You may have seen from my profile that I am working towards my Microsoft Certified Trainer exams. I believe there is a very strong, and a current demand for highly skilled IT Professionals in the market.
School Educuation
IT Education in schools is poor. You can walk out of school these days with a Distinction grade, just for being able to put together an Excel Spreadsheet with a few formulas to calculate a fictional shops price list.
This is all well and good for the aspiring Accountants in the class, but for the IT Systems Administrators, this is a skill that will be lost forever, as it doesn't solve a purpose.
I remember spending more hours than I cared to count designing a website in Microsoft Publisher whilst I was at school. You had unlimited use of the Microsoft Clipboard, and WordArt, but the end result was still a sad show.
This doesn't teach kids how to develop websites! This doesn't help kids learn HTML, PHP or CSS required for some of the latest "snazzy" websites. Microsoft Publisher should be used for posters only!! (That's a personal opinion).
So why are Microsoft Courses so much better I hear you ask!?
Imagine you have just left school, and you have just secured your first job as a Junior IT System Administrator at a company. You are armed with your Distinction in you IT GCSE, and you are ready and eager to start your first day.
There are a number of things you will quickly learn.
The majority of your time will be spent sat at your desk, drinking tea, and answering support tickets from fellow employees about a range of issues.
You will be expected to help administer and maintain the existing server(s) and network(s) on the premises, neither of which you have ever touched.
YOU WILL NEVER BE ASKED TO DESIGN A WEBSITE IN MICROSOFT PUBLISHER!
Servers are much more about keeping the business running, and offering a centralised 'store' of business critical files and services.
You will spend a lot more time staring at this screen as an IT System Administrator than most other.
Microsoft courses offer and insight and further training to all aspects of the Microsoft Ecosystem and software portfolio. You have the ability to learn how computers are used in business, and gain a very granular understanding of how everything works together. A very popular qualification, and one I highly recommend is the Microsoft Technology Associate (MTA) exam.
This exam offers you an insight, and a basic understanding in to how systems work. It also shows you 'real life' scenarios, and enables you to gain another skill set that is useful in the industry. It also serves as a fantastic foundation for other exams, such as the Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate (MCSA) exam, which takes this foundation knowledge even further.
You can also choose to go more in depth on a certain technology. If you enjoy working with Databases, you can become a Microsoft Certified Database Developer!
Conclusion
In my honest opinion, IT training in schools is seriously flawed, and nothing seems to be done to improve this. Kids are walking out of there with an IT qualification, many of whom do not know how a computer even works.
It is then down to additional education providers to offer this education, so kids can enter the world of IT, and really help shape the world of tomorrow. This often costs money, which of course the child isn't earning, so again there is a flaw.
Microsoft Courses are honestly the way to go, and I am yet to meet an Systems Administrator without a Microsoft or equivalent qualification in a sustainable and advantageous job.
If you want to find out more about the Microsoft Training/Exams, or you want to help finding the best route for you, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Thank you for taking your time to read this post. :)
All the best,
Daniel