IT (Information Technology) courses

[StookEB]

This year i'm doing a Diploma of Information Technology (systems Administration) at Tuncury Tafe.
I have some Experience (volunteering sought of) at a local computer store troubleshooting computers. I like working with desktops and small networks (little experience with networks yet).
I'm looking at doing this Microsoft Certiication soon- MCDST

Are here know any other Courses I can do that anybody, such as repairing printers and such?

Just looking at my options and also if anyone knows of anywhere looking for people. I talked to some more stores but there is not alot around here. There are a few shops around though.

Thanks.

[the_scotsman]

Unfortunately, every man and his dog does PC and periphal repair.

I would recommend you start learning a lot more about networking as that is the main area where you will find good jobs.

I have a B/Eng in Computer Networks & Distributed Systems, which I loved doing and found it was the best option for looking at getting a good paying job. Theres so much to learn in networking/admin you'll always be learning new stuff.

[Outbackjack]

The sad truth about IT at the moment is that it is heading down the Redhat (linux) path. Its cheap, companies love it because its cheap. Do a RHCT/RHCE certification. If you are really interested, do a RHCA as well. It is at best a dodgy OS but it will over time get better.

Good luck with it.

When do you plan on moving to Bangalore?? :

[Josh_XC]

I agree most good IT jobs now require u to know Citrix systems and Linux OS. So i agree learn them i reckon just have a look at seek for computer/IT management jobs they all require knowledge of Linux systems and high networking capabilities.

[frost]

Do What I do, Work Onsite IT for a big MINE

[StookEB]

Originally Posted by Outbackjack

The sad truth about IT at the moment is that it is heading down the Redhat (linux) path. Its cheap, companies love it because its cheap. Do a RHCT/RHCE certification. If you are really interested, do a RHCA as well. It is at best a dodgy OS but it will over time get better.

Good luck with it.

When do you plan on moving to Bangalore?? :

I have never used linux, so before I better learn about it then. I'm trying not to get into website development or programming because I can't stand it, last year I got a pass in that subject while the networking and hardware subjects i got distinctions.

Don't understand your last comment?

[StookEB]

If I get high marks in the diploma I can possibly get 18 months to 2 years off a degree at Newcastle or Southern Cross University.
But I would like to get some experience before I go to university so does anyone have some advice about what type of job I could help me do this. Just a basic support job or something like that?

Is Linux a language while Redhat is an actual company?

[kieran23]

Linux is an Operating System, RedHat is one of the many vendors that supply linux distributions. A great one to try out if you are learning is Ubuntu. I use it extensively at work and it has saved my budget many thousands of dollars.
Linux is best learnt on your own through hours of experimentation, dont waste money on courses. The learning curve is steep but very rewarding as you will learn more about computers in general than you will learn in any Windows based course.

[Outbackjack]

Originally Posted by EArulz

I have never used linux, so before I better learn about it then. I'm trying not to get into website development or programming because I can't stand it, last year I got a pass in that subject while the networking and hardware subjects i got distinctions.

Don't understand your last comment?

I was trying to get across the message that Australia's IT industry is going to the Indian industry. Why pay an Australian IT profesional 7 or 8 thousand a month when an Indian will do it for $2 to $4 hundred a month.

These are not off the cuff figures, this is what I am dealing with at the moment.

Good luck. Cheers.

[kieran23]

Originally Posted by Outbackjack

I was trying to get across the message that Australia's IT industry is going to the Indian industry. Why pay an Australian IT profesional 7 or 8 thousand a month when an Indian will do it for $2 to $4 hundred a month.

These are not off the cuff figures, this is what I am dealing with at the moment.

Good luck. Cheers.

I have often wondered if/when certain functions outsourced to India would make there way back on shore due to a massive decrease in quality. I have heard of a rather large IT company not sending any more large programming contracts offshore due to the atrocious quality of the work produced. Sure the cheap labour looks attractive initially but down the track when you lose market share due to a shoddy product it doesnt seem so cheap then.

[Outbackjack]

Originally Posted by kieran23

I have often wondered if/when certain functions outsourced to India would make there way back on shore due to a massive decrease in quality. I have heard of a rather large IT company not sending any more large programming contracts offshore due to the atrocious quality of the work produced. Sure the cheap labour looks attractive initially but down the track when you lose market share due to a shoddy product it doesnt seem so cheap then.

Very true observation. But sadly our bean counters and polititions are only looking at their own short term well being. Profit wil always take priority over quality. I booked some qantas tickets last night for my wife and kids holiday in Malaysia. I spoke to a lovely Aussie lady that could have not beeen more helpful. She said that she was only there for a few more weeks and from then on, speak to an Indian. Great.

[sgt_doofey]

Originally Posted by Outbackjack

Redhat (linux) ... It is at best a dodgy OS but it will over time get better.

I would have to disagree with that statement Outbackjack. Linux (all flavours of it) is probably a more stable OS than Windows XP or prior. I used to support point-of-sale systems running on Redhat all around Australia in my last job. The most uptime I saw on one of those PC's was 354 days. That is 354 days without having the PC turned off. Try doing that with a Windows PC and see how reliable it is.
For the record, the PC that was on for 354 days was only rebooted as there was a power failure at the store. It probably would have continued on for another year without a reboot if the power wasn't cut.

To the OP, perhaps try a recruitment agency and perhaps aim for some help desk work, or perhaps desktop support? Should be able to get some experience with a range of different functions, depending on which company you end up at. Perhaps even look at doing some unpaid work experience somewhere to help get some experience to land a job somewhere.

[Outbackjack]

Originally Posted by sgt_doofey

I would have to disagree with that statement Outbackjack. Linux (all flavours of it) is probably a more stable OS than Windows XP or prior. I used to support point-of-sale systems running on Redhat all around Australia in my last job. The most uptime I saw on one of those PC's was 354 days. That is 354 days without having the PC turned off. Try doing that with a Windows PC and see how reliable it is.
For the record, the PC that was on for 354 days was only rebooted as there was a power failure at the store. It probably would have continued on for another year without a reboot if the power wasn't cut.

To the OP, perhaps try a recruitment agency and perhaps aim for some help desk work, or perhaps desktop support? Should be able to get some experience with a range of different functions, depending on which company you end up at. Perhaps even look at doing some unpaid work experience somewhere to help get some experience to land a job somewhere.

No argument from me. XP is a Home/hobby OS. I work with systems that have been running 24X7 for 6 years (no down time). If you want stability go with anything but linux and microsoft. Linux has a habit of just stopping and the giving very little info on why....

Cheers.

[atec77]

Originally Posted by EArulz

I have never used linux, so before I better learn about it then. I'm trying not to get into website development or programming because I can't stand it, last year I got a pass in that subject while the networking and hardware subjects i got distinctions.

Don't understand your last comment?

I suggest you get a grip on the debian based o/s like umbuntu or the one I use Mepis , also redhat/suse is handy and of course learn some citrix and vmware .

[atec77]

Originally Posted by Outbackjack

I was trying to get across the message that Australia's IT industry is going to the Indian industry. Why pay an Australian IT profesional 7 or 8 thousand a month when an Indian will do it for $2 to $4 hundred a month.

These are not off the cuff figures, this is what I am dealing with at the moment.

Good luck. Cheers.

COnsidering the slow rate of work produced and often the poor quality off shore it's not a wonderfaul saving in the long run as many find out , at least a local can be abused in person with effect .

[Sprint347]

i'd go straight for your MCP then get your foot in the door with a Tech Support job to build experience... the market's screaming for staff at the moment

[sleepa]

Mate, if you want to give an IT career a kick in the guts come on down to Canberra. The market here is screaming for staff, if you've got half a brain and any work ethic whatsoever you'll walk straight into a tech support/helpdesk role with one of the big players. (Telstra, IBM, EDS, etc).

Just be warned that the rental market is pretty nasty too so the cost of living isn't as cheap as people think.

[XPcoupe]

Originally Posted by Outbackjack

The sad truth about IT at the moment is that it is heading down the Redhat (linux) path. Its cheap, companies love it because its cheap. Do a RHCT/RHCE certification. If you are really interested, do a RHCA as well. It is at best a dodgy OS but it will over time get better.

I have been in IT for 15 years now and work for one of the largest IT out sourcing companies in Australia and there are 5 MS guys to every UNIX guy and we are reducing the UNIX staff all the time. No one is using it. I see it all the time, Small companies look at Unix as they are tight ****'s, but they all end up relizing that you have to go with MS get the best result. I know it is sad but true. I am yet to log onto a UNIX box.

I suggest becoming a Specialist in section of MS. or product people will put on top of the MS environment.

I am a Messaging specialist, and also do Vaulting and VMWare. have your finger in a few pies just to be safe. I am qualified in all of them and keep on top of it all.

Just remember you will never stop learning in IT so you will need to be willing to always be studying.

[robjh80]

Originally Posted by frost

Do What I do, Work Onsite IT for a big MINE

True......or get yourself into one of the large government dept's.

[sleepa]

Originally Posted by XPcoupe

I have been in IT for 15 years now and work for one of the largest IT out sourcing companies in Australia and there are 5 MS guys to every UNIX guy and we are reducing the UNIX staff all the time. No one is using it. I see it all the time, Small companies look at Unix as they are tight ****'s, but they all end up relizing that you have to go with MS get the best result. I know it is sad but true. I am yet to log onto a UNIX box.

I think that is a situation that differs between organisations. I also work for a large outsourcer and the only thing we use MS servers for is .Net infrastructure. Everything else runs on unix. Bottom line here is that MS gear is not considered adequate to run enterprise level infrastructure and is avoided wherever possible. Interestingly enough we also have more MS people than unix techs, however run a LOT more unix gear, I think that speaks volumes..............

[XPcoupe]

Originally Posted by sleepa

I think that is a situation that differs between organisations. I also work for a large outsourcer and the only thing we use MS servers for is .Net infrastructure. Everything else runs on unix. Bottom line here is that MS gear is not considered adequate to run enterprise level infrastructure and is avoided wherever possible. Interestingly enough we also have more MS people than unix techs, however run a LOT more unix gear, I think that speaks volumes..............

All interesting but I see the reverse. UNIX can not support Enterprise enviroments and I keep removing it from teir one clients and set them up for MS platforms. UNIX just becomes why to complicated and unreliable to maintain a enterprise enivroment and the clients have issues with it's lack of compatilbity with thrid party products. we must be keeping each other in a job.

[StookEB]

Thanks guys for the comments I'll try and learn both, does anyone know any websites with some info?
Experimentation would be good but do you have to pay for these linux operatinng systems?

If you can get them easily i'll install them on my second hard drive, but do I have to get special drives for my devices?

[sleepa]

Originally Posted by EArulz

Experimentation would be good but do you have to pay for these linux operatinng systems?

If you can get them easily i'll install them on my second hard drive, but do I have to get special drives for my devices?

you can get ubuntu linux free here.
Note that most businesses that use unix still use the comercial unix OS' such as Solaris, AIX, HP-UX etc, however understanding linux will give you a reasonable start.

[JC]

Originally Posted by XPcoupe

I have been in IT for 15 years now and work for one of the largest IT out sourcing companies in Australia and there are 5 MS guys to every UNIX guy and we are reducing the UNIX staff all the time. No one is using it. I see it all the time, Small companies look at Unix as they are tight ****'s, but they all end up relizing that you have to go with MS get the best result. I know it is sad but true. I am yet to log onto a UNIX box.

I suggest becoming a Specialist in section of MS. or product people will put on top of the MS environment.

I am a Messaging specialist, and also do Vaulting and VMWare. have your finger in a few pies just to be safe. I am qualified in all of them and keep on top of it all.

Just remember you will never stop learning in IT so you will need to be willing to always be studying.

I work in IT for a large Gov Dept in canberra, and I have no qualifications in IT at all. But then I'm not a propellerhead - I'm a BA/Team Leader.

Best advice I can give to the thread starter is to find something you like (which you seemed to have done already), and learn as much about it as you can. And show your enthusiasm & interest to potential employers and they are more likely to take you on.

[atec77]

Originally Posted by XPcoupe

I have been in IT for 15 years now and work for one of the largest IT out sourcing companies in Australia and there are 5 MS guys to every UNIX guy and we are reducing the UNIX staff all the time. No one is using it. I see it all the time, Small companies look at Unix as they are tight ****'s, but they all end up relizing that you have to go with MS get the best result. I know it is sad but true. I am yet to log onto a UNIX box.

I suggest becoming a Specialist in section of MS. or product people will put on top of the MS environment.

I am a Messaging specialist, and also do Vaulting and VMWare. have your finger in a few pies just to be safe. I am qualified in all of them and keep on top of it all.

Just remember you will never stop learning in IT so you will need to be willing to always be studying.

Just shows how the markets share differs , we support mainly SOlaris / 'nix and some mickysoft and linux , for stability you cant beat nix when you have 3500 thin edge clients.

[Rodp]

Originally Posted by Outbackjack

The sad truth about IT at the moment is that it is heading down the Redhat (linux) path.

It is?

Who's implementing it? I work for a large international vendor as a field engineer in Sydney and I could count on one hand how many sites I've visited that use Redhat on anything but a firewall.

It's overwhelmingly Microsoft in the Intel space, and if you're serious about an Enterprise implementation, you probably wouldn't go Intel anyway. I see many more Netware sites than Redhat, and even they're being migrated slowly to Microsoft. I even see more SCO sites than Redhat!

I'm interested in your source for the trend of OS, I used to be SCO certified many years ago and as yet I've not been asked to refresh my Unix skills (in fact, our Intel Unix support group was the first shipped to India due to the low demand) so would be nice to be ahead of the curve if your source is credible.

Best way to make real good money in IT is be ahead of the trends. I've got a number of Unix OS's installed within VMWare but it's being neglected for boning up a little on Solaris.

[GTpilot]

OK , Lets not get off topic and start the MS Vs *nix thing. It's all the same as Ford V Holden.

I too work for a medium sized outsourcer in Melb as a tech team leader/ Network and Systems engineer. We are moving AWAY from the Server/desktop support market and heading towards Network engineering and security. These are what are taking off ATM. Give it another 5 yrs and everyman and his dog will be able to setup and maintain their own server. Especially when Longhorn is released.

As for designing and implementing a fully secure and proper 802.1X network, backed by correctly configured SBR (steel belted RADIUS) servers, solid firewalling and IDP, that will need to be left for the pro's. We have a network engineering team of about 20 and these days the majority of our work is beginning to come from those outsourcing vendors that have no internal skills to do it properly themselves.

MY advice to the OP. Firstly, Dude, STAY AWAY from those "guaranteed job in IT" places such as Excom (who wants to drive a shitty 3series Bimmer anyway). Avoid Recruitment agencies for sources of info, they are just real estate agents for the work force. (no money in it for them, they could not give a rats.) trust me there, we have some as clients.

Don't be so quick to jump at free offerings by recruitment agencies or training centres, there is ALWAYS a catch.

Don't think getting a CCNA is going to make you a GOD in IT. It wont, you'll be amongst 1000's of others that think they are special too. go one better and look to CCIP or Juniper certs. JNCIS or JNCIP better but damn hard is JNCIE.

MCSE is becoming a MUST HAVE these days, many recruitment agencies won’t look twice at your CV if you don’t have it. I have even seen ad's for Redhat Linux admins and they still want MCSE. Get some books from Amazon, self study, is not that hard to get. (I did my 2003 MCSE in two months this way, close to an exam per week, given I had ten yrs IT experience too)

Get some ground experience in the basics of Desktop and server OS support, both M$ and for Linux learn Redhat and Novell/SUSE, that is what the big boys are using I would not bother with others, they are home OS's, ubuntu is good to learn but is debian based, nothing bad about that, but it is slightly different in the way it is built and how things are done. Real UNIX is dying slowly. Linux is taking that rein.

My advice is to focus on networking, Data and WAN acceleration also security, that is where the money and the gurantteed work will be in the next 5+ yrs.



EArulz, Finally, good luck man, IT can be a ***** of a career sometimes, but really rewarding other times. You will NEVER have enough hrs in a day. You will never stop learning. Have FUN!!

[GTpilot]

Originally Posted by Rodp

I could count on one hand how many sites I've visited that use Redhat on anything but a firewall.

Sorry to sound rude man and be OT, but if they are using redhat as a firewall, Well, They deserve to use windows for servers.

Give me an IP to one of those redhat boxes being used as a firewall, we will break it in < 10min.

I have just spent the last 6 mths training and mentoring 7 guys at work on Linux due to the increase in Linux boxes the sysadmin team is having to maintain and administer.

I do see your point, however, you may not realise that companies that are using Linux, mostly have their own internal IT team, an outsourced field engineer will not see most of it.

[Mechan1k]

If you want to get yourself into networking ... I suggest getting some texts on Cisco and Juniper and go from there ... they are the main 2 networking equipment companies out there and are used by the majority of the telcos in the industry.

Also the majority of the application services are UNIX based as well.

The only MS stuff used here in Optus is for Email and other basic applications (Word, Excel, Email, interal stuff.)

When running the actual services/applications for the company that is the backend of the mobile network and corporate internetworking solutions ... it is Cisco/Unix ... Juniper is starting to make it's way into it as well.

Also when it comes to switching ... Alcatel is the major player in that part. Also Nokia are using a lot of proprietary equipment for monile backend ... and Nortel are big when it comes to IP Centrex too.

There are some good basic texts to get you start ... especially when it comes to understanding basic Internetworking Fundamentals (Cisco CCNA text does start off basic and works your way through it) ... also good Unix Fundamentals texts out there as well.

These would be a good start.

[mowog]

I have worked in IT for 10 years now in Testing. I specialise in Software Automation. One of the real growth areas in IT at the moment is Testing a lot is going off shore but there is still a requirement here in OZ for lots of Testers.

I am arranging a job for young guy now he has no experiance but I have given him study guides on Software Testing his entry salary if he gets the job will be $55k... From there the sky is the limit.