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I'm a fairly recent graduate of the Zenos IT Academy. I hope to provide a bit of an analysis of the course to allow you to decide whether you want to pursue it or not.

I'll introduce myself a bit first though. I finished school with a healthy set of A-C GCSE's. I'm not an idiot, but I knew that I didn't want to proceed through education any longer. I don't want to uni and I didn't really want to go college. So I didn't... and it was probably the best decision I made.

I was working in a local shop wasting my life away earning peanuts when Zenos was advertised on the radio. I love IT, I'm good at it and I spend most of my free time on computer so when they played this advert it almost seemed too be true.

"Earn £100 a week! Learn IT! Get great qualifications!" bla bla. Infact, I pinched my self, did I fall asleep? Well I hadn't.

This was in August, so I had to act fast. I logged onto that website, applied, and within a week I had attended a presentation, been interviewed and had a position offered to me. I had already indicated to my boss at the shop that I was moving on in September so luckily I had no issues there.

Presentation

The presentation was just a longer edition of the radio advert. It consisted of flashy graphics and effects, promising this, that, saying how great Zenos is. Infact it seemed like it was selling me something, not offering me free education?

A man came around to see who had already received their GCSE's and who hadn't. I had so I booked an interview for a few days later.

Interview

I went to the interview, suited and booted as you would. They asked the usual general questions, how did you find us, what do you know about us, why do you want to join.

They also asked some general questions about IT, what programs have you used, what hardware have you handled.

It was basically just gathering a basic idea of what you are like as a person and what you know about IT.

First 2 Weeks

We went in for the first day, 100 people crammed in the hallway, waiting to be assigned a classroom.

We met our teachers, our classmates, we did a bit of team building, standing up and talking about ourselves.

And then.. it felt like the real deal was going to kick in.. only it turned out that we would spend the next 2 weeks learning about working, health and safety, government regulations on work, just generally everything about working as an IT technician which didn't involve IT.

It did make me quite demotivated.. but I stress.. anybody who does genuinely enjoy IT, bare with it, you'll find that it does pick up after these 2 weeks.

Week 3 - Before compTIA A+

The following weeks ahead was just alot of coursework, messing about with computers, discussions.

It seemed like everybody was involved, everybody had some interest in IT. There was definitely mixed ability but the trainer tried to keep everybody up to scratch.

One thing I genuinely enjoyed about this coursework was that the documents provided already had a layout. It wasn't simply open up a word document and write this.. and that.. we had the general format to fill out.

It can get tedious at times but the enthusiasm of the trainer and the fact that you're sitting in a room with 20 people your age gets you through it.

compTIA A+

I actually took the whole first week of A+ revision off, because well.. I didn't need to learn it and I just decided I needed a break and this was the best time to do it because no coursework was due. Although.. I did tell them I was ill.

I came back after the week, did a few practice exams and smashed the real exams. A+ Certified. What does that mean? It just shows employers that you have a basic understanding of networking and hardware. It is a good thing to have under your belt as a new entry to the IT world. But remember, you'll get questioned on it in an interview, be ready to answer them.

After compTIA - Before Microsoft

Yet again.. more coursework.. a bit health and safety.. more coursework..

You know, it does get tedious, it get's boring but just have a laugh with your classmates and you'll all breeze through it.

As I stated, you practically get everything you need handed on a plate in the word documents, so you just fill out some forms.

I think the key to passing Zenos is just.. turn up.. If you turn up on time, then you won't get hassled, and you'll fly through it!

Microsoft Exams

The trainer stressed to me that they would be hard. I didn't listen. I did the same as I did with the A+, took a week off as the time table didn't include much work. I even managed to get them to call me a cab home, and convinced them I was dieing practically.

I came back, did a few practice exams, got hit in the face a bit. It turned out, they were hard. So yeah.. do put a bit of effort in at this stage.

The End

It got to the end, I had one Microsoft exam under my belt and the compTIA, also the other non-Vendor stuff. A few weeks left to go, I just kept going to the manager and convincing her to let me go home early because I couldn't be bothered anymore. I was tired of the long days I wasn't used to.

So yeah, we had a presentation, got our envelopes with our initial Zenos certificates, I decided to skip the papa john's pizza and just go home.. I was all drained out.. but I made it!

Pro's With Zenos
1. Focuses on IT and Working (they do offer English & Maths but if you don't need it, don't do it!).
2. You meet decent people who chose to be here, not forced there like school.
3. You're all wearing business uniform, so it looks pretty pro.
4. Just turn up, and sit it through, and you'll do fine. If anybody attends it every day and doesn't leave with something then they must be a complete idiot.

Con's With Zenos
1. 9-5, it's hella' long time for someone our age to deal with.
2. Alot of health safety.
3. They did lie about a few things in the start.

What they lied about at the start!

Probation
You don't get paid for the first 6 weeks. I wasn't told this until I turned up on day 1.

Aqua Box
They try and make you do a charity thing that nobody wants to do. They say if you don't do it you'll fail the course. Don't do it and you won't fail the course!

Probably some more but I can't think right now..

Anyway, some quick tips to anybody thinking of going!

Do you love IT? Don't wanna fuck about with any other subject? Then go for it.

If you can just get up in the morning and turn up, do a bit of work, then go home, you can't fail. There isn't too much pressure.

If you think you don't need to study for the Microsoft, you do!

They do have a great Employment Team after, they email you constantly, ring you, make sure all is going okay. They send you jobs and get you interviews. Just make sure you reply to their emails and answer their calls!

If you want to know my current status, then.. I am currently working as a web designer. Zenos got me an interview with this company, but the company realized I can do alot more than the Zenos programme offers so I am going to hopefully work my way up quite fast.