Robust IT Avis 

In my opinion, a fantastic company helped me all the way and when you go to the classroom you feel part of the family I would highly recommend

I signed up with Robust IT with high hopes, to support my career change into IT. What I received was profoundly disappointing and left me in financial, emotional, and mental distress.

The course material was not as advertised. The “training” was AI-voiced PowerPoint slides with minimal interaction. As a practical learner, this format was unusable for me. Later alternatives — like a tutor reading from the slides or a "click here" guided practical tour — were just as ineffective. No engagement.

Mock exams gave no feedback, just pointed to external sites. When I failed an exam, the emotional toll was huge — 1-to-1 sessions were offered, but by then I was already deeply ashamed and disengaged.

I was told I “sounded upbeat” on the phone — i was masking my mental health struggle in a call. Anyone who understands neurodivergence knows this.

I’ve since spoken to others who also feel misled, including individuals formally diagnosed with Autism and ADHD. This seems to be a wider pattern, not just a one-off.

I'm now locked into a finance agreement I never should have signed. If you're vulnerable, neurodivergent, — look elsewhere. This is one of my worst financial mistakes of my adult life.

Reply to Robust IT:

Firstly, regarding your mention of a refund — I want to make it clear that this was not a full refund. It was only a small portion, which would have still left me with more to pay. To be honest, I’m not even asking for a refund anymore. I’d gladly waive that just to end the finance agreement and walk away from a situation that has caused me a lot of distress.

As for the statement: "We were not made aware of your Autism and ADHD until a few months into the course" — this really misses the point.

Under the Equality Act 2010, you don’t need a formal diagnosis to trigger the duty to make reasonable adjustments. I clearly explained that I was struggling with things like focus, confidence, mood, and how I learn best — this should have been enough.

Also, the way you’ve phrased it makes it sound like it was somehow my fault for not disclosing everything sooner — but that’s not how it works. Neurodivergent people often mask their struggles or don’t fully realize what’s going on themselves at the time. That doesn’t make their challenges any less real or valid.

At the end of the day, I explained what I was going through.

I want to be as fair as possible. Many of the 5 star reviews here are about how helpful and friendly the staff is, which they absolutely are, but there’s not much around actual career placements or development after completion of the courses.

Can’t speak for the other courses offered, but thoroughly disappointed with the Cloud Course which I’ve just completed.

Was a good starting point, but heavily lacked any practical experience (apart from a few labs purchased by Robust from other training providers). The course simply involved getting 4 certs (Microsoft SC-900 [even though it would make more sense to go for the AZ-900 in a cloud conext], the AWS Cloud Practitioner, AWS Solutions Architect - Associate, and finally the Microsoft Azure Administrator AZ-104, all of which can be done cheaper without going through Robust IT.

After speaking to a number of professionals working in senior IT/infrastructure roles, they all seem to agree that it is strange to be going for Azure administrator and Solutions Architect qualifications with such little experience and foudnational level knowledge of IT. Remember that your ability to pass a multiple choice exam (although difficult) is not an accurate reflection of your ability to do the job.

In addition to that, the course content offered by Robust was entirely made up of courses from other training providers (such as Tutorials Dojo).

I’ve had to rely on building my own self-led projects and filling in knowledge and experience gaps with networking and foundational IT concepts alongside my time with Robust IT. Even then I am struggling to land my first IT Support role, let alone a Cloud role.

However, my main reason for going with Robust was because I wanted career support at the end which Robust assured me of before starting my course:

Jake (career support) has initially been helpful with editing my CV and giving some good advice, however I was told multiple times that the career support team would be sending out applications on my behalf and that I’d receive updates soon, but so far I’ve had to send 2 emails chasing this up over last month and still not had anything.

I’m prepared to give benefit of the doubt as the team is likely busy and Jake does seem to be knowledgeable and is someone who wants to help, so I’m prepared to amend this review if I can get some good support in landing a first role.

Edit: Jake called me to reassure me and is planning to put a plan in place with me so we can start moving forward in terms of applications and job hunting. Thanks Jake.

Edit 2: Customer support contacted me to ask for an update. I am now in an apprentice IT role, which isn’t what was alluded to in the initial information call before joining Robust, but due to the lack of practical experience in the Robust course, I have had to accept this.

Additionally, I have joined a paid community to fill in the experience gaps and the difference in quality of content (hands-on experience and project focused rather than certs) is night and day.

It’s unfortunate I’ve had to pay for this now as it is what I was expecting when joining Robust, but I now have a much better structure and plan in place with the new community I have joined.

Recommendation to Robust: Your cloud course does not prepare candidates for the real world, especially with the competition in the market. Certs alone are not enough, and Robust needs to completely rethink and restructure their approach, as paying customers are not getting anywhere near their value. Your courses need to focus more on building a real understanding through projects and not just knowledge to pass a multiple choice exam.

The crucial tools and experience in Linux (given 80-90% of cloud servers run on this, especially AWS), Scripting, Networking, CI/CD and more are not even touched upon.

Buying cheap courses and repackaging them into something they’re not is not only unfair, but unethical, and your customers deserve better than being sold false hopes and promises.

Had a complaint around the course - they've resolved it within an hour.

Sean Cooper was really helpful and easy to talk with

I have to thank Sean C for the welcoming call into the course and has just made me more motivated and excited to begin my journey into Data Engineering, I have so much to learn with no experience at all but I wouldn’t have full committed to the course if it wasn’t for Emily. Thank you again Emily for encouraging me to take it and showing me all the opportunities this will open for me once I complete and get my certification. I have truly enjoyed talking with Emily and a huge thank you again🙏🏽🙏🏽

I’ve had a great experience with Robust IT so far. The team has been very helpful throughout the process, and the support provided has been top-notch. Special thanks to instructor Jeremy Downey — he’s incredibly knowledgeable, patient, and always ready to help. His teaching style made complex topics easy to understand. I would highly recommend Robust IT to anyone looking to further their skills and knowledge in IT.

They have a great instructor called Jeremy! And is very thorough, thoughtful and explains everything very well

Patient and explained everything clearly as well as reassuring me of the readily available assistance

Everyone I spoke to or heard from was professional and helpful. Replies were fast, and always left friendly voice mails if they couldn't get through to me. Looking forward to finishing my training with RobustIT

The support has been excellent throughout my PRINCE2 course. Jake has been incredibly helpful with CV writing, interview preparation, and even thorough guidance on improving my LinkedIn profile. I feel much more confident and prepared thanks to their detailed resources and one-to-one support.

I am happy with RobustIT team, as they are supportive and caring people. I appreciate their support and special thanks to my humble, honest, down to earth, tutor, Jeremy who explains the materials professionally, and tirelessly. He answered my questions, patiently, and made the complex materials simple for me. I definitely, recommend RobustIT team to any one who is looking to learn new exciting skills in their life, and especially with Mr. Jeremy. Thank you very much for your explicit method of supporting RobustIT team :)

Great initial call with jack , took me through step by step what I need to do for every module ,

Can’t wait to start now , let the journey commences

This company is only interested in making money from you. They entice you with marketing calls claiming easy courses that give high salary jobs, whilst "sitting at home playing fifa". My fault for listening to something that is too good to be true I guess.
The revision resources they offer are bare minimum. Just some American guy that talks at half speed, nothing a google search can't do.
They give mock exams that have questions with poor grammar and spelling, giving you absolutely no benefit whatsoever.
Do not give this selfish company any money, I would urge you to find the much cheaper/free resources online that offer much more depth and integrity.
Don't fall for the trap.

An Excellent Company Training Firm

As a former company trainer from 2001-2010 I would recommend Robust IT to anyone for initial training in the industry. They are very reasonable value for money in relation to other training firms in the sector and they gave me a lot of time and support.

Great service! I am currently being guided by Sean to complete my course, all my questions are answered in a professional and helpful manner. I can certainly say that I am happy with the service I am receiving.

As a former company trainer myself from 2001-2010 with a Cambridge Uni CELTA Certificate (July 2001), as an LCCIB Business English Certification holder (April 2004) and MA in Company English training for specific occupational purposes from Essex Uni Language and Linguistics dept (December 2009), I would recommend Robust IT with all 5 stars. Knowing what I've known in my 3500 professional hrs as a company trainer in the BRD (mostly in the NRW, Germany), I feel that you have to do a lot of the work yourself online, but I've always seen that as positive. Troubleshooting and working things out oneself is part of what we have to do in our new profession. If you got to a German University it's just the same as I did as a foreign student. Some of the people who have made complaints about being neurodiverse I am and I've never had a problem with them. Jeremy is a super chap a very committed instructor with a lot of experience in the hacking and cybersecurity industry. He is even giving me an extra class before I go into the exam room for CompTIA network plus on the 27th June 121 in person. Remember, it's not just the course or materials we are paying for it's the human touch and the help back into work if we make the grade that we get for being good students. I've learned my lesson already with a previous course at another institution. I came in with too many expectations, I had a real go and I got thrown out of my old profession and not helped. I'm just glad these guys gave me the second chance I was looking for or have done so far. What people have experienced here in terms of complaints; it's not Robust It that are to blame in my opinion. We're only paying them £3700 to be an ethical hacker or £1100 in my case to qualify and be placed as a Network Engineer first then work for pen tester on the job. At university you would pay far more for similar salary expectations at London online it's 17-19k for a degree in International Relations. I'm doing that as well because I like study with the money from this, but even within cyber security itself you can pay StationX over 8000 dollars that's about 5500 pounds and at CAPSLOCK you can pay £15,000 for what they offer when you are placed. We're paying a lot less to be given the opportunity for the same job and similar salary expectations of 75-100k. A little more realism from some people is required they aren't paid much per pupil and I think it's really good value. It's also very motivating to be back at the occhi and trusted with these things having been long term unemployed. Be a bit more Christian and grateful for what you have! Do what Jeremy asked me to do for myself get out there and get to a global conference and networking event like I did in Olympia in London meet the cyber cells and the cyber security council and know how Robust fits in with the other things on offer before you criticise too much. It's all good advice. It's taught me vital lessons about the industry before I'm even placed. I paid for a VIP pass rather than a free one and saved to stay up in London for the weekend at Regents Park which was fun. It's not that bad this company, sorry. If you do it yourself you don't get the leg up on completion you have to find your own work and that's going to be hard if you haven't worked for a while. You need help and a reference. How are you going to get that? They actually saved me and I've probably still got the cyber security council the new professional body for the industry on board because of Robust IT defending my position, Sean said he would. Certain other people I met didn't like me at conferences and tried to ruin it for me. These guys at Robust IT really stuck up for me personally by contrast and will let me continue with my studies. I won't mention names on here as to who those big cheeses were. They just didn't like me as unemployed those guys and I was so nice to them. Robust respond to kindness they didn't. The criticisms on here seem more than a little naive to me baring in mind the competition and snobbery I've witnessed elsewhere. It's so unfair on Jeremy and Sean.

In the long run, robust IT did help me to get two jobs.
Initially, I enrolled on the course that specialised in IT/cyber security qualifications. There were five certifications in total, the first two focused on very basic computing, cloud computing and Microsoft services. They also gave me a foundational understanding of basic computing. The next two certifications focused on basic networking and security. This allowed me to have a rudimentary understanding on how networks worked and how to protect them unauthorised access. This also had the benefit of coming from industry recognised brand like CompTIA. The last and most comprehensive certification combined the skill I learnt from the previous certifications to give me a more in-depth understanding of cyber security.

I had two primary support systems with this company. The first one were all online resources I had access to while enrolled on the course. These online videos and tutorials were the primary factor that allowed me to learn at my own pace while giving me the understanding needed to excel in this role. The secondary Support system I had were from robust IT employees themselves. They helped me write a compelling CV, they gave me advice onto how to set up a LinkedIn profile, how to effectively search for jobs, and they were also willing to write to me a reference.
I was particularly lucky when one of the employees called Jake, gave me practical career advice) which although didn’t happen overnight) did eventually allow me to get an IT job with a globally recognised company.
Now admittedly there were some setbacks and due to the oversaturated job market in London, I did spend longer than I anticipated unemployed.
But I persevered and eventually got my dream job, thanks to Robust.
So basically, it was all worth it!

The training course was well structured and easy to follow. As with all things you have to put in thr time and effort to get what you want. Massive thank you to Jack H, for his patience and support when I needed it.

I foolishly paid £900 to date for Robust IT’s cybersecurity training expecting structure, support, and quality. Instead, I received:

• Pirated PDF textbooks hosted via unsecured Google Drive

• Free YouTube videos presented as course content

• AI-narrated PowerPoints that were sensory-inaccessible

• No structured support, despite repeated neurodivergent disclosure

As a diagnosed neurodivergent learner (ADHD, AuDHD traits), I made multiple formal requests for support under the Equality Act 2010. Instead, I was told my needs were “too complicated,” and the promised support plan was quietly dropped.

Their “Compliance Manager” ignored formal complaint deadlines and closed support tickets without resolution. I had to create my own learning system just to pass the SC-900 exam — which I paid for separately and passed entirely independently.

Other major issues:

• Nearly 100 student emails exposed via Google Drive (serious GDPR breach)

• Falsely advertise “Microsoft Gold Partner” status (retired in 2022)

• Aggressive language used around chargebacks despite failure to deliver promised service

This provider failed in its duty of care, accessibility obligations, and basic service delivery. I am now pursuing complaints with:

• Trading Standards

• Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)

• Equality Advisory & Support Service (EASS)

• Microsoft Partner Compliance team

If you are neurodivergent or value ethical, professional training — avoid Robust IT!!

***EDIT (29 May 2025):

I’m adding this update in response to Robust IT’s public reply.

• They are misrepresenting my situation. I disclosed my ADHD and suspected autism very early in the course (December 2024, the month after enrolling), not “four months in” as they claim. Legally, the time at which I disclosed doesn’t matter — once they were aware, they had a duty to make reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act 2010. I asked for support and told them about my struggles with their “content” early and repeatedly — they promised to put together a support plan, then withdrew it, calling my needs “too complicated.” They never once implemented or followed through.

• I sent them a formal complaint in April 2025, along with a further highly detailed email including documented evidence of their discrimination, data breach, and misrepresentation. They ignored it completely. It was only after I sent them the Letter Before Action in May that they finally responded — not to the complaint itself, but to the legal threat.

• The SC-900 exam they mention was passed entirely through my own self-study — not their materials. Their own “mock tests” showed I wasn’t ready, which meant I couldn’t be put forward for the paid exam (their own process), so I took it upon myself to self study after it was clear they weren’t going to help, and I paid for that exam myself along with paid apps to help with retention. They did not provide the structured, sensory-friendly support I needed as an ND learner. I even tried to tell them how they could help and how their content was troubling for me, but they just wanted me to go away.

• Their “partial refund” was them offering back my own money to silence me, not a fair or genuine resolution. Later, they offered a full refund — but only if I removed my reviews and personal ND posts, which is manipulative and unethical. I’d also like to add that the actual cost for the exam itself is £64 through Microsoft, and that free study materials available online are far superior to the AI-generated slideshow videos they provide as paid content.

• Their comment about the Google Drive “informal sharing” downplays a serious GDPR breach where nearly 100 student emails were exposed without consent. (I have documents showing the breach.)

• I’m also aware of multiple other ND learners who have faced, and are currently facing, similar struggles with inaccessible materials and a refusal to make real adjustments. This isn’t just about me — it’s a systemic pattern.

• Their claim that they “support ND learners” is simply not true in practice. My own documented experience (which they refuse to acknowledge in full) shows a complete failure to meet basic accessibility standards or legal obligations under the Equality Act 2010.

I didn’t want to have to go to the effort of writing any reviews or sharing my experience on social platforms, but they forced my hand by ignoring me completely and showing no real care for my wellbeing or the stress this has caused. I’m trying hard for a career change in cybersecurity, but dealing with this has consumed so much of my energy and progress. My goal in sharing this has always been to warn other neurodivergent learners and ensure no one else goes through what I am.

I stand by my review and my experience.