[Robbaazz]

Hello, I have just finished year 11 and am going right into sixth form, I will have the following qualifications:
GCSEs - Maths, English Lit, English Language, Ethics, Geography and History.
BTECs - Science *sighs*, ICT OCR Nationals (I done extended too) and Media Studies.
So, the subjects I chose to go into sixth form with were originally Mathematics, ICT and Business Studies, but because one of our A-Level teachers left due to pregnancy, they pulled out of hosting Maths as a lesson. (Bad, I know) So this has put me in a pretty sh*t spot, and I am almost being forced to take Media, ICT and Business, all of which are BTECs. Will this be an utter waste of 2 years, am I better of taking History, Geography or English Lit even though it has nothing to do with the career path I want to take. Also, to add - I want to be a Computer Repair Technician, or something in that field. Thanks alot, and sorry if I have reposted a thread that has been posted before, but I'm new.

[Iqbal007]

(Original post by Robbaazz)
Hello, I have just finished year 11 and am going right into sixth form, I will have the following qualifications:
GCSEs - Maths, English Lit, English Language, Ethics, Geography and History.
BTECs - Science *sighs*, ICT OCR Nationals (I done extended too) and Media Studies.
So, the subjects I chose to go into sixth form with were originally Mathematics, ICT and Business Studies, but because one of our A-Level teachers left due to pregnancy, they pulled out of hosting Maths as a lesson. (Bad, I know) So this has put me in a pretty sh*t spot, and I am almost being forced to take Media, ICT and Business, all of which are BTECs. Will this be an utter waste of 2 years, am I better of taking History, Geography or English Lit even though it has nothing to do with the career path I want to take. Also, to add - I want to be a Computer Repair Technician, or something in that field. Thanks alot, and sorry if I have reposted a thread that has been posted before, but I'm new.

Are you planning on going to uni?
Seems like you wanna do computer science or ICT from the looks of things.

[Robbaazz]

I am not too sure about Uni at the moment, I am trying to nail down what exactly I need to do to take this career path, so any advice is appreciated. And yes, ICT, specifically Hardware and Repair. Thanks for the reply.

[LilcompT]

If you want to be a Computer repair technician then something like a BTEC extended national diploma in IT practitioners would serve you real good as you will gain hands on knowledge in terms of fixing computer related problems. I have just finished my BTEC and I can happily say it was worth it. If you are thinking about going to uni then even a BTEC will do you justice, I recieved 5 offers from good universities whilst doing BTEC. Its not as bad as some people are making it seem.

LilcompT

[Robbaazz]

(Original post by LilcompT)
If you want to be a Computer repair technician then something like a BTEC extended national diploma in IT practitioners would serve you real good as you will gain hands on knowledge in terms of fixing computer related problems. I have just finished my BTEC and I can happily say it was worth it. If you are thinking about going to uni then even a BTEC will do you justice, I recieved 5 offers from good universities whilst doing BTEC. Its not as bad as some people are making it seem.

LilcompT

Thanks alot! Where abouts would I look in terms of schools/places that teach this course as my school only offers the basic IT OCR Nationals Level 3 course.

[Awyk]

(Original post by Robbaazz)
Hello, I have just finished year 11 and am going right into sixth form, I will have the following qualifications:
GCSEs - Maths, English Lit, English Language, Ethics, Geography and History.
BTECs - Science *sighs*, ICT OCR Nationals (I done extended too) and Media Studies.
So, the subjects I chose to go into sixth form with were originally Mathematics, ICT and Business Studies, but because one of our A-Level teachers left due to pregnancy, they pulled out of hosting Maths as a lesson. (Bad, I know) So this has put me in a pretty sh*t spot, and I am almost being forced to take Media, ICT and Business, all of which are BTECs. Will this be an utter waste of 2 years, am I better of taking History, Geography or English Lit even though it has nothing to do with the career path I want to take. Also, to add - I want to be a Computer Repair Technician, or something in that field. Thanks alot, and sorry if I have reposted a thread that has been posted before, but I'm new.

A computer repair technician would not need any of those a levels Infact it wouldn't need any I think if thats the career you want you may be best off looking at a course which looks at computers themselves plus if you ask me the job isn't really hard and you could probably do it without any courses if you knew about computers.

[Robbaazz]

(Original post by Awyk)
A computer repair technician would not need any of those a levels Infact it wouldn't need any I think if thats the career you want you may be best off looking at a course which looks at computers themselves plus if you ask me the job isn't really hard and you could probably do it without any courses if you knew about computers.

I am very confident with computers and have had quite a bit of unprofessional experience for a 15 year old, but I want to make sure I have decent qualifications behind me before I go out looking for jobs. So that's why I have been looking at sixth form and also getting certifications like CompTIA A+ and MCTS.

[siwelmail]

BTECs aren't "going to be worthless" They are worthless.

[Iqbal007]

(Original post by Robbaazz)
I am not too sure about Uni at the moment, I am trying to nail down what exactly I need to do to take this career path, so any advice is appreciated. And yes, ICT, specifically Hardware and Repair. Thanks for the reply.

Well it depends, if you wanna go uni, then it's wise to pick a relevant subject like everyone is mentioning a extended diploma.......my mate at QMUL is doing Computer science with a Btec.

And repairing computers and hardware isn't too hard, if you wanna learn a bit, try building a pc..........or check what some of those to in the technology & computer section http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=37

[Robbaazz]

Ahh this sucks, I hate getting contrasting opinions on the subject of my career. What qualifications do I need to become a Computer Repair Technician?

[Robbaazz]

I have built 2 of my own PCs and am always the one being called by friends and family when there technology is 'broken.' But I am honestly not sure now, because people keep saying BTECs are worthless, and I don't want to waste 2years when I could be getting experience myself.

[Awyk]

(Original post by Robbaazz)
I have built 2 of my own PCs and am always the one being called by friends and family when there technology is 'broken.' But I am honestly not sure now, because people keep saying BTECs are worthless, and I don't want to waste 2years when I could be getting experience myself.

I used to be into computers just like you and had a large understanding of them up to a point where I was able to build custom water cooling loops but because of my passion for computers I felt that it would be better to get some work experience and talk to some people already in the trade and after doing so felt that keeping computers as a hobby would be better than making it a full time career mostly due to the lack of work and also the introduction of mobile devices which whether you like it or not are going to take over the computer scene which will further make it harder for you to get into computers.

Edit: just like to add that these sort of things are become more and more common for people to know now for example what used to be a problem people would take their computers/laptops down to the shop have now become problems which they can fix at home due to the large amount of information available to them and if you have made up your mind I would look at getting some experience before you go any further.

[Robbaazz]

Edit: just like to add that these sort of things are become more and more common for people to know now for example what used to be a problem people would take their computers/laptops down to the shop have now become problems which they can fix at home due to the large amount of information available to them and if you have made up your mind I would look at getting some experience before you go any further.[/QUOTE]

That's also something I have been worried about, the future of computers and how they are evolving into these silly all in one touch screen things. I hate it, but I am still interested in a career as there is honestly nothing else I am that enthusiastic about.

[Robbaazz]

Oops, quote fail

[Awyk]

(Original post by Robbaazz)
Oops, quote fail

Lol remind me of myself yeah I don't like the future of computers but lets be honest unless you can find something drastically better than what has been drawn up then there's no going against it and with lower nanometer processing coming into play it's only a matter of time we get amazing processing power out of these little chips anyways stay strong you still a have a while left just look around for some other things you might be interested for me law and cars was never allowed to go near a car since my dad was a mechanic and hated the trade (understandable lol) but good luck to you mate.

[Robbaazz]

(Original post by Awyk)
Lol remind me of myself yeah I don't like the future of computers but lets be honest unless you can find something drastically better than what has been drawn up then there's no going against it and with lower nanometer processing coming into play it's only a matter of time we get amazing processing power out of these little chips anyways stay strong you still a have a while left just look around for some other things you might be interested for me law and cars was never allowed to go near a car since my dad was a mechanic and hated the trade (understandable lol) but good luck to you mate.

Hehe thanks, think I'm going to need it. I will probably stick with ICT, Business and maybe Media, then get some certifications and experience and see where it takes me.

[Iqbal007]

(Original post by Robbaazz)
I have built 2 of my own PCs and am always the one being called by friends and family when there technology is 'broken.' But I am honestly not sure now, because people keep saying BTECs are worthless, and I don't want to waste 2years when I could be getting experience myself.

Thats some experience...........well Btec's are accepted at some uni's like Kings and QMUL, but require top grades and at least in something relevant.

[isp]

Top universities do not accept BTEC's

[NewFolder]

BTEC Extended Diplomas are equivalent to three A Levels. That's all there is to it. DDD in a BTEC will be looked at in the same way as AAA at A Level in 99% of cases. There are a few universities that don't like it, e.g. Oxford and Cambridge, but they also don't like a lot of A Level subjects either. So in that case, 3 A's at A Level may be seen as 1 or 2 A's as well, depending on the subjects.

If you know you want to study a computer-related degree at uni, or want to have a job related to computers, e.g. a repair technician, I'd very highly recommend that you take the BTEC in IT over A Levels. If you decide you don't want to go to uni, an employer is very likely to prefer the BTEC to A Levels. If you decide you do want to go to uni, the BTEC will not give you any disadvantage unless you choose to go to Oxford or Cambridge.

[Joinedup]

(Original post by Robbaazz)
Ahh this sucks, I hate getting contrasting opinions on the subject of my career. What qualifications do I need to become a Computer Repair Technician?

dunno what the future's like for that line of work tbh... Til Quite recently there were a lot of people working repairing tv's, telephones, washing machines, vacuum cleaners etc... Now those jobs are gone cos the stuff we used to repair are all now
a. Much more reliable
b. commodity products barely worth the cost of getting someone to repair them.
Maybe you should think about getting a job designing or setting up networks or something similar, working on projects rather than products.