IT Certification (career change - advice needed)

[ixus_123]

Hello.

I'm thinking about getting into the IT industry as my current job is pretty much deadend & starting to bore me. I realise I'll be startign at the bottom, taking a pay cut & need to work my way up but I was wondering if any of you folks had any advice on where to start.

One course I've been looking at offers a 3 month intensive course with guaranteed work at the end for £5000 in the following subjects

Comptia
A+ operating systems
A+ Hardware
Linux+

Cisco
CCNA

[U]Windows[U]
Windows 2003 server
Windows XP Pro

I went along to an open day & flicked through the books, & although they are quite thick, they don't look too hard to digest. A friend told me to get in the industry, don't expect to earn much for the first few years, & take exams in teh stuff you do already at work.

How do the above courses look for a first step on the career ladder?

Any other areas I should perhaps look at or avoid?

I was browsing a computer stores certification books section and the list of things one can learn seems endless
http://www.pcworld-books.co.uk/catalog/browse.asp?cat=B&subcat=80

[TechSonic]

Comptia

All of those.

[briancurtin]

-get a degree to fit the area you want to go into
-do not worry about certifications right away


my stance on certifications often incites a flame-war (when that really should not be the result), so ill leave them out because i would like to see this thread benefit the original poster.

[ixus_123]

I don't really have time to do a degree nor do I think I could finance it.

The certification route seems good becuase courses are genrally short & then there is the opportunity to earn, gain experience & then take more exams that are relevent to the area of work so at least I can earn while I learn.

Unless I can somehow fit these 3 months in with my current job (not everything is classroom based) then the 3 month course will end up costing me over £20k in fees & lost earnings not to mention that I'll most likely be on a lower wage for the first 3 years.

I'm not actually sure what direction I want to head into once I enter the industry - probably networking or databases as they seem to be in most demand from what I gather in my local area.

thanks for your feedback :)

I would hope everyone on here is mature enough not to flame too much if someone posts something they disagree with