network engineer/systems admin - work in IT

Former Member

A company called me the other day and said that they are a recruitment agency which deals with IT.

They offer "industry accredited training", so long as you work for them a year after.

There are different positions, however I'd like a trade and I prefer to work hands on. They do training in systems admin and network engineering.

Ok... Now does this sound dodgy?

What do the jobs entail?

What exactly is "industry accredited training"?

Is this a stable industry to be in?

Former Member

Could be anything to be honest. System admin and network engineering are both pretty broad areas. Also "industry accredited" doesn't really mean a whole lot. It could be accredited by that very business, doing on-the-job training. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing, so long as you are getting paid.

It's as stable as a lot of things, though to be honest you'd be at the lowest level with no skills etc. so you'd be among those at risk I guess.

Former Member

Ok... Now does this sound dodgy?

Hard to say. What type of company? Are there certifications or just internal courses?

What do the jobs entail?

Could be a lot. Network engineering often involves configuring and managing networking devices like routers, firewalls and so on. Could even be laying out a new network segment for a company like making cable stretches, connecting them to network gear, configuring them and so on.
Depends on the level of the job.
Systems engineering could be anything from administering servers to databases to application management etc.

What exactly is "industry accredited training"?

I'd say certifications from accredited companies. Cisco certfications are normally seen as professional, such as CCNP and various microsoft and linux certifications.

Is this a stable industry to be in?

Depends. If you're new to this and the least experienced, then the more experienced people may have an advantage if the company has to cut down on staff. More generally, there are always the need for people to run a network infrastructure. Even if the economic situation is bad, a company can't afford to weaken an information infrastructure. Some say it's even more critical in times of recession.

Former Member

What was this said company?
Did you apply or this job specifically, or was it a random sales phonecall?
I've been getting post from a company that is offering something like this, even though I've NEVER heard about them, nor applied for it or request information regarding it.