Computer Technician Job Prospects.

Gordo84

I've been offered a place on a Computer course thats starting up soon. The Course is : Comptia A+, Computer Technician.

I have wanted to do this type of course for a few years now but was wondering what sort of job prospects are out there after i become certified. I know that experience in the computer industry helps a lot when applying for jobs but i don't have any.

If anybody has done this type of course in the past few years i would be interested to know the current employment situation in Ireland in this sector of the Computer industry.

The last thing i need is to complete this course and then find out that work in this area is scarce. With so many IT workers losing their jobs in the past few years i'm still undecided whether this would be a wise career move especially as it means leaving my current steady job of the past 4 years although i am very interested in pursuing a career as a Comp. Technician. Decisions, Decisions !!!

Thanks in advance for any replys.

eth0_

Shoulda really put this in the college or work forums but whatever....
A+ is a good cert but isn't great on its own. I'd advise you to do MCSE/MCSA or unix or cisco certs, whatever your personal preference is. This will make you much more employable.

Fas do a great course, I forget the name but basically you do A+ N+ cisco, loads of stuff over the course of 18 months, and its free and you get the dole Two of my mates are on it and it sounds pretty good.

Gordo84

Yeah, I thought this question might be in the wrong forum but what the heck.

Eth0, whereabouts are your mates taking the course. I did hear that F.A.S do a good technician course. Will definately look into it. Thanks for the advice.

eth0_

Originally posted by Gordo84
Yeah, I thought this question might be in the wrong forum but what the heck.

Eth0, whereabouts are your mates taking the course. I did hear that F.A.S do a good technician course. Will definately look into it. Thanks for the advice.

Don't worry, someone will move it to the right forum
One friend is doing it in Dundalk FAS, the other in Tipperary.

Beruthiel

I'll move it over to the work forum
B

RicardoSmith

Originally posted by Gordo84
....If anybody has done this type of course in the past few years i would be interested to know the current employment situation in Ireland in this sector of the Computer industry...

I think its picking up a little. Companies will always need someone on site to fix problems and troubleshoot. But I think you'll a few qualifications to get anywhere, at least until you have some experience. Especially those MCSE/MCSA or unix or cisco certs. Some technicians get paid well but overall I won't say the wages are anything special.

DUX

Short life for IT people (me included)... give it 5 years and the all big IT multinationals will move to Eastern Europe or India, as a result I think many people with strong IT skills will remain unemployed in the medium-long term.

WhiteWashMan

dont do a course for A+

its easy, and all you need is the book. it tells you all you need to know.

if oyu are going to do a course, then get something more worthwhile for your money, A+ is strictly for entry level desktop support. It may get you a job, but you will be fixing printer jams and plugging in monitors.

courses to look at for the future are information management and data management or security.
if you want to be technical, do Linux.

Emboss

Originally posted by WhiteWashMan
dont do a course for A+

its easy, and all you need is the book. it tells you all you need to know.

if oyu are going to do a course, then get something more worthwhile for your money, A+ is strictly for entry level desktop support. It may get you a job, but you will be fixing printer jams and plugging in monitors.

courses to look at for the future are information management and data management or security.
if you want to be technical, do Linux.

Have to agree with wwm, A+ could be done while waiting on a bus.....

a quick read before bed, you get the idea the book is about 50 quid

put a bit of effort in you should have it done in a week...

if you're serious about IT A+ is not really the way to go

like wwm said it's basic entry level for a desktop support monkey...

Cake Fiend

Originally posted by Gordo84
it means leaving my current steady job of the past 4 years although i am very interested in pursuing a career as a Comp. Technician.

IMO, if you were that interested, you would have done something about it by now. My advice would be similar to previous advice on this thread, namely to study by yourself for the basic exams such as A+ and Network+. Do this while you're still in your old job - it's easy. Get a couple of books (I'd reccommend Mike Meyers' A+ book for an easy introduction and maybe a Sybex book for the N+) and read a couple of hours a day, making sure to try out your new-learned skills on a real computer if possible.

When you get your basics down, you'll want to look at Linux+, Security+, CCNA, MCSE, etc. Maybe get a bit of programming in for a bit of rounding out. You don't want to be doing monkey work like changing floppy drives for the next four years.

Stephen

What kind of pay rates do the monkey-work entry level types get these days?

<- graduating next year if all goes well

WhiteWashMan

i used to get 15 of your old irish punts, and after a year and a half i was on about 18,500.
but then again, i pretty much knew everything that was in A+ and then some, so i have no ideas what an entry level support person would earn. about 12k i suppose, or 15kish in euro?
who knows.

basic IT support is not the way to go. the market is completely saturated with a lot of under trained technicians, and under qualified engineers. its brought the wage you can command down unless you are a top level engineer, boarding on consultancy. and that takes a lot of years and a lot of effort to get to. but if thats what you want to do, because the enjoyment of the job will make up for the crap pay.

a decent support person in the UK will command about 18-25k sterling, but you will have to know your stuff.

i would also suggest Stephen that if you are graduating with a degree, desktop support will be a bit beneath you (as most graduates think ) surely you have an idea of what you want to do, rather than do support because you know how to build a computer and play quake on the college lan?

vibe666

you really need to specialize in something these days. as has been said already, people with basic it skills are 10 a penny, so you need to specialize in something and get qualified in that. have a look at the IT jobsites and see what's in demand, out of what you find there pick something you think you could do and take a course.

FAS are probably the easiest to get onto.

seamus

Originally posted by Stephen
What kind of pay rates do the monkey-work entry level types get these days?

<- graduating next year if all goes well

Tech support?
Contract, around €10 an hour, permanent around €17.5k a year.

Anything less is taking the piss even more than these rates are.
If you want to do tech support, to get your foot in the door as it were, ideally go for desk-side or internal. Customer support, especially if it's specialising in one area, is absolutely horrible.

Be careful of over-selling yourself. I've had a couple of places tell me I was overqualified for jobs worth about €22k a year to me, despite having zero experience. So now I have a couple of different CVs for each type of job (one for support, one for admin, etc etc).

Stephen

Originally posted by WhiteWashMan
ii would also suggest Stephen that if you are graduating with a degree, desktop support will be a bit beneath you (as most graduates think ) surely you have an idea of what you want to do, rather than do support because you know how to build a computer and play quake on the college lan?

Yeah, but the job market here seems so shítty at the moment, any experience would be good. I am supposed to be going on a 6 month work placement this year through the college, currently hunting for a job for that (had an aptitude test for an internal support job in glanbia yesterday, actually, but I know of at least 3 others going for the same job).
I'd like to do some network admin type stuff ('specially since I'm doing a computer networking degree). I know some basic cisco ios and all the usual windows networking stuff. Linux/unix and the like tend to scare me though :eek:

Mac daddy

Originally posted by Stephen
What kind of pay rates do the monkey-work entry level types get these days?

About 18.500 to if your lucky 21.000

vibe666

if you don't mind contracting you can make quite a bit of cash if you manage to keep yourself busy. the only problem is the work can be a bit sporadic.

easiest thing to do to get your foot in the door contracting would be doing desktop rollouts. the work is varied and if you keep poking your nose in you can learn lots of things you might not normally get exposed to in a straight admin/support role.

that and the work is usually very diverse, despite the similar nature of 'putting machines on desks' in any office.

zAbbo

Is that dundalk course :

Computer and Communications Technician Traineeship

seamus

Prospects have definitely picked up a lot in the new year. Last week I applied for 2 jobs, and have since received 4 phone calls, 2 emails and have 2 interviews lined up, all about different jobs, from 3 different recruitment companies. Now, all the jobs aren't great, but recruitment companies definitely have more stuff on their books to offer you.

vibe666

yeah, i've found that too. seems to be lots about at the moment, and from what the agencies have been telling me it's still picking up speed too.

Stephen

Originally posted by bazH
Is that dundalk course :

Computer and Communications Technician Traineeship

no idea if this is directed at me or not, so...

I'm in Carlow IT, doing a degree in computer networking. Third year now, exams in about 3 weeks :eek: