RE: FN-FORUM: Qualifications

date posted 21st March 2006 16:54

Throw as many spanners as you like Lorna - and I have another!!

I left school without even bothering with half of my O levels, I then joined
the Army at 19 and was a detachment commander in Iraq for the 1st Gulf War
at 21 - by 1998 I still hadn't heard of Windows or ever seen a PC but I had
done 10 years hands on datacomms and telecomms engineering in the Army.

My first job in civvy street was in 1998 - aged 29 and I was paired up with
a 24 year old who had degrees and other quals coming out of his arse. We
both had different strengths in fault finding, and engineering - but I found
that my ability to turn up on time and fly to Austria or America with 15
minutes notice to fix a fault made me more employable.

What is more interesting is that I have felt an 'affinity' with Tam and
Lorna since joining the forum and have asked them both for advice offlist -
yet it would seem we are the least 'qualified' here??

Anyway - before I get attacked - some of the guys in this thread are looking
for jobs, so you may need qualifications, as I said before I am a cheeky
squaddie so I have always just added mine to my CV and learned stuff as I
have needed it and told them I was 'brushing up' - not a problem. But for
those of us who are Freelancers (and I thought that was the point of the
forum) All you need is live work surely?? No-one has ever asked me what
qualifications I have, - they just look at my sites and if they like - they
buy ... budda-boom-budda-bing .

Oh - and I was talking about CCNA etc earlier not web development courses.
If you can learn something Lorna and do it at reasonable cost then go for it
- that is not what CISCO and Microsoft courses are about - totally
different.

I just read books and magazines and surf the web looking at ideas really.

Blimey - I'm rambling now - BTW 'scuse the pong, just been to gym and on way
to shower.

TTFN

Max

Subject: Re: FN-FORUM: Qualifications


I have read all your replies on this subject and I'm intreged.

Maybe I'm going down the wrong road, but not sure I am.

I have just started skills training course, not because I want a CIW, but
believe it won't do any harm, but for the fact that as someone who has been
working on websites for 6 years commercially and really from a print
background not web, that I have huge gaps in my knowledge. For instance I
couldn't remember how many bits in a byte but I know I really should, I find

that embarrasing as I understanding the workings of websites quite well and
designing them but not the gritty stuff.