[jimmyavr]

Hello People,

I am looking for some advice from people who have completed the A+ Engineering, my course ends in April and for a few weeks now i have been searching for careers in IT Support/Help Desk Analyst etc in the UK, but am finding it very difficult to get anywhere.

Anyone from the UK here who has been in my position? Or someone who can recommend a path for me to take, ideally i want to get a foothold in the IT Career path, and study extra courses whilst working.

 

[VirGnarus]

I'm not in the UK, but I can say from reading IT news it's not much better IT-wise there as it is in the US (though it is still better). It'll be tough, and unless you got good contacts you'll want to be starting off with local shops or IT contract groups that need a couple people to do grunt work for specific projects (like cabling for a new network infrastructure).

A+ is like the high school diploma of the IT field. It is good as a buffer, but don't rely solely on it to even get your foot inside the door unless you have some more intermediate training as well. You want to display that you are continuing further by going after a specific field and tackling anything relevant to it - and you do that by showing in your resume that you're continuing your IT education in such. People love to see those taking the effort to gain credentials nearly as much as seeing that they already have em. Ultimately, you'll want to consider A+ as well as training in a specific IT field that you desire to pursue. The A+ will show you have a general knowledge of PC handling, while the cert/degree in the field displays you've gone above that and can specialize in a particular goal.

One thing I did that got me into a wonderful IT position was that I took the initiative to ask IT professors at the college I'm attending if they know of any internal positions that need some filling. Particularly it's the part-time professors that have a full-time working somewhere, and if they see that you're aspiring, they may also take the initiative to ask around their office.

 

[greenbrucelee]

I am from the UK and I have the A+ not sure what you mean by A+ engineering though. The proper term is A+ certified IT Technican unless you are doing something new by compTIA or its not actually compTIA A+ cert but one of those ones a college does that makes it look like your A+ certified.

First thing is though you have to remember we are in a global recession, jobs are hard to come by in any field. Secondly you will need more than the A+, you should be going for Network+ and MCITP windows 7 but most important of all is you need to get some experience.

Because you are finding it hard to get a job why not consider voluteering for a charity that needs their PCs supported or volunteering your services at a local computer shop? this is how I got into IT. I had been fixing peoples computers for years in the local area (Cumbria) and I voluteered to look after the computers in save the children and guiding light, this gave me experience I was also applying for proper jobs too.

After 6 months I was getting interviews all the the time and eventually got a job as an IT tech.