK. Was fucking loaded back then. Setting up a LTD company and getting an accountant was a pain but sorted it in the end.

As time went on more and more kids were leaving school and getting qualified. The rates dropped and I went full time on a salary.

20 odd years on and our mortgage will be gone early 2020 and I defo plan to go contracting again and get back on the big bucks with no worries about spells out of work.

Incidentally AL.  Recently, I applied for a Home based (remote) Software Implementation specialist job which revolved around Housing Management Software.  Unlike you though I've no experience in it, so its a fingers crossed job they are happy for me to learn it.

[Graeme]

Which software? QL or one of the Capita / Civica offerings?

[Buck Pete]

Which software? QL or one of the Capita / Civica offerings?

A-ha Graeme. Don't know if this was aimed at me or Al but I've applied for jobs at both those you mention.

Had 2 interviews for a EPoS software Implementation role for Civica back in March during that really bad weather.  When other applicants were crying off I blagged time off work slogged though the snow (twice!) and made the interviews which appeared to go really well.  Was so excited and thought I was nailed on for the post. Didn't ever get a response either way. Was absolutely fuming as no need for ignorant shit like that. 

I've currently got an application for an Implementation job at Capita ongoing through a recruiter and have applied for a Housing Software Implementation role at Civica again but I'm not holding my breath!!

Your obviously familiar with these companies Graeme. Whats occurring?

[BigAl24]

Man do it Al

I remember when i had a piddly flat with a tiny mortgage and no ties.  Was late 90's when ANY IT skills were in demand. I was into Desktop support.

Landed a contract for £40 an hour. Company down in Reading threw in a company car and paid travelling time and most of the day was spent travelling to and from site around the UK. Was fucking loaded back then. Setting up a LTD company and getting an accountant was a pain but sorted it in the end.

As time went on more and more kids were leaving school and getting qualified. The rates dropped and I went full time on a salary.

20 odd years on and our mortgage will be gone early 2020 and I defo plan to go contracting again and get back on the big bucks with no worries about spells out of work.

Incidentally AL.  Recently, I applied for a Home based (remote) Software Implementation specialist job which revolved around Housing Management Software.  Unlike you though I've no experience in it, so its a fingers crossed job they are happy for me to learn it.

Thanks mate. If tomorrow morning goes well then I think I'm 100% going to go for it. It's a minimum 6 month contract but at £400 a day there is plenty of opportunity to almost set myself up for life in terms of paying things off, saving and getting myself n the career path I want to.

I understand patience is key but the benefits outweigh the concerns.

Housing management software is a niche market and would be easy to pick up. I'd say go for it too!

[Graeme]

Your obviously familiar with these companies Graeme. Whats occurring?

I currently work as an ICT Designer for a local authority. For the last two years I’ve been part of the COTS (Commercial of the Shelf) team, designing and implementing systems and applications for various Council departments.

As I’m part of COTS I’ve dealt with numerous divions of Civica - Legal, Financials etc. I’ll be honest, I find the service from most of them abysmal. They’ve got their fingers in so many local and central government pies that they can provide as shit as service as they want and it doesn’t make a difference. They wouldn’t survive 5 minutes in the private sector. I’ve got numerous implementations currently on hold because of flaws in there software, and 2 of my support calls have been open months. Fuck all happens until you start escalating do Director level.

[BigAl24]

The foundation course i did alot of self learning for it and had a book called: PRINCE 2 for beginners by Bryan Mathis. i found this easy to follow and it has a sample exam in the back which helped. I had an internal online package to supplement this too but i'd recommend the book.

So my recent career escapades are currently up in the air. What is it with last minute job scope changes!

In the meantime, I've treated myself and brought this book. Time to see what it's all about.

[kevlumley]

Any network engineers on here? I have had ccna routing and switching on and off for 10 years and after doing it 3 years ago, moved on to ccna voice and passed. I recently recertified using icnd2 exam, so kept ccna voice and r&s alive. I really want to step up and study and take the ccnp route exam now. Main reason is i have been at the same level for a long time, second reason, a lot of network jobs seem to be aimed at ccnp accreditation. The problem i have is limited exposure to 'real/production' networks as I'm not really a network practitioner. That being said i have an awful lot if exposure to lots of different technologies, Linux, sql, Windows server, sip, voip, vmware, cisco switches/routers, ip multicast, hp servers/chassis based blade, voice recording. I'm considering getting into something a bit more focused, like network engineering.

Any advice appreciated.

[Elmo!]

Any network engineers on here? I have had ccna routing and switching on and off for 10 years and after doing it 3 years ago, moved on to ccna voice and passed. I recently recertified using icnd2 exam, so kept ccna voice and r&s alive. I really want to step up and study and take the ccnp route exam now. Main reason is i have been at the same level for a long time, second reason, a lot of network jobs seem to be aimed at ccnp accreditation. The problem i have is limited exposure to 'real/production' networks as I'm not really a network practitioner. That being said i have an awful lot if exposure to lots of different technologies, Linux, sql, Windows server, sip, voip, vmware, cisco switches/routers, ip multicast, hp servers/chassis based blade, voice recording. I'm considering getting into something a bit more focused, like network engineering.

Any advice appreciated.

I'min a very similar position to you! I got my CCNA R & S last year but don't have access to anything at work.... it's a catch 22. Can't get a job as a network engineer (or move to network team at my work) without the experience, and can't get experience without the job.

I'm thinking about doing the CCNA Security (partly to keep my R&S active).

[kevlumley]

A colleague at work also did the Security exam and said it was hard and i think the pass criteria is more points. Definitely worth doing these days, especially if it keeps your CCNA R&S alive.