My feed
Premium

Please
or
to access all these features

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

Higher education

Looking at getting into ICT

5 replies

Nomsa22 · 28/09/2022 09:56

I am 33 years old and now looking at getting into ICT to be a technician or website designer. Anyone got any tips please?

OP posts:
Report
seenthemight · 29/09/2022 09:42

If you're looking for a course to do, just make sure it is a respected accreditation. The BCS courses are well respected by employers: www.bcs.org/qualifications-and-certifications/.

You can do Microsoft training for free online, though you may need to pay to sit the exam and get the certificate at the end of the course: www.microsoft.com/en-us/flexibility/training-and-certification-solutions

There are lots of entry level IT support jobs. Find some you like the sound of and see what skills/certifications they are asking for. As well as generic job sites like Indeed, look at sector specific sites, such as jobs.ac.uk for jobs in university IT departments.

You don't need a degree. But if you have no experience, it will be easier to get into IT Support (where there is a desperate shortage of staff) than website design (where there is probably an oversupply of creative types with the necessary skills and you'd need to build a portfolio by doing freebies first). But you could do both - one as a day job and the other as a longer term hobby/aspiration.

Report
seenthemight · 29/09/2022 09:44

Also, if you have an interest in cyber security, there is even more demand.

Report
seenthemight · 29/09/2022 09:47

Check out the apprenticeship route too. There is no upper age limit: skillsforlife.campaign.gov.uk/courses/apprenticeships/

Report
Happydays321 · 29/09/2022 09:49

My ds learned coding online for free using various online courses while working and now works as a software engineer. He did no qualifications in this (has a degree in a science Subject) but worked hard in his own time. His first job was in a junior position as still training but now earns a very good salary.

If you want I can ask what he learnt then or what would be most useful now in terms of jobs.

Report
Nomsa22 · 29/09/2022 11:04

Thank you very helpful 😊

OP posts:
Report
Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.