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Saturday, June 16, 2007

Some good news

I was unofficially told on Thursday that I've secured funding to pay for two Microsoft certified IT courses. I've been wanting to gain some IT qualifications for a while, but I've had hell trying to find funding. None of the usual suspects would fund me as I'm a graduate. When I tried to get help from the Jobcentre a while ago, the silly buggers tried signing me up to an office technology course. That's shorthand for word processing, spread sheets and other tedious clerical tasks. To me, that's not IT.

The first course I'll be doing is the MCDST - Microsoft Certified Desktop Support Technician. I hope to follow that up with the MCSA course - Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator. Eventually, I'd like to add the MCSE as well, although I can't find anywhere local that teaches it. Also, I need to gain some experience of working in an IT/support/networking environment before I can do the MCSE. By that time, I'll probably just do the exams, which can be sat locally.

The only problem with these courses, is that they are run at Swansea Business College, which is located at Swansea Vale, which is basically the arse end of nowhere. I looked the exact location up on Google Earth, and it's past the equally inaccessible [to non-drivers] ASDA, on the edge of a wilderness. The one bus a day that goes there directly, would get me there about five minutes after the first lecture started. So it probably means an obscenely early start on college days, to get a bus from town at 07.50, to Tesco at Llansamlet, and then hoofing it a mile to Swansea Vale. Not a pleasant prospect, especially in bad weather. But as I can claim for my transport costs as well, thanks to the funding project I'm signed up with, I might get a taxi the rest of the way, and ask the drivers for receipts. Or failing that, I'll ask the college if they mind me arriving a few minutes late, via the direct bus.

Hopefully, with those certificates under my belt, I'll be able to return to the workplace on a considerably better wage than a piddly twelve grand for taking abuse in a call centre. Plus Microsoft qualifications are industry-standard, globally recognised qualifications, so they'll stand me in better stead than a City and Guilds in IT would, for example. Anyway, here's hoping ...

1 comment:

Chris E said...

Hi Sian -
You'll be situated right next to the Swansea Vale Nature Reserve if you train at that location so not only will you be getting training, you will also have some great lunch time walks to look forward to.

 
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