Is the CIW course worth it for me

dartcol

Time to bare the soul. I've been a teacher for way too long as well as shoulder-barging my way into editing over the last three years. However, the time has come for a career move, what with houses, babies et al in the not too distant future. Some of you might say that at 32 this is all happening a bit late but, hey, I was enjoying myself a little too much for the last ten years or so.

So, hot off the heels from an interview to get on at the UKIT training course (that is just a tad expensive I found out today) my question is - is it worth it?

It's becoming a bit of a grind to get freelance jobs and everything else, and something a bit more secure would go down a treat. Yet, not having a bit of paper to dangle before an MD means the only other method is to grovel (or so it seems to me).

So, any of you here who have done the course - have you recouped your losses? Any of you here who haven't done the course - why not and what's your secret (apart from extra strong coffee, of course)?

Elizabeth

I went through the CIW in 2000 ... I think it's still relatively the same. When I took it, it was roughly $3000 IIRC; thankfully my company paid for it. It was pretty general- I don't think there was anything in there that I couldn't have learned from reading a book or just sitting down and trying for myself... but I do think that certifications can make a difference if you're short on experience. At least to employers it says you supposedly know what you're doing 🙂

What I might suggest is to read employment ads in your area- see what the buzz words are; see what certs employers are specifically looking for and perhaps focus on those. If CIW is one of them then go for it.

hth
-Elizabeth

drawmack

Speaking from my experience. One of my friends used to get $30 an hour. Then he got his MCSE, PHP & Mysql certs now he gets $75 an hour. People really do like it when you've got a bunch of letters after your name.

dartcol

The course I was offered cost £2500 for CIW Designer and then £3500 for the CIW Developer. There's no way I can afford either. I've had a look online and yes, you're right there are certified courses for self-study that are a lot cheaper and affordable (although donations welcome - :rolleyes: )

Many of the ads don't state CIW but they do request appropriate qalifications. I think I'm going to do the course as it will help me get noticed more but the cheap way.

Elizabet - did you do the course at a training centre? Was it the CIW Designer or the CIW Developer or both?

piersk

cough whats CIW??

dartcol

Master Certified Internet Webmaster. They're becoming widely-accepted qualifications for networking and web development. I guess if you already have a computer science or IT degree it isn't that important but for people who want a career change then it could be the ticket. Check this for more info: http://www.ciwcertified.com/

Elizabeth

Originally posted by dartcol
Elizabet - did you do the course at a training centre? Was it the CIW Designer or the CIW Developer or both?

I stopped at CIW Professional -got the foundations + e-commerce (back then they called it e-commerce "professional" not e-commerce "designer"). I (and my company) couldn't afford to have me continue... I did take it at a training center; both were a week long class. If I were going to do it over, I'd purchase a study guide and just pay for the test & skip the class altogether. Most of the training materials they gave us, I kept for reference... but by now they're mostly outdated.

I do remember that the tests were tricky- they were multiple choice, but there could be 1, 2, 3, or 4 right selections and if you didn't get all of them, you got the whole question wrong. No process of elimination there- either you knew it or you didn't. I think in the real world, there is so much easy access to reference material that they should only test on the basic concepts, not picayune details. But that's only my opinion.

I hadn't really thought about certification recently - perhaps I'll go back and take the test for the Masters....

dartcol

Thanks for the replies. Off to a college in London to enrol and begin part-time on Monday. Hopefully, I can get work after doing the Master CIW Designer and then get the company to contribute to the Developer! Back to school we go. 🙂