woot! I get to study computer stuff next year!

RobThePyro · Post by **RobThePyro** » 28 Jul 2007, 16:59

Hey guys

Im really excited! Iv regesterd to study at CTI next year and im doing This coarse ( IS: Engineering).

Sounds like fun, get to do both programming and hardware as well as some web stuff and networking!

So is this qualification any good? or am i waisting my time?(lol im actually on spending a year studying IT then im going to UNI to do electronic engeneering lol! maybe i should fnish matric first@!

)

Lol yea anyway i just felt like telling some one....
/noob moment

Rob...

Mr_Norris · Post by **Mr_Norris** » 28 Jul 2007, 17:34

Tip from a former Electronic Engineering hopeful.

I went there [hoping] to get straight into electronics. Instead, I got

Physics, Chemistry, Maths, Some more maths [forgot modual name], and a few more other moduals.

I bombed out.

I know, Its unuals and unheard of that mr norris bombs out, but it happened..

Tip from me: Know what you getting into. IMO its INFINITELY harder than school maths/physics/chem. Chemistry I never really got in school. Makes me wonder how I passed.

I'd love to go back into Electronics one day. Y dont u consider doing it first?

DAE_JA_VOO · Post by **DAE_JA_VOO** » 28 Jul 2007, 22:44

CTI sucks. Hope you know that

You're gonna be paying 60K for a self study course.

LordRage · Post by **LordRage** » 29 Jul 2007, 09:23

IMO, go to university, get your degree, then look at other qualifications if you must.

Engineering is ALOT of maths, as Mr Norris said, so make sure you are good at maths, and are prepared to study ALOT (no social life).

The degree will be well worth the effort, but really, and I dont want you to take it the wrong way, I would drop the CTI idea, and just go to university. The degree will last until you die, it will give you an edge that 1000's do not have. If you just wanna do it cos it sounds interesting, then cool, but I am 24, and currently in 2nd year of a 4 year degree, on top of that I am going to have to do 2 years of articles. My age group is already in their articles. Dont waste time when you get out of school (as long as you know exactly what you want to do, dont waste time).

ADV4NCED · Post by **ADV4NCED** » 29 Jul 2007, 10:41

Hey,

I'm also quite interested in this thread, as I matriculated last year and have just been working this year to get some money together.

I'm very interested to go study next year (thought of CTI in the past as they came to do talks @ our school). My problem is I dont actually have enough knowledge and information on the different courses and which varsity's to be looking at.

I've really been thinking hard about going into to networking (Delphi @ high school scared me off from programming). What you guys think? Can you gimme more info bout it?

LordRage · Post by **LordRage** » 29 Jul 2007, 10:52

you should go into the varsity and ask for info on the relevant courses. The thing that bothers me about certification courses (I have an MCSD and MCDBA, so I talk from experience), is that newer technology comes out and you have to keep up. A degree will stand you in good stead anywhere in the world, all your life.

I dont want to make it sound like certifications are a waste of time, generally it is a good idea to get the after your degree to "specialise", but these certification places promise you jobs, good money etc, and when you have done the certification and start looking for jobs, people with degree's or colour or experience are given preference.

Some people have made alot of money, and landed really cushy jobs without a degree, and just using certifications, but thats more the exception than the rule.

Go into the information office, or application office and ask to see information on the relevant course. Even if you never go to university, at least you wont have regrets that you never even asked.

Balze · Post by **Balze** » 29 Jul 2007, 12:09

If any of you went to the CTI open Week to See how it Is you would see
how useless it is I work in Claremont ,Its better to get you A+ thru someone
LIke Varsity College or Go for Information Systems at Uni.

Its My own personl Opi

RobThePyro · Post by **RobThePyro** » 29 Jul 2007, 20:13

Hmmm verry interesting. Yeah my science is good, i usually get A's or B's but when it comes to maths

8O

all those things happen at the same time... i.e. i understand most of the maths we do but um for some reason my marks dont reflect that...

Im a year ahead at school,(only turning 18 next year) so i was planning on taking a gap year before uni, because im only 99% sure that electronic engineering is what i want to do. but then i decided why not go do a course in IT mainly out of intrest and to have the skills to write my own programs and setup large lans etc. (very useful for things to do in spare time)

The reason why we went with CTI is because they are accredited by the university of cambridge or something which is very usefull for me because I am a british citizen and i might go over there. also CTI is like a 10min drive from my house (go on my bike in the mornings so traffic isnt an issue) and anyway my dad doesnt want me to like sit arround for a year, so doing something at CTI works out nicely for me(also because id like to stay in durban for one more year since the majority of my friends are in a grade below me)

Then depending on how things go and if im accepted ill go to uni after that.

so besides the cost etc.. is CTI a good place to go(i.e. are their qualifications good?)

Rob.

Post by **Ron2K** » 29 Jul 2007, 20:20

Speaking from someone who's worked there before - it's alright, but you can do so much better.

Moses · Post by **Moses** » 29 Jul 2007, 20:37

RobThePyro wrote:when it comes to maths 8O all those things happen at the same time...

Hate to break it to you, but if that's the way you feel about highschool maths, an engineering degree is going to be a huge mountain to climb.

Good luck, though.

thealluseless · Post by **thealluseless** » 29 Jul 2007, 22:26

i did a cti course, just finished my elec engineering degree.....so maybe i can give u some advice...

firstly, the maths is not that bad, its alot of calculus, but u dont need to be exceedingly good at math to pass, u just need to work hard....maths is like that, the more u do, the easier it gets....

i would personally do the engineering degree first, the first 2 years are quite broad, and will give u a good idea at what u want and what field u might enjoy, since there are literally dozens of directions, I started in digital, ended up in process...

the cti thing i would personally dodge, i found it to be like someone mentioned, a complete self study programme, u could do it all on ur own and save some cash...if u wanna do something like this first, i would do the mcse type thing, or even ur cisco ccna or something like that...

I have found that the world of elec engineering and IT is merging very quickly, and there is a definite gap for engineers with IT experience....

anyways, good luck with ur choice,
oh and i would also do the engineering degree for the varsity life....its honestly some of the best times i have ever had...and completely worth the liver damage i suffered

DAE_JA_VOO · Post by **DAE_JA_VOO** » 29 Jul 2007, 23:19

RobThePyro wrote:The reason why we went with CTI is because they are accredited by the university of cambridge or something...

Dude, if you wanna study at a college, CTU is a better choice. I WAS gonna study at CTI, i even registered, but i backed out (and lost my 2K) and went for CTU. Wanna know why? I wont get a CAMBRIDGE certificate, i'll get a MICROSOFT certificate

I'm already an MCP (Microsoft Certified Professional)

Also, your tuition fees at CTU will be a hell of a lot less than 60K.

Post by **Ron2K** » 30 Jul 2007, 08:07

Rob, if you don't mind me asking, what exactly do you plan on doing when you've finished studying?

Frozenfireside · Post by **Frozenfireside** » 30 Jul 2007, 14:17

I thought about CTi but it was expencive and I didn't apply.
I am doing N+ with S+,A+ and MCSE all in one.
I'm at Varsity College in Sandton. Yes its the same price as CTi but closer with some matric mates there so it's nice.

Sick_Puppy · Post by **Sick_Puppy** » 30 Jul 2007, 15:49

Yes dudes, i studied last year at CTU and it was excelent. They are really good and they are reconised all over the world. I got like 10 jobs in the first month. Go take a look at www.ctutraining.co.za. I was one of the two okes that passed my MCSE MCSA and MCP at the Vereeninging Campus in 2006.

DAE_JA_VOO · Post by **DAE_JA_VOO** » 30 Jul 2007, 17:51

Sick_Puppy wrote:I was one of the two okes that passed my MCSE MCSA and MCP

Errr.... MCP is not an exam dude

Post by **ryanrich** » 30 Jul 2007, 17:53

DAE_JA_VOO wrote:
RobThePyro wrote:The reason why we went with CTI is because they are accredited by the university of cambridge or something...
Dude, if you wanna study at a college, CTU is a better choice. I WAS gonna study at CTI, i even registered, but i backed out (and lost my 2K) and went for CTU. Wanna know why? I wont get a CAMBRIDGE certificate, i'll get a MICROSOFT certificate

I'm already an MCP (Microsoft Certified Professional)

Also, your tuition fees at CTU will be a hell of a lot less than 60K.

The Cambridge Certificate or Diploma carries a LOT more weight in some situations...

I have a Diploma in IT Engineering that I did through CTI in 2003. I'm also MCSE 2003 certified and have many many other MS certifications such as SMS/Exchange/SQL, then also Cisco, Citrix etc...

Now when having my skills assessed when I decided to move to Australia/New Zealand, they analysed my Diploma as carrying the most weight and earning me the most points on my immigration assessment, mostly because it was accredited by Cambridge University.

I agree though with many other things said about CTI. My Diploma was about R36K in 2003, for 10 months of study, and it was more or less all self study. So basically you're just paying for the Diploma at the end of it...

junjun · Post by **junjun** » 30 Jul 2007, 18:52

well, you could always "self - Study" and take the Microsoft exams. that way you can work at your own pace and works out far cheaper.

id recommend that you start with MCDST ( Microsoft certified Desktop Support technician ) then you can tackle MCSE and other courses ( Altiris deployment specialists are becoming big in SA ) and eventually do a Degree.

but its up to you.

DAE_JA_VOO · Post by **DAE_JA_VOO** » 30 Jul 2007, 19:06

No i say just jump into MCSE. It's a tough course, i'm working my butt off, but it's worth it dude.

<brag>

I've got 8 distinctions out of the 10 exams i've done already

</brag>

Just had to tell someone

Post by **ryanrich** » 30 Jul 2007, 20:17

DAE_JA_VOO wrote:No i say just jump into MCSE. It's a tough course, i'm working my butt off, but it's worth it dude.

I agree. Most companies nowadays require at least an MCSE, even for the desktop support positions.

I didn't find MCSE too hard at all. I did it after I'd already been working with servers for a few years though, so I hardly studied anything and got over 90% for every exam...

There's quite a few nice new MS certifications available for after MCSE which allow you to specialise more. Such as the Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist and Microsoft Certified IT Professional certifications.

junjun · Post by **junjun** » 30 Jul 2007, 20:52

i do agree with both of you, but MCSE inst really focused on Desktop Support, and doesnt have the fundementals in Support, Working in a PC shop is totally different in a corporate enviroment where you have to maintain the "upkeep" of your networks/servers and users.

i believe that to be a good MCSE/ IT administrator, you need to know how your actions/changes affect the users on your network below you, hence the need to have support skills, its true that books can only teach you so much and the rest comes from experience, but having a support course does make your life a bit easier.

RobThePyro · Post by **RobThePyro** » 30 Jul 2007, 22:46

Post by **ryanrich** » 30 Jul 2007, 23:15

RobThePyro wrote:<noob>
MCSE?
</noob>

Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer.

The main certification for Systems/Network Administrator, Intel Server Engineers, etc.

Post by **KillerByte** » 30 Jul 2007, 23:40

Ron2k used to be a CTI lecturer and he is always saying how ***** it is.

I study at VC and the guys at VC are a lot more interested than the guys at CTI. Plus at VC they teach you and the campus is so much nicer (loads of eye candy included

) but seriously, the VC (Varsity Colleger) course is a M$ course AFAIK and at least you get taught instead of teaching yourself.

WoolyBadBaba · Post by **WoolyBadBaba** » 31 Jul 2007, 08:48

KillerByte wrote:Ron2k used to be a CTI lecturer and he is always saying how **** it is.

I study at VC and the guys at VC are a lot more interested than the guys at CTI. Plus at VC they teach you and the campus is so much nicer (loads of eye candy included ) but seriously, the VC (Varsity Colleger) course is a M$ course AFAIK and at least you get taught instead of teaching yourself.

And let's not forget that trampoline