Distance learning for a MCIW cet

[Chef]

Hi guys,
i know it has very little to do with motorsport but i know a few of you are in the i.t. industry and i was after some advice.
I want to study the recognised web designer's course (MCIW) and have been offered to do it with computeach. Has any one got anything good or bad to say about them as i have heard nothing but bad comments about them on the web. Does any one know of a way of doing the course? I may have a couple of months redundancy money and time to do a classroom course. The computeach course is £4200 and i am a little ainxous about parting with my cash. Any help from anyone would be really appreciated.
See you all tonight if you are coming.
Chef.

[Nordic]

Sorry can't help with the course, you are talking about, but I would say a that as someone employs people, there are far to many web designer's looking for work.

Have you thought about a CAD design course instead. This could lead to 3d design and constustion, Boats, Cars, Airports etc, and there is fewer about.

Just a thought, Good luck

[Andy Zarse]

I agree Nordic. There are loads of web designers touting for business, we get propositioned regularly. All of them talk the talk, but if you look at their work it's of pretty variable quality (and cost).

Would have thought it was necessary to have some sort of leads or client bank before starting out on your own. You'd be better off blowing your wedge on cars, drink and women in my opinion.

[pretzel]

I agree with the other 2 postings that there are a lot of Web designers around. Most of them are looking for work as everyone seems to be 'qualified' in this particular skill and there are only so many opportunities for employment in this discipline.

If you have some spare dosh to fund your studies you need not spend anything like the £4.2K that Computeach are asking. My advice would be to take a more broad based I.T. qualification, thus widening the scope for opportunity of employment. It will also cost a lot less.

For example - my other half is currently half way through an HND in I.T. and it covers everything from Web design, networking, programming (C++ and Visual basic), database design, software implementation etc. This is part time evening study at the local uni and costs around £700 per annum. Add in around £200 per annum for reference books and the total is a lot less for a more widely based education. And you can do it while still doing a full time job.

[chrisbeatty]

Just reinforcing what others have said, I wouldn't recommend paying over £4k for a web design course, it was the "next big thing" not so long ago, everyone decided to be a web designer, as far as I'm aware work is not always easy to get hold of.

It depends on what IT background you've got & what you want to do but I would recommend in the short term doing vendor qualifications. If you're a quick learner & have half a brain you should be able to get a good level of knowledge  (A+, Network+, Internet+) by playing with a couple of computers & get yourself a support engineer job.

Hopefully your employer will help you get some more specific certifications, Cisco, Microsoft & Citrix are the more well known ones.

A degree is a good idea (I'm probably gonna end up doing one part time) but in the short term you'll need something easily recognisable & quick to gain to get you a job.

Just my tuppence worth of advice!!

[Chef]

Thanks for all your advice guys. I feel after the reasearch i may give the web designing area a miss. Sounds a bit as though they are two a' penny and will not be paying conuteach £4200. Thanks again.

[Chef]

well after recieving about 5000000000000000000000 e-mails from a variety of peolpe telling me not to study with 'conuteach, i have,  beleive it or not, decided to not study with them.
 I have been doing some more research though and was wondering if any one had heard of these. A 'MCSE' and 'MCSA' microsoft cert ngineer? Computia a+? network+? or a cicso CCNA? These are all courses available at my local college and i was wondering if they held any weight in the industry.

[jpchenet]

It all depends on what you want to do Rich?

If you want a full time job then the MCSE or Network+ would be your best bet. If you fancy the life of a contractor, then Cisco CCNA or MCSE would be good bets. The contracting market isn't as bouyant as in the past, but a you should still be lookinga t between £200 and £300 per day.

[chrisbeatty]

The A+ & Network+ certs are a basic grounding in computers & how they work. If you've got much experience in 'puters it may be better trying something more "advanced"

MCSE/MCSA are fairly common & are only good for Microsoft stuff, if you're fairly familiar with Windows & worked with computers these shouldn't be too hard with a decent set of books, but they may not be worth too much on their own (need some experience)

CCNA is a bit more specialist & may be the best way to find work, I haven't done this one but I believe you need to take refresher exams every couple of years or so.

Like I said in my last post the A+/Network+ route will be quickest & you should be able to get a support type job paying up to £20k depending on where you are/who employs you.
After a year or so you'll be well positioned to do MCSE/CCNA & look for a better job/promotion.

At the end of the day it depends what you want to do. Good luck & I'm sure you'll do fine whatever you decide on.

[Chef]

Cheers guys.
I would need a full time job based at a company as i can't drive and never will be able to (medical wonder pending). I like the sound of the national it learning course which all of the above topics and i have recieved half a dozen e-mails from people who recommend them. Just waiting for the info pack to arrive. Still waiting for the sales man of computeach to call. Have a few points to raise with him.