Looking for recommendations for short IT courses

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Hatch

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#289775 28-Sep-2021 17:11

I'm looking at retraining and switching into an IT career.

I have a tertiary qualification and have worked in my current industry for 10 years, but AI will take over my job in the next decade.

I've always been quite IT savy on a laymans level I suppose, but am interested to retrain for a role in IT.

A colleague who did the same a number of years ago did a bootcamp course in Java and now works in Cyber Security.

I'm not really looking to do a full degree but perhaps some short formal course, and then do Microsoft certifications etc in my own time.

I'm realistic and I would be happy to start off in a customer service role at any point in this progression.

I'm just wondering if anyone can recommend any formal short courses.

There is a Postgraduate Certificate in Information Technology at Auckland Uni, and it would be useful at least for me to have some structured teaching although I anticipate the content would be quite light.

https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/study/study-options/find-a-study-option/postgraduate-certificate-in-information-technology-pgcertinfotech.html

Would be grateful for any insights, or recommendations.

BlakJak

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#2785827 28-Sep-2021 17:25

Depending on the direction you want to go, i'd say the CompTIA A+ and afterwards perhaps the like of N+ courses are the place to start

https://auldhouse.co.nz/training/a-comptia-a

Of course there's a big difference between a week long course and a course that runs for a half year or a full year. But if you're already tertiary qualified and you're looking to start in a customer service or support role then all you really need to be able to do is demonstrate good levels of competence in the use of IT systems (and be able to explain these things to others) plus being able to connect-the-dots to troubleshoot problems, and correctly use basic management tools to administer devices and user accounts etc.

Being an effective communicator will help you both on the job and at interview stage.

I'd say work on getting a role where you can dip your toes in, and see what path you might like to take for more speciality.

If you do decide to go down the network/systems routes then you can get into the likes of N+

https://auldhouse.co.nz/training/n-comptia-network

... or you could enroll into something more substantial.

The fun part of IT is that it is heavily leveraged by basically every other industry so you may find that you can make your past experience coupled with your IT abilities, into something quite special and enjoyable.

Another thought: Not all IT roles are technical. Consider roles like Technical Writer or Business Analyst - sometimes it's just about an ability to collate user requirements, compare them to the capabilities of tools and systems/packages, write up results, create good SOPs or processes... all these things are needed skillsets across the wider IT sector too. Not to mention project management, procurement, change management, asset management... in larger organisations these become specialties all of their own.

Good luck!

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Lias

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#2785969 28-Sep-2021 23:14

I'm grossly generalising but having worked in IT for a couple of decades, nearly half of which has been at tertiary providers my 2 cents:

Uni degrees focus on computer science (e.g. theory, maths etc), which is mostly of use to developers and well. computer scientists.
Polytech courses sometimes have large amounts of outdated and/or irrelevant content, but the places that combine the coursework with industry certification related training tend to be decent.
- Not that either is close for you, but ARA (formerly CPIT) offers some great content as a Cisco Network Academy and Microsoft IT Academy and I've heard anecdotally that SIT's courses are good.
PTE's offering IT courses around industry certs (e.g. Computer Power Plus/WhiteCliffe, Vision College, etc) can be decent, but it depends on the course and the instructor
Industry related PTE's short courses (e.g. Microsoft course at Ace, Auldhouse etc) are useful if you get a half decent instructor, but are staggeringly expensive for what you get (e.g. I'll happily do them if work pays, but would never pay for them myself)

To recommend something really requires some idea of what path(s) in IT you think might be of interest to you. There's a relative wealth of free online training that you could dabble in to try and figure that out if you're not sure.

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Hatch

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#2786062 29-Sep-2021 08:20

BlakJak: Depending on the direction you want to go, i'd say the CompTIA A+ and afterwards perhaps the like of N+ courses are the place to start https://auldhouse.co.nz/training/a-comptia-a Of course there's a big difference between a week long course and a course that runs for a half year or a full year. But if you're already tertiary qualified and you're looking to start in a customer service or support role then all you really need to be able to do is demonstrate good levels of competence in the use of IT systems (and be able to explain these things to others) plus being able to connect-the-dots to troubleshoot problems, and correctly use basic management tools to administer devices and user accounts etc. Being an effective communicator will help you both on the job and at interview stage. I'd say work on getting a role where you can dip your toes in, and see what path you might like to take for more speciality. If you do decide to go down the network/systems routes then you can get into the likes of N+ https://auldhouse.co.nz/training/n-comptia-network ... or you could enroll into something more substantial. The fun part of IT is that it is heavily leveraged by basically every other industry so you may find that you can make your past experience coupled with your IT abilities, into something quite special and enjoyable. Another thought: Not all IT roles are technical. Consider roles like Technical Writer or Business Analyst - sometimes it's just about an ability to collate user requirements, compare them to the capabilities of tools and systems/packages, write up results, create good SOPs or processes... all these things are needed skillsets across the wider IT sector too. Not to mention project management, procurement, change management, asset management... in larger organisations these become specialties all of their own. Good luck!

Thank you for your input, I'm keenly interested in dev work, and code so will be looking at those types of courses and jobs ultimately.

Hatch

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#2786064 29-Sep-2021 08:24

Lias:

I'm grossly generalising but having worked in IT for a couple of decades, nearly half of which has been at tertiary providers my 2 cents:

Uni degrees focus on computer science (e.g. theory, maths etc), which is mostly of use to developers and well. computer scientists.
Polytech courses sometimes have large amounts of outdated and/or irrelevant content, but the places that combine the coursework with industry certification related training tend to be decent.

Not that either is close for you, but ARA (formerly CPIT) offers some great content as a Cisco Network Academy and Microsoft IT Academy and I've heard anecdotally that SIT's courses are good.
PTE's offering IT courses around industry certs (e.g. Computer Power Plus/WhiteCliffe, Vision College, etc) can be decent, but it depends on the course and the instructor
Industry related PTE's short courses (e.g. Microsoft course at Ace, Auldhouse etc) are useful if you get a half decent instructor, but are staggeringly expensive for what you get (e.g. I'll happily do them if work pays, but would never pay for them myself)
To recommend something really requires some idea of what path(s) in IT you think might be of interest to you. There's a relative wealth of free online training that you could dabble in to try and figure that out if you're not sure.

Thank you for your input, I've been speaking to some friends who work in IT, and I believe what would really interest me would be dev work/coding etc.

I'm currently looking at the Dev Academy course and it looks really good. I'm not sure how selective or difficult it is to get in, but I think I can draft up a pretty compelling application/expression of interest.

BlakJak

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#2792801 10-Oct-2021 19:59

Hatch:
BlakJak: Depending on the direction you want to go, i'd say the CompTIA A+ and afterwards perhaps the like of N+ courses are the place to start https://auldhouse.co.nz/training/a-comptia-a Of course there's a big difference between a week long course and a course that runs for a half year or a full year. But if you're already tertiary qualified and you're looking to start in a customer service or support role then all you really need to be able to do is demonstrate good levels of competence in the use of IT systems (and be able to explain these things to others) plus being able to connect-the-dots to troubleshoot problems, and correctly use basic management tools to administer devices and user accounts etc. Being an effective communicator will help you both on the job and at interview stage. I'd say work on getting a role where you can dip your toes in, and see what path you might like to take for more speciality. If you do decide to go down the network/systems routes then you can get into the likes of N+ https://auldhouse.co.nz/training/n-comptia-network ... or you could enroll into something more substantial. The fun part of IT is that it is heavily leveraged by basically every other industry so you may find that you can make your past experience coupled with your IT abilities, into something quite special and enjoyable. Another thought: Not all IT roles are technical. Consider roles like Technical Writer or Business Analyst - sometimes it's just about an ability to collate user requirements, compare them to the capabilities of tools and systems/packages, write up results, create good SOPs or processes... all these things are needed skillsets across the wider IT sector too. Not to mention project management, procurement, change management, asset management... in larger organisations these become specialties all of their own. Good luck!

Thank you for your input, I'm keenly interested in dev work, and code so will be looking at those types of courses and jobs ultimately.

Loads of dev-type work in a variety of roles.

You can create apps or Web-apps.

But also consider systems administration also can heavily leverage dev skills. Automation, Infrastructure-as-Code, that sort of thing.

Another piece of advice I have is not to silo yourself too quickly. Also, the best dev's I know have solid all-round technical nous, especially for things that interact with the Internet.

Good luck!

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dt

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#2793025 11-Oct-2021 10:27

Some good advice above! programming, devops, automation are huge growth sectors in IT.

Anything security related is also really good path to take, our Cisco rep said they currently have 2000!! security related vacancies world wide at the moment

I imagine there would be 10's of 1000's more when you think of all the other security vendors combined.

The last 3 companies including my current it's been a huge board level focus with some serious $$ being paid to the experts in their field... I recently paid an eye watering invoice for a pen test + remediation.

AI/Machine learning is also in a huge growth stage with very big shortages and commanding top dollar even for graduates.. if I was to retrain id definitely be looking at taking the security/ai/machine learning route

*looks at 2022 courses*

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Hatch

816 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 57

#2793035 11-Oct-2021 10:48

dt:

Some good advice above! programming, devops, automation are huge growth sectors in IT.

Anything security related is also really good path to take, our Cisco rep said they currently have 2000!! security related vacancies world wide at the moment

I imagine there would be 10's of 1000's more when you think of all the other security vendors combined.

The last 3 companies including my current it's been a huge board level focus with some serious $$ being paid to the experts in their field... I recently paid an eye watering invoice for a pen test + remediation.

AI/Machine learning is also in a huge growth stage with very big shortages and commanding top dollar even for graduates.. if I was to retrain id definitely be looking at taking the security/ai/machine learning route

*looks at 2022 courses*

Thanks for your input, I have a former colleague who retrained in IT a number of years ago and now works in cyber security, sounds really interesting.

AI is one of the reasons I decided to make the jump as I can see large parts of my job becoming redundant as a good AI system could automate much of what I do in the next 10 years or so. It would be amazing to get involved in AI too.

Hatch

816 posts

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#2793070 11-Oct-2021 11:40

BlakJak:

Loads of dev-type work in a variety of roles. You can create apps or Web-apps. But also consider systems administration also can heavily leverage dev skills. Automation, Infrastructure-as-Code, that sort of thing. Another piece of advice I have is not to silo yourself too quickly. Also, the best dev's I know have solid all-round technical nous, especially for things that interact with the Internet. Good luck!

Thank you for the input. I've submitted an EOI to the Dev Academy, and will try and get a place in one of their 2022 intakes. It's super competitive atm so will have to do my best and hope for the best.

Have started doing some freecodecamp courses to get used to CSS, Javascript and HTML and will work on this through summer as my job finishes up this year. Will try and find some githubs and other projects which interest me to find an outlet for practicing coding etc. Hopefully when lockdown in Auckland ends I can join IT/coding meetups and get involved with people and projects (even as a volunteer).

The advice about not overspecialising is something I will bear in mind, Thanks again.