Sort of employment related I guess.....

Does anyone know any English speaking IT training companies in the Basel area (preferably)?

The kinds of courses I need are MCITP (used to be MCSE) courses.

I have a feeling if I don't get some new exams, I will never be offered a job. Despite years in the business.

Self study?
Or just get a subscription to braindumps and pass the exams by learning the questions and answers.

I'm looking for proper class based courses.

Seeing as the nice people at the RAV can pay for them.

Choose your courses carefully; I think if you look on the market you'll find Microsoft consultants are 10chf a dozen; Might be worth looking at something a bit more business focused such as CISA or CISSP.

Flights to the UK are not so expensive; the problem finding a place to stay while your on the course that doesn't cost you an arm and a leg.

For someone with knowledge of IT already I would recommend SQL or Oracle...seems to be a massive shortage of DBAs in Switerzerland at the moment...also Sharepoint seems to be a remarkably popular skill requirement.

I think this is a excellent suggestion; ITIL and PMI training a possibility too?

There are some good courses you can do in Portugal as well - full MCSE track, though these are in Portugese not sure if that would be a problem for you ?

I would away from core MCSE as suggested. Novell Networks are reliable. You could do the Netware 3.12 Administrator course.

This is a joke in case anyone takes it seriously.

are you kidding me ? Have you administered a 3.12 network ? Solid as a rock I tell you. there was even that snake that crawled round the monitor telling you how hard the thing was working.

They don't make them like that any more.

I've never had a problem getting a job without Microsoft or Citrix (my specialism) certification.

Actually I'd shy away from places that demanded those anyway as in practical terms they're not an indicator of skill, intelligence, professionalism or having a clue what IT in a large company is all about. Any company which thinks they're valuable is barking up the wrong tree.

these guys offer some courses in English all over CH.
http://www.digicomp.ch/

yeah but out here they are sticklers for it aren't they ? I dunno because I've only been in one job which is the one I came out here to do but if your looking into the market from a cold start I thought they were keen you had to tick all the boxes.

In fairness to most companies they need to sort out the bullshitters and cowboys from the rest, and evil as certification may be I beg to differ on this opinion. Course it depends on the certificate; attendance certificates I agree are worthless; you should focus on qualifications that you take an exam for ideally; harder to get, but ultimately worth something.

Yes, very true box ticking is a swiss national pass time.

Certificates get you to an interview, but if you can't answer the technical questions, you don't get a job.

Actually, I'm currently looking for IT training around Basel as well Eeyore.
I came across this place via Google - www.flane.ch, they have a bunch of Cisco courses on there, but they're not in Basel. I'm actually going a on a Perl course next month with this company as well - http://www.bodenseo.de/en/.

Does anyone know anywhere for good ITIL or other service/project management type training in English please?

Please don't suggest braindumps. You learn NOTHING by doing them. They devalue the whole purpose of certification and it makes the IT field look bad when braindumpers end up in jobs they cannot perform. It is also rude against those of us who have spent years studying in order to gain these certs through honest, hard work. Besides, IT companies such as Microsoft do not allow this practice and consider it criminal. If you're caught, you are decertified for life.

Just say no to brain dumping.

Actually, there's only around 60 of us "Microsoft Consultants" here in Switzerland (if you're referring to real employees of Microsoft Consulting Services at Microsoft Suisse Sàrl)

Also, do realize that you cannot legally/easily obtain the CISSP certification unless you have 5 years of experience in IT Security (backed by employers certifying that you've sat such a position), or 4 if you all ready own one of the other Security related certificates (such as CompTIA Security+) AND you've been recommended by an existing CISSP. So this particular certification is not something you just gain through a few months of self (or class) study.

Just my two cents

check the link i posted above an you will get you answers

But say you have eight years employment at a top tier investment bank, that probably tells your next prospective employer you're not a cowboy or bullshitter.

Well, even without brain dumping certifications are devalued. You can buy a book, cram it in one week or attend a course and pass the exam without any real life knowledge and experience. It is even more likely for such people to pass as in many cases the examination questions are rather far from the real-life situations (most likely to force people into buying courses/books).

Most of the common certification programmes are there just for one reason: to sell courses (and earn money)! Unfortunately in many places (CH) you need certification to get an interview - thus go for the cheapest way to obtain it in the area that you're knowledgeable. Your knowledge should be tested anyway.

Solid as a rock? Isn't that the version where a certain key combination on a locked server would give you a supervisor shell? ;-)