Quote from: Adrock on August 01, 2012, 18:39:06 PM
Maybe I'll have to look into other career paths. I really have no clue as to what I want to do. I quit university having sat all of my exams and not completing the final project, in Computer Science. So I have a degree without honours, basically not worth the paper its written on.

I also am now a fully qualified electrician but dont want to be working on site anymore.

Maybe have a look at networking, some skills you can transfer from there. I was thinking about doing the opposite & quiting IT for an electrician course. Can you add plumbing certs/gas safe to your spark & go it alone? my stepdad was a spark & went to quantity surveying, now he's a project manager, so it must lead to somewhere!

What about applying your skills to another position?

Project management etc...

As for Certs to get. No one actually cares about itil. The cost of training someone in itil is negligible and most large it companies have e-learning programmes just for that, if not they do as mine did, threw us in an office for 2 days with an instructor and just got us all to be itil practitioners. It's not something that would get you through a door, at least in my opinion.

I would concentrate on things that are specialisms. If you want to be infrastructure support (or rollout monkey) go for your VMware, Cisco, red hat, Microsoft Certs.

If you want to be security (auditing, accreditation) go for your cissp, clas.

Want to be a penetration tester get your tigerscheme AST or QSTM or Crest CRT

Want to be a software tester get your ITSB? (not sure on name but there is a qual for it)

Project management get prince2 done.

Developer look at scjp, mcsd, etc...

System design architecture look at MODAF, DODAF, etc

A mate of mine went from medieval English degree, working in call centre selling books for 4 years, sat a self funded prince2 qualification and walked into an assistant project manager role at a large it firm, sure they were only on 26k due to their experience and previous salary being 13kish but it was a step on the ladder.

Unless you can relate your experience to your potential job it means naff all, you'll be starting from scratch again. Though to give an idea of salaries.

Grads at my company start at 26 to 28k (I started on 21k in 2007)

I'm about to hit almost double my starting wage after 5 years working in the company. Came in with a not very outstanding 2.2 compsci degree and nowt else. Now I'm a current RHCE, QSTM, itil practitioner all training paid for by the company (moral being if they need you to have it, they'll train you to have it)

Providing you know your stuff and can convey this in an interview all a cert does is tick boxes on a CV filter or salary offer.

The salaries mentioned above are indicative of "proper IT" jobs though, not just support desk monkey jobs as they'll be paid peanuts.

Quote from: M3ta7h3ad on August 03, 2012, 00:26:22 AM
Want to be a software tester get your ITSB? (not sure on name but there is a qual for it)

ISEB? Although I believe this may have changed since...

Prince seems to be quite a good "generic" qualification, it's not just limited to project management, it's applicable to a lot of roles, ideally get someone to pay for it though..

Quote from: XEntity on August 03, 2012, 16:30:33 PM

Quote from: M3ta7h3ad on August 03, 2012, 00:26:22 AM
Want to be a software tester get your ITSB? (not sure on name but there is a qual for it)

ISEB? Although I believe this may have changed since...

Prince seems to be quite a good "generic" qualification, it's not just limited to project management, it's applicable to a lot of roles, ideally get someone to pay for it though..

Six Sigma may be a better option than prince2, it really depends on what the employer is looking for though. ITIL is worth doing to get a foot in the door with bigger organisations, because the basic course is cheap. Once in, then you decide on a career path - but then its also down to what the company is looking for. At the end of the day, anyone can get certifications, it doesnt mean they are capable of doing the job in a working enviroment.