My future as an IT student hangs in the balance

[MorseLady]

Having been told that the MCDST course was not running I have now found out that what really happened was that too many people were signed up by different tutors over the enrolment weeks at the College and there were too many learners and only twenty stations in the network lab and so those who had not paid and were awaiting funding were dropped including me. However the Deputy Head of IT did say he hoped to see me in the not too distant future so I have asked him if he can accept me now on the Vista MCP course that begins in January so I can get all the funding sorted out well beforehand.

I have just dumped evaluating Vista partly because I was depressed over losing out on the MCDST course so if I get on the Vista course I will reinstall the evaluation copy and try to get to grips with the issues which confuse me but if I am denied access to the Vista program I am giving up being an IT student for good. Well OK I am crying from disappointment over the MCDST Program

[NooNoo]

Angie, not attending college doesn't mean you are no longer an IT Student. The thing about computers is that they keep changing, there is not a tech who doesn't have to learn something new every day... we are all IT Students, college, certs and other bits of paper notwithstanding.

[Platypus]

Gee, I hope they get something sorted out for you MorseLady.

[Ferrit]

To me the industry and the internet is the way to learn.
How can a school system keep their curriculum current when computer technology is changing so fast. I mean in a year we can see at least 1 major platform change, bringing with it a number of new technologies.
I wouldn't put too much stock in that college education.

[Matridom]

I find that college has it's uses, it gives you a chance to get a good grounding in the "basics" and gives you a platform to launch your career. Like when i took programing, i learned the basics of how to code properly, i can now apply that same methodology to other languages.

Good luck MorseLady!

[ross.v]

I just wish i will be evaluating Vista by Christmas when i buy new computer. Cheers! you got your vista evaluation copy and already evaluating it.

[Guts3d]

To me the industry and the internet is the way to learn.
How can a school system keep their curriculum current when computer technology is changing so fast. I mean in a year we can see at least 1 major platform change, bringing with it a number of new technologies.
I wouldn't put too much stock in that college education.

So true, a lot of the companies I deal with actively look for people who are self taught, as they know more than one way to fix things. Schools have their place as Matridom said, but they seem to teach only one way of solving a problem. I have found that sometimes circumstances prohibit the Microsoft route, so you need to find another way. Being self taught and reading posts on excellent sites like this help to make you a great tech.

[MorseLady]

I attribute much of what I have learned NOT to College courses where we were crammed into a room shoulder to shoulder two people and computers at workstations designed for one where you could not open your book properly and where being deaf I could not hear half of what the tutor was saying and for many reasons I failed my MCP exams, but I have learned from geeking about on my computers, reading books from the Library and buying the useful ones, one MCSE friend who helps me by email but I think most of all I have learned from these Forums so take a bow people

I will try not to worry too much about Certification and anyway I am past retirement age and for various reasons unlikely to break out of retirement but I will carry on enjoying computers for the love the hobby and as for Vista, having read on the online copy of PC Pro(UK) http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/126240/m...-sp1-beta.html that Vista SP1 is being beta tested and will be released early next year quote SP1, which is due to be released early next year, promises to bring a series of performance tweaks and bug fixes to the troubled operating system so I will wait to buy it at least until then if at all. I only wanted it for the Vista MCP course next term but I have had no reply to my request to enrol for it yet.