FIT ICTAP or Springboard conversion?

marvin2k

Hi ,

looking for opinions here.

I want to do either a FIT ICTAP apprenticeship in Software Development or a Springboard software development conversion course(have an undergrad already).

There are things that are appealing about both routes.

The FIT ICTAP is 6 months college then 18 months of 3-4 days paid work placement with a sponsor company a week and 1-2 days college. Leaving cert needed then selection is based on an aptitude test and interview with a sponsor company.

The Springboard route is a 9 month academic year in college and then a 3-6 month unpaid internship.

I imagine the Fit route is more of a guarantee of a job as you will be embedded with a company for 18 months but the conversion courses boast a high employment rate too.

The springboard courses get you a level 8 higher diploma in Software development but the Fit Ictap earns you the following;

"1st year - Diploma in ICT Technologies at Level 5, Professional Competence Award AP1 2nd year - Diploma in ICT Technologies at Level 6, Professional Competence Award AP2"

So lets say money and time commitment aside , which course do people think would be more beneficial , the higher level springboard or the lower level FIT ICTAP tech apprenticeship with much more direct experience in industry ?

Your thoughts are much appreciated

delta_bravo

I can only speak of the Springboard but I did the one in UCD a few years back. About 40 of us in the course, the majority opted to continue and do a masters so skipped the work placement but of the group of us that did the work placement I think almost all of us secured more than a placement. Like a few did grad roles in big companies like Accenture, BT. I just got a job directly after the course so didn't need a placement. I think by the the diploma year I had gotten 2-3 job offers (Now that was from dozens of applications so I'm not saying its a cakewalk either).

I thought it was a great course as someone who came from a non tech undergrad and had no problem getting work out of it.

BelovedAunt

I went through the Springboard route but from talking to colleagues who did FIT it sounds vastly superior to my experience.

RoZZaH

BelovedAunt wrote: »

I went through the Springboard route but from talking to colleagues who did FIT it sounds vastly superior to my experience.

This question is months later - but are you saying that the FIT was a better experience than Springboard.. do you know which college(s) people attend for first 6mths
Anyone feel free to chime in.
I'm interested but I've heard it's varies from county to county how organised they are - if I'm going this route I want to try to go to the best/most organised college

s7ryf3925pivug

I taught both. The springboard courses are the same as other college courses. The students are usually a bit more engaged than regular students. The hdips are high volume and can be intense. Often lecturers dont coordinate coursework well and students get several projects to do at once. From what I've seen, the best students all got decent jobs in industry usually quickly enough. Some mediocre students got decent jobs too.

The FIT courses were different in that the same subject was taught in its entirety over two weeks. My experience was that you only had a high level outline of what they needed to achieve and it was up to you to a greater extent to devise suitable content and assessment. My experience was that this was done at very short notice... So it would depend a lot more on the individual teacher as to the quality. They did facilitate a strong practical focus, which was suitable.

I taught some level 5/6 modules and they are intended to be pretty basic. I think the springboard course would be a safer bet.

RoZZaH

Thanks for your input - you may be right about springboard - of course I could do extra work/modules outside of FIT (I have been on ETB courses before and it does tend to split into motivated and not bothered (I wish they would just fail those students and be honest about it - rather than people getting qualifications for 'turning up')).

kkeith5

RoZZaH wrote: »

Thanks for your input - you may be right about springboard - of course I could do extra work/modules outside of FIT (I have been on ETB courses before and it does tend to split into motivated and not bothered (I wish they would just fail those students and be honest about it - rather than people getting qualifications for 'turning up')).

If you choose springboard really search into the best place to do it cause there is a lot of great stories where people get jobs and placement as soon as they are finished but also threads on here saying it was terrible and can’t get anything.

Harasrailltub

Jasiah Glamorous Eyeball wrote: »

I taught some level 5/6 modules and they are intended to be pretty basic. I think the springboard course would be a safer bet.

But with FIT you are embedded in a company , working part time with them and attending college too , ramping up to more time at work and less in college for last year . I would Imagine that most apprentices are then kept on by their company , so surely that would make it the safer bet ?

s7ryf3925pivug

Harasrailltub wrote: »

But with FIT you are embedded in a company , working part time with them and attending college too , ramping up to more time at work and less in college for last year . I would Imagine that most apprentices are then kept on by their company , so surely that would make it the safer bet ?

Don't know if that is the same structure as the FIT courses I taught. They involved doing full modules in two week blocks, 9-4 or something like that.

In the case you describe, really depends on who you're dealing with in the company, and whether the company want a sponsored dogsbody, or have an interest in your development. The market the way it is, I think the latter makes more sense for them.