Which is the best FAS Course for Getting a job in IT?

Thargor

Which of these courses do you think gives you the best chance of getting a decent job do you think?

http://jobbank.fas.ie/servlet/Watis?SESS=33283_5&REQUEST=WWW_JS_TRAIN_SHOWCOURSES&BACK=TEMPLATE%3DWWW_JS_TRAIN_CRITERIUM_SELECT.HTM

Thanks.

Kipperhell

It is a very vague question. It is an entire industry so it depends on what you want to do. Like the construction industry you can be an architect or a labourer huge differences and a range between.

Why do you want to get into IT? There are many horrible jobs in IT which you most likely will need to do in order to gain any experience.

Thargor

Im in biotech/pharma at the minute and my contracts running out soon and I know people with way more experience than me that have been unemployed for a year now so Im not optomistic, Ive heard there are always jobs in IT so I figured I might as well do a course while Im on the dole and was wondering which of those look best, I suppose Id like to get into tech support most of all, or network maintenance or that kind of thing.

MysticalRain

I would be very wary of jumping in the IT industry at this point. The days when you could walk into a job are pretty much over, and in this current climate you'll be competing against people with degrees from the best universities in the country and many more years of experience than you have. Maybe switching over to something to do with green jobs might be a better bet.

AARRRGH

The best skills to have in IT are development skills. As a programmer you're pretty much at the top of the food chain.

Java and C# are probably the two hot languages at the moment. For web development PHP is pretty much numero uno.

It would also be worth writing a facebook app and an iphone app in your spare time. They would look nice on your CV.

hobochris

For many IT jobs now you need a degree to even get an interview.

I cant see you getting much more then a support role with a FAS course.

The problem with the IT industry is there there are many jobs available... for those with 5 years + experience, this fact is ignored by those who collect statistics in order to make the IT industry look favorable.

there are many IT grads who cant find work as they lack experience and very few companies are willing to take them on yet the same companies will complain that there are not enough developers, DBA's etc..

gline

Thargor wrote: »

Im in biotech/pharma at the minute and my contracts running out soon and I know people with way more experience than me that have been unemployed for a year now so Im not optomistic, Ive heard there are always jobs in IT so I figured I might as well do a course while Im on the dole and was wondering which of those look best, I suppose Id like to get into tech support most of all, or network maintenance or that kind of thing.

There arent that many IT jobs mate. I have 5 years experience in support, I had even gotten out of direct support in the last 1.5 years and havent had a job in the last 6months, not for want of trying, even applying for VERY entry level positions. im probably nowhere near the only guy in Ireland in the same possition, so IT jobs arent exactly abundunt anymore than a lot of other industries. I will say though, if you have a language e.g. Dutch,German, French etc you have a far better chance of getting an IT support job. You may have heard correctly that there are always jobs in IT, but at the moment, you will probably have very qualified guys (degrees and years of experience) looking for much lower paid jobs than they were in, so you'd be up against them with a FAS course and no experience. The most jobs I've seen these days are van drivers :P

Thargor

Alright thanks for the advice everyone, looks like I avoided making a mistake there