What the most cost effective way to achive a career in IT, I've had some ridiculous quotes for training courses, yes I do have some money, but the thousands I have been quoted.Looking along the lines of MCSE, MCDBA, Web Developer etc

What do you want to do with your 'IT Career'? Looking at the courses you have listed you are leaning more to the infrastructure side of things. Are you a recent graduate? No real need to get into a training courses etc if you can get in on a grad or aprenticship scheme.

no not a graduate at all, Hi mate thanks, i work for a caravan manufacturer which is going belly up. This was my first ful time job and have been here wasting away for a decade, but because i live 2 mins from here i never wanted to move, I did go down the route of training for a MCDBA but the provider was involved in fraud thus I anded up without the qualification and lost lots of money. Now if i am made reduandant I want to go down the route of MCSE or Wed Developer etc, I am very very creating and love designing reports, and new databases etc, this company uses over 100 reports Ive personnaly deveoped using Crystal, they also use a database i developed for sales and runs alongside our in house software. I have had a look for jobs using Crystal and most are contract work an to be fair £200 - £240 an hour is a hell of a lot, I have always been on a low income started on £8000 and because Ive introduced lots of new procedure to this small company ive gone up alot each year more than the average and am now on £16600 a year, but it still is not challenging enough, i want to do something that actually tests me, gets me thinking again. So if i am to be made redundant i was going to invest my healthy redundancy payment in a good IT course that would get my foot into the door as even a junior earns more than i do, i suspect i wont be to long before i start to progress as well, i thrive an challenges, and a new career certainly is that, and advice is always welcome!

You sound like a perfect ACN candidate. Send your CV forward. They'll love the work you did for the caravan manufacturer.

Strange though it may seem your skills only need to be 'presented' better and you could quite easily be on £25k - 35k a year as a support tech.From there get that company to pay for your courses and move up.Dont simply go for a course as it may not help you, imagine a lorry driver with a licence who has never driven a lorry, and a lorry driver with no licence who has driven cross continents, who would you trust to deliver your goods on time :)Stick in, sounds like youll make it

Whats an ACN candidate?

Hi SimonACN is a company called accenture. Based on your experience, if you detail it on your cv and your employer is happy to verify what you say, you could apply to the training schemes of the big IT companies linke accenture, csc, ibm etc, you'd earn slightly more than you're on and they'd trasin you so it wouldn't cost you personally. As one of the posts above, companies value practical experience above educational qualifications, education just tends to be something that they use to filter the number of applications before looking at your practical experience.Have a look at csc.com and drop your cv in...

Simon, I wish you the best of luck. Where abouts are you based? I think starting off in a support role then moving up is your best option, take what "Mike" says with a pinch of salt, he's a prat.

Simon,As has been previously been said do not go out and pay thousands for a course, get your CV re-written professionally to highlight all the IT support work you have been doing for your last employer and apply for jobs with that. If you get a tech support role within a company you will no doubt eventually be provided with training there. If you show an aptitude for a particular area of the work you can then specialise and with a good employer who could see the benefit to them, they will pay for further training. These courses are extortionate and if you have just lost a job the last thing you need to be spending your money on is something which will add very little to your chances of getting another job. Again, ignore Mike, he's attempting humour.

Excellent advice, Mikes a waste of air.