Who is this blog for?

Hi,

I have decided to to write this blog, for people who are looking to start or are currently studying for any kind of IT related certification.

I am currently studying to become a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) and i am finding it tough (very tough actually). I was sold the course about 18 months ago by an online training provider. I wanted to start a career in IT and wanted a qualification or certification to help me get my first IT job. At the time i didn't really know to much about what certification was right for me, so i arranged a meeting with the training provider to see what they had to offer me. I thought that they would obviously know what employers wanted, what certification would be right for my experience level and so on. After we discussed the options they had available, i decided i wanted to go for the MCSE. After all i had seen jobs on job site for £25000+ for MCSE's. I explained that i had a good knowledge of computers, but had never worked in an IT environment. I was told that this wasn't a problem as the MCSE wasn't too hard and would take about 12 months to complete, he told me that a lot of people pass in about 6 months and i could to if i do about 2 hours studying a day. I paid the £3100 for the course and felt very excited, i was going to be an MCSE in 12 months (or soon if i knuckle down) and get a great job. Boy was i mislead.

After about a week i received 2 big (and heavy boxes) with all the course material. I opened the boxes up, i had 7 big Microsoft books (one for each exam), 9 books that had been written by a tutor who works for the training provider, a book on starting an IT career and all the log on details for the online material. At the time i was quite happy it seemed i had received everything i needed to pass the exams.

I first had to complete some tests before i could start the Microsoft stuff. They were quite easy and i thought, great this will be a breeze. I passed them in a couple of weeks, i just remember thinking if i work hard i could get it done in a few months.

I then started the first Microsoft book (for the 70-270 exam) after a few chapters i was thinking this was very hard. Most stuff i had read about i didn't even know was possible. I thought this must be a hard book, so i read a chapter of the 70-291 book, that was even more confusing, i then knew that this was going to be a hard slog.

I have now discovered that the MCSE is designed for people with 12-18 months experience of administering servers and the stuff i paid £3100 for i could get it all and pay the exam fees for little over £1000. I have been working with servers for almost 18 months in my new job and i have passed 2 exams, so i still have 5 more but it is all making sense now.

So basically i got screwed by a training provider, who sold me a course i wasn't ready for. I want to try and help people, so they don't make the same mistake.