SkillsTrain Reviews from Students

To start of I new nothing to do about computers.I have just completed my pc hardware and maintenance part a which I have achieved not to bad results.I am already trying to fix peoples computers they are not major issues but its a starting point. I find it hard to study with my current work commitments but I find I am putting more effort into my studying than at work.I hope to achieve a lot more from my studying and hopefully get a career to be proud of.

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I started skills train a while ago with reasonable knowledge of computers in general after studying with them for a while I noticed I was learning more during my study time. I applied for an IT Network Support role and have now been working as a network support technician for 2 years. I find the course very beneficial to me and the information is always to hand. My employers support me and are happy that I'm studying at home so they can see I'm making an effort to further my career. I find Skills Train goes into more depth than most work places which is great as in your everyday working environment you might not be required to know things in great dept. But with the skills train you can. I look forward to the end of my coarse so I can then take another one :)

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Hello

have never blown my own trumpet before today, so here goes. Back in August 2008 I was made redundant working for a National third party IT company. I had been working in the IT industry proper since 1990, I already had CompTIA and other professional qualifications.

In September 2008 I enrolled at my local college in Filton, Bristol; to gain a couple of Level 2 qualifications. In October of the same year I had a major knee operation and although laid up for a while, it did not prevent me from returning back to college to resume my studies. In January 2009 I put myself on an NVQ Level 2 ITQ course at Tabs training. I was not working as having physiotherapy twice a week on my knee. So in February 2009 I enrolled with Skillstrain to do the latest CompTIA A+ course at that time the CompTIA N+ 2009 plus the CCNA course. In September 2009 I enrolled at New College, Swindon; to do a long distance Level 2 course, my final exam for this is in June 2010.

To cut to the chase it is now January 2010 and pleased to say I am now walking normally again. Plus I can pat myself on the back, because I passed my level 2 college exams, I have an NVQ Level 2 in ITQ. Passed both the CompTIA A+ 601 and 602 exams. Plus today 13th February 2010 just passed the CompTIA A+ 2009 Bridging exam. I have just updated my CV today. I have another exam at New College on March 2nd 2010. So I am planning on submitting my first TMA for the CompTIA N+ very soon.

Since my operation I have not applied for any jobs. However I will be submitting my CV shortly and see what work there is out there for me in the IT industry. To set the record straight I have not been able to claim benefits due to my redundancy money and savings I had.

So I will continue with my studies as best I can and try and get back to work as soon as possible. So I will give you all a further update in a year from now as to what I have accomplished.

Best regards

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Achievements, May I call it like this? Sure. I was on the carpet today - I mean, boss wanted to talk with me. We had a small discussion. I received an proposal - to become a trainee of main network administrator (whole network consist of about 30 servers and about 500 workstations - to bring you in the picture). In a case, something will happen, he needs a backup. Sure, I will take it. Actually, it is a big opportunity to get into networking business, switches, Linux and Unix environment etc. of our CAN. My CISCO course is going forward slowly because of my deficit of time in the last weeks, but I study more effectively, and I am happy that I can do it my way. I am getting used to packet tracer, which is helpful in some cases. I hope to go forward. Good luck to all of you. Spring is coming soon... :)

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Passed both A+ exams

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I don't know if this counts as an achievement but the place where I work were throwing out some old PCs. They had been sitting on a pallet out in the yard for a month before I saw them. I took home 4 PCs and a flat panel monitor, the PCs were full of water and the monitor was in a plastic container half covered in water. The pins on the hard drives had been bent to stop further usage.
I stripped everything down and after drying out the equipment and bending the pins back (I lost 1 drive here) I rebuilt the PCs. All are now in working order. OK the best is only a pentium 4 with a 40GB drive but it was fun.

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Hello

When I first enrolled on my course I didn't know much about computers. Also my English wasn't good. There was a time I thought I can't do it, especially after my second operation.

It has been difficult but thanks to my tutor and skills train staff I pass my first exam today with score 875 (passing score 675). So well above the passing score and more importantly it has given me confidence I have never felt before. I am now looking forward to my next training section (Network+). Thank you and good luck to all with their training.

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My office purchased new HP Procurve network switches to use across the network but the 3rd party that was supposed to set them up were having problems getting them to work. I took a look and managed to sort out a complete configuration which is now set as the standard config for all sites across the organization. I have never had any training on HP Procurve equipment but as I am reading up on my CCNA certification, the language used by HP was very similar to Cisco IOS which made it easy to come up with the configuration.

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I have finally passed my Comptia A+ certification 2007 edition after 2 years hard work, I failed both exams once but passed them the 2nd time round, I am so glad that my hard work has paid off, thanks skillstrain. I now have the motivation to push on and get my N+ Certification.

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This week I finally passed my CompTIA N+. When I joined Skillstrain over a year ago I knew very little about IT even which course to take was unknown to me. All I knew was that I wanted a job in IT. I joined the CompTIA A+ course and after 8 months I got a job working for an ISP.

I was struggling to fit in at my new job due to my lack of knowledge and was advised to change my course by my manager to be more networking specific. Skillstrain ensured an easy transmission over to the CompTIA N+ course eventually leading onto the CCNA course.

I now have a firm grip on networking and my job is going very well. I have been advised if I carry on with my studying I will be promoted to 2nd line.

I would like to thank Skillstrain for their assistance and cannot wait to commence my next lot of studying.

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Well, Courtesy of my studies I've landed myself a rather ‘cushtie' job that's somewhat of a step in the right direction. It was just another day in the office until I had reason to contact a former manager of mine who I'd worked for a few years ago.

During a brief catch up I mentioned that I was studying towards CCNA accreditation. Impressed with my self-motivation and determination to improve my lot in life he informed me of a vacancy that he was trying to fill but hadn't found the right candidate. I applied there and then and had an interview the following week. Part of the interview process was a practical exam comprising of hardware, software and networking issues. The hardware and software tasks were relatively simple but without the knowledge gained throughout my studies I would have failed the networking segment of the interview process. As it happens, I passed with flying colours. After a few gruelling days wait, I found I was successful and was offered the job.

I now work as a Geek Squad Agent. The working conditions are a vast improvement on my last job. I work with an awesome team and have been given a fairly substantial pay rise.
Overall this opportunity came as a very welcome surprise and it's affording a far better quality of life with more money and less hours.

Thank you Skills Train.

Regards

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I have recently passed the CompTIA A+ Bridging exam BR0-003. Plus I have just submitted TMA 7 of my CompTIA N+ 2009 course. I have already pre-booked the CompTIA N+ 2009 N10-004 for the 11th May 2010. After which I have my BTEC level 2 exam in Computer engineering. Followed up by the start of my CCNA course work. Onwards and upwards!

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When I started this course, I did not have all lot knowledge of computers. But since I started my course my knowledge and grade has increased. In the beginning I achieved results around 70%- 80% in my assignments. But with hard work and concentration I have achieved 100% in my past 7- 10 assignment. I'm so happy and it has made more motivated. Also I have been working very long hours (50 hours) at work and yet I have achieved 100% in my test. I'm very happy. I hope that my hard work will be shown in my future and I hope my work will be recognised to some extent by you. Thank you.

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Taking into consideration the progress I have made since I started the course work, I must admit that the achievements are beyond my expectations. Despite various difficulties I had to deal with, I managed to develop the knowledge about computers. Due to the fact that, as a single person, I had to work up to fifteen hours a day to save the money for the course, it has been a real challenge to continue learning. Nevertheless, I have considered the course a priority since I believe it will provide me with better job opportunities.
Moreover, I have become even more interested in further IT studying. Before starting the course, I realized I have already had the IT knowledge, which has been considerably improved due to the valuable information I have gained while studying.

Because of satisfactory exam results, I have been determined for further learning. Therefore, I have decided to help my friends in presenting how to operate a PC.

Generally, I could say that starting the course has strengthened the belief in being a qualified PC engineer and increased my self-confidence.

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I don't know if this count as an achievement (for me it is). I am still studying CompTIA a+. Recently I built 3 PCs from scratch and helped few others to fix their. My answer on a PC problem was chosen as best answer by the Yahoo! user as the solution to their problem. My technical knowledge is increasing day by day thanks to Skills Train team.

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Since starting my ccna studies on 17/4/10, I have managed to complete the whole of
Section 1 Part A CCENT by 23/410. Also each TMA obtaining results of 100% bar a couple scoring in the 90% range. This is despite a lot of external pressures. I am currently in the process of being made redundant from work and have a very heavy workload and more than average hours, in process of looking for new job, supporting family members who have been diagnosed with serious health issues and trying to keep myself motivated in life due to all these events. I have found the course to be a way of taking my mind off all my problems and when I start, I get a very keen interest, sometimes wanting to expand on the material given by researching other means.

When I started the course in April I had a general knowledge of the material but this was enhanced with every tma submitted. The knowledge gained in the last week has enabled me to help friend's pc issues where they were otherwise going to be charged by professional technicians. In my work also, where we give very basic AV support of the phone, the material on subnets etc. has enabled me to advice my trainers on the new internet TV they are releasing. This gave me a tremendous amount of pride. 'Me advising the people who were meant to be training me'.

For example in a coaching session, our trainer asked if anyone knew what DHCP was with regards to internet capable TV's, the audience and himself were amazed when I answered ‘It is a protocol that dynamically allocates ip address's to individual hosts from a pool of private address's on a lease basis with certain parameters like lease time, configurable from the defaults if required', I briefly described also how every host needs an IP address to connect to a TCP/IP network. There were a few shocked looks and the trainer took me aside afterwards and advised he had no idea of this and simply expected someone to comment that it meant the customer didn't have to find and input the internet details from his ISP if it was enabled. He mentioned me to his boss who gave me a bottle of wine, and advised they were considering asking me to head a small group to help any other colleagues with internet TV troubleshooting.

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In 2005 I wanted to study for it (information technology), but I spent my valuable time planning to study rather than joining a course and actually going for it. In 2008 I joined an IT course with skillstrain and since I have achieved two certificates (a+ and n+).
And I did not succeed in the first go, but I never gave up. Now I am working on the CCNA part of the course. I wish I had started in 2005. My message to students in any field is that, when you want something don't waste your time just go for it. If you find yourself trapped in the corner and feel that you are stuck, there are wide range of solutions available on the internet. All you have to do is search for the solutions and the answers. Finally I'd like to say is that if you are really determined about doing something in life nothing can hold you back, just be hungry for it and you will certainly achieve it.

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Hi,

It is a great course I achieved more than what I thought. I am more confident and happy to chose this course. Because this give me new hope of better life.
Thanks to the whole team!

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My mother drew a distinction between achievement and success. She said that achievement is the knowledge that you have studied and worked hard and done the best that is in you. Success is being praised by others. That is nice but not as important or satisfying. Always aim for achievement and forget about success.

I am so thankful to everyone at skillstrain to be there all the way to my achievement and passing my exam. I have passed and got my career ID and certificate from CompTIA.

Thank you skillstrain.

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Just to let you know I passed my CompTIA Network+ 2009 edition exam on May 27 2010. I passed this exam even though I am a single parent bringing up two young sons, one of which is disabled.

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I passed my CCNA 640-802 exam on 19th of June 2010. I am doing full-time job and studying. After 6 months hard work for study and got good support from SkillsTrain, I am able to achieved 936 score out of 1000. Thanks.

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Despite the temptation of watching the World Cup I have managed to study a lot and submit many TMAs this month.

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