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Nice One! Finding this article means you’re likely to be contemplating your career, and if training for a new career’s in your mind you’ve even now progressed more than almost everybody else. Are you aware that hardly any of us would say we are satisfied and happy at work - yet the vast majority of us will do absolutely nothing about it. We encourage you to be different and do something - you have the rest of your life to enjoy it.

It’s in your interests that before you start a training course, you discuss your plans with a person who knows the industry and can point you in the right direction. The right person will be able to assess your personal likes and dislikes and give you guidance on the right role for you:

* Do you like to be around others at work? Perhaps you like being a team player? Maybe you like to deal with tasks that you can get on with on your own?

* What elements are you looking for from the industry your job is in? (Things do change - look at the building trade, or banks for example.)

* How long a career do you hope to have once retrained, and can your chosen industry provide you with that possibility?

* Would you like the course you’re re-training in to be in an area where you believe you’ll remain employable up to retirement age?

Pay attention to the IT industry, that will be time well spent - you’ll find it’s one of the only growth areas in this country and overseas. In addition, salaries and benefits exceed most other industries.

Huge changes are flooding technology over the next few decades - and it only gets more exciting every day. We’re in the very early stages of beginning to see just how technology will define our world. Technology and the web will profoundly change the way we view and interrelate with the world as a whole over the coming decades.

Should receiving a good salary be high on your scale of wants, you will welcome the news that the regular income for a typical IT worker is a lot better than salaries in much of the rest of industry. Because the IT market sector is still growing nationally and internationally, one can predict that the search for well trained and qualified IT technicians will flourish for quite some time to come.

The way in which your courseware is broken down for you is often missed by many students. How is the courseware broken down? What is the order and how fast does each element come? You may think that it makes sense (when study may take one to three years to pass all the required exams,) for a training company to release a single section at a time, as you pass each element. Although: With thought, many trainees understand that their providers ’standard’ path of training doesn’t suit. It’s often the case that varying the order of study will be far more suitable. Perhaps you don’t make it within their exact timetable?

Ideally, you’d get ALL the training materials right at the beginning - so you’ll have them all to come back to at any time in the future - irrespective of any schedule. Variations can then be made to the order that you attack each section if you find another route more intuitive.

Workshops can be portrayed as a strong aspect by a lot of trainers. When you talk to many IT students who have used them, you’ll likely realise that they’ve now become a major negative as they hadn’t properly considered the following:

* All the travelling required - multiple journeys and quite often 100’s of miles each time.

* Monday to Friday availability to workshops is the norm, and trying to take several days leave in a single chunk can represent quite a problem for many working people.

* Most of us think 4 weeks annual leave doesn’t go very far. Sacrifice a big chunk of this for educational workshops and watch how much harder things become.

* Taking into account the costs associated with delivering a workshop, a lot of training providers fill the classes up to the brim - not really ideal (and with less one-on-one time).

* Many trainees are trying to maintain a quick pace, but some like to take it easier and be allowed to set their own speed. This generates tension in most cases.

* Tot up the cost of all the travel, fares, accommodation, parking and food and you may be surprised (and not pleasantly). Trainees mention extra costs of between several hundred and a couple of thousand pounds. Work it out - and see for yourself.

* Study privacy can be high on the list of priorities to most students. You don’t want to throw away any job advancement, pay-rises or accomplishment at work while you’re training. If your work discovers you’re putting yourself through accreditation in a completely different market, what will they think?

* Surely, all of us at some time have avoided asking a question, because we didn’t want to look stupid?

* Usually, events are virtually undoable, when you work or live away for part of the week.

It obviously makes a lot more sense to be trained when it suits you — not the training company - and utilise videos of instructors with interactive virtual-lab’s. Training can take place wherever it suits you. If you have a laptop, why not catch some fresh air in your garden as you work. Any issues that arise just get onto the live 24×7 support. You can go back and re-cover all the study modules as many times as you want to. There’s absolutely no need to jot down any notes because the class is available whenever you want it. The outcome: Reduced stress, saved money, and absolutely no travelling.

What might you expect the best Microsoft certified training providers to offer a student in Britain in this day and age? Clearly, the ultimate in Microsoft authorised training routes, offering a portfolio of courses to take you to a variety of careers in the IT workplace. In addition, you may want to get advice on the sort of careers available to you once you’ve qualified, and the type of individual those jobs may be appropriate for. Lots of people like to get advice on what would suit them individually. Once you’ve decided on your career path, you must find an appropriate course customised to your ability level and skill set. The standard of teaching should leave no room for complaints.

Please understand this most important point: Always get full 24×7 instructor support. You’ll severely regret it if you let this one slide. some companies only provide email support (slow), and phone support is usually just a call-centre which will make some notes and then email an advisor - who will call back over the next day or so (assuming you’re there), when it suits them. This is all next to useless if you’re stuck and can’t continue and only have a specific time you can study.

Keep your eyes open for study programmes that utilise many support facilities from around the world. Every one of them needs to be seamlessly combined to give a single entry point and 24×7 access, when you need it, without any problems. Unless you insist on support round-the-clock, you’ll regret it. You may not need it late at night, but consider weekends, evenings and early mornings at some point.

With all the options available, there’s no surprise that most potential trainees have no idea which career they should even pursue. Perusing lists of IT career possibilities is a complete waste of time. Most of us have no concept what our next-door neighbours do at work each day - let alone understand the ins and outs of any specific IT role. Generally, the way to deal with this problem correctly stems from a deep chat, covering several different topics:

* Personalities play a major role - what gives you a ‘kick’, and what are the activities that really turn you off.

* Why you’re looking at getting involved with computing - it could be you’re looking to overcome a life-long goal such as being self-employed for instance.

* What salary and timescale requirements you may have?

* Getting to grips with what the normal work types and markets are - plus how they’re different to each other.

* What effort, commitment and time you’re prepared to put into the training program.

The best way to avoid all the jargon and confusion, and reveal the most viable option for your success, have an informal meeting with an industry expert and advisor; someone who will cover the commercial realities and truth whilst covering each accreditation.

When did you last consider how safe your job is? Normally, this issue only becomes a talking point when something goes wrong. However, the painful truth is that our job security doesn’t really exist anymore, for all but the most lucky of us. Security only exists now in a swiftly growing market, pushed forward by a shortage of trained workers. These circumstances create the correct environment for a higher level of market-security - definitely a more pleasing situation.

Investigating the IT industry, the 2006 e-Skills analysis demonstrated a 26 percent skills deficit. It follows then that for every 4 jobs that exist around computing, companies can only locate trained staff for 3 of them. This basic notion shows an urgent requirement for more appropriately qualified computing professionals across the United Kingdom. For sure, this really is a fabulous time to consider retraining into the IT industry.

Many students come unstuck over one area of their training usually not even thought about: The breakdown of the course materials before being sent out to you. You may think it logical (with training often lasting 2 or 3 years for a full commercial certification,) for your typical trainer to courier one module at a time, as you achieve each exam pass. However: Sometimes the steps or stages prescribed by the provider doesn’t suit you. And what if you don’t finish all the sections inside their defined time-scales?

An ideal situation would be to have every piece of your study pack posted to you immediately; the whole caboodle! Then, nothing can hinder your ability to finish.

One crafty way that training companies make extra profits is by adding exam fees upfront to the cost of a course then giving it ‘Exam Guarantee’ status. It looks impressive, but let’s just examine it more closely:

You’ll be charged for it by some means. You can be assured it’s not a freebie - it’s simply been shoe-horned into the price as a whole. The fact is that if a student pays for each progressive exam, at the time of taking them, they’ll be in a better position to pass first time - since they’ll think of their investment in themselves and so will prepare more thoroughly.

Take your exams somewhere local and look for the very best offer you can at the time. Why tie up your cash (or borrow more than you need) for examinations when you didn’t need to? A great deal of money is made because training colleges are charging all their exam fees up-front - and banking on the fact that many won’t be taken. You should fully understand that re-takes through companies with an ‘Exam Guarantee’ are always heavily controlled. They will insist that you take pre-tests first until you’ve demonstrated an excellent ability to pass.

The cost of exams was approximately 112 pounds in the last 12 months when taken at Prometric or VUE centres around the United Kingdom. So what’s the point of paying maybe a thousand pounds extra to get ‘an Exam Guarantee’, when it’s no secret that the most successful method is a regular, committed, study programme, with an accredited exam preparation system.

As you’re considering studying a course to qualify for an MCSE, you’re probably in 1 of 2 situations. You might be ready to get into the IT environment, and your research tells you the IT industry has many opportunities for men and women who are commercially qualified. On the other hand you are perhaps an IT professional attempting to gain acknowledgement with the Microsoft qualification.

We’d recommend you confirm that the training company you use is actually training you on the latest Microsoft editions. A number of trainees become very demoralised when they find that they’ve been studying for an outdated MCSE course which inevitably will have to be up-dated. Stay away from organisations who are only trying to make a sale. You should be given detailed advice to ensure you’re on the right course for you. Guard against being rushed into some generic product by an over-keen salesman.

It only makes sense to consider study paths which will grow into industry approved qualifications. There are far too many minor schools offering ‘in-house’ certificates which are worthless in the real world. Unless your qualification is issued by a big-hitter like Microsoft, CompTIA, Cisco or Adobe, then chances are it could have been a waste of time and effort - as it’ll be an unknown commodity.

An effective training package will also offer accredited exam simulation and preparation packages. As the majority of IT examining boards tend to be American, it’s essential to understand how exam questions will be phrased and formatted. It isn’t good enough simply answering any old technical questions - they need to be in the proper exam format. Always have some simulated exam questions that will allow you to check your knowledge at any point. Simulated or practice exams prepare you properly - then you’re much more at ease with the real thing.

Many trainers provide a shelf full of reference manuals. Learning like this is dull and repetitive and isn’t the best way to go about remembering. Studies have repeatedly demonstrated that connecting physically with our study, is much more conducive to long-term memory.

Search for a course where you’ll receive a selection of CD and DVD ROM’s - you’ll begin by watching videos of instructors demonstrating the skills, followed by the chance to use virtual lab’s to practice your new skills. Always insist on a study material demo’ from your training provider. The package should contain slide-shows, instructor-led videos and interactive labs where you get to practice.

Seek out CD and DVD ROM based physical training media if possible. You’re then protected from broadband outages, failure and signal quality issues etc.

Getting into your first IT role is often made easier if you’re offered a Job Placement Assistance facility. Because of the great need for more IT skills in the United Kingdom right now, there’s no need to become overly impressed with this service however. It isn’t so complicated as you might think to land a job as long as you’ve got the necessary skills and qualifications.

Nevertheless, avoid waiting until you have qualified before polishing up your CV. As soon as you start a course, enter details of your study programme and get it out there! Getting onto the ‘maybe’ pile of CV’s is more than not being known. Often junior support jobs are given to trainees (sometimes when they’ve only just got going.) If you’d like to get employment in your home town, then you may well find that a specialist independent regional recruitment consultant or service may be more appropriate than a centralised service, because they are much more inclined to be familiar with local employment needs.

A good number of people, it would appear, put a great deal of effort into their studies (sometimes for years), only to give up at the first hurdle when looking for a good job. Sell yourself… Do everything you can to get yourself known. A job isn’t just going to bump into you.

It’s not uncommon for companies to offer inclusive exam guarantees - inevitably that means paying for the exams at the start of your training. But before you get taken in by guaranteed exams, consider this:

Everyone knows they’re ultimately paying for it - it’s obviously already in the overall figure from the course provider. Certainly, it’s not a freebie - and it’s insulting that we’re supposed to think it is! Qualifying on the first ‘go’ is what everyone wants to do. Going for exams one at a time and funding them as you go makes it far more likely you’ll pass first time - you put the effort in and are conscious of what you’ve spent.

Sit the exam somewhere close to home and go for the best offer you can find when you’re ready. Huge profits are made by some training companies that get money for exam fees in advance. For various reasons, many students don’t take their exams but no refunds are given. Amazingly, providers exist who rely on that fact - as that’s how they make a lot of their profit. Don’t forget, with most ‘Exam Guarantees’ - the company decides when you are allowed to have another go. You’ll have to prove conclusively that you can pass before they’ll pay for another exam.

Paying maybe a thousand pounds extra on ‘Exam Guarantees’ is foolish - when hard work, commitment and the right preparation via exam simulations is actually the key to your success.

If you want Cisco training, a CCNA is in all probability what you’ll need. The Cisco training is intended for individuals who need to know all about network switches and routers. Routers connect networks of computers to different networks of computers via the internet or dedicated lines.

Routers are linked to networks, therefore it’s vital to have prior knowledge of how networks function, or you’ll struggle with the training and be unable to do the work. Find training that features the basics on networks (CompTIA is ideal) prior to starting your CCNA.

You’ll need a tailored route that takes you on a progressive path to make sure that you’ve mastered the necessary skills and knowledge prior to commencing your Cisco training.

It’s abundantly clear: There’s very little evidence of personal job security available anymore; there’s really only market and sector security - as any company can drop any single member of staff whenever it suits the company’s commercial requirements. Now, we only experience security in a swiftly growing marketplace, pushed forward by a lack of trained workers. This shortage creates the appropriate environment for a higher level of market-security - a far better situation.

The IT skills shortage in the United Kingdom is standing at approx 26 percent, as reported by the most recent e-Skills investigation. Put directly, we only have the national capacity to fill just three out of every four jobs in the computing industry. This one idea on its own shows why the country desperately needs a lot more people to become part of the Information Technology market. No better time or market state of affairs is ever likely to exist for getting certified in this hugely expanding and blossoming market.

Chat with a professional advisor and they can normally tell you many terrible tales of students who’ve been sold completely the wrong course for them. Make sure you deal with an experienced professional that asks some in-depth questions to find out what’s right for you - not for their retirement-fund! Dig until you find the right starting point of study for you. With a little work-based experience or qualifications, you could discover that your appropriate starting-point is not the same as someone new to the industry. Opening with a user skills course first can be the best way to start into your IT program, but depends on your skill level.

Think about the points below in detail if you think that old marketing ploy of examination guarantees seems like a good idea:

You’re paying for it ultimately. It certainly isn’t free - they’ve simply charged more for the whole training package. Students who go in for their examinations when it’s appropriate, paying for them just before taking them are much more likely to pass. They are conscious of their investment and take the necessary steps to make sure they’re ready.

Take your exams somewhere close to home and look for the very best offer you can at the time. Buying a course that includes payments for examination fees (and interest charges if you’re borrowing money) is bad financial management. Resist being talked into filling the training company’s account with your money just to give them a good cash-flow! There are those who hope that you won’t get round to taking them - but they won’t refund the cash. It’s worth noting that exam re-takes with organisations who offer an ‘Exam Guarantee’ are tightly controlled. They will insist that you take pre-tests first till you’ve proven conclusively that you can pass.

On average, exams cost approximately 112 pounds in the last 12 months via local VUE or Pro-metric centres throughout the country. So don’t be talked into shelling out hundreds or thousands of pounds more to get ‘Exam Guarantees’, when any student knows that what’s really needed is study, commitment and preparing with good quality mock and practice exams.

Many people don’t comprehend what information technology is all about. It is electrifying, revolutionary, and means you’re doing your bit in the gigantic wave of technology affecting everyones lives in the 21st century. Technological changes and connections via the internet is going to radically shape the direction of our lives over future years; to a vast degree.

If making decent money is up there on your list of priorities, then you will appreciate the fact that the income on average of the majority of IT staff is significantly higher than salaries in much of the rest of industry. The good news is there is no end in sight for IT growth in the United Kingdom. The industry is continuing to expand hugely, and as we have a skills gap that means we only typically have three IT workers for every four jobs it’s not likely that this will change significantly for quite some time to come.

Sometimes students think that the tech college or university system is the way they should go. So why then are commercially accredited qualifications beginning to overtake it? The IT sector now acknowledges that for an understanding of the relevant skills, proper accreditation from the likes of Microsoft, CISCO, Adobe and CompTIA most often has much more specialised relevance - for much less time and money. Vendor training works through honing in on the particular skills that are needed (along with a proportionate degree of background knowledge,) as opposed to going into the heightened depths of background ‘padding’ that degrees in computing often do (because the syllabus is so wide).

Put yourself in the employer’s position - and you required somebody who had very specific skills. What’s the simplest way to find the right person: Go through reams of different degrees and college qualifications from various applicants, asking for course details and what trade skills they’ve mastered, or choose particular accreditations that specifically match what you’re looking for, and make your short-list from that. The interview is then more about the person and how they’ll fit in - instead of having to work out if they can do the job.

With an abundance of computer training courses on the market now, it’s advisable to find a training company who can guide you on one that will suit you. Reputable companies will discuss at length the differing job options that could be right for you, in advance of recommending a training program that can educate you in the relevant field. Whether you want to improve your computer user skills, or would like to achieve professional qualifications in IT, there are easy to follow courses and assistance to turn your goals into reality.

Because there are such a lot of sensibly priced, easy-to-use training and support, it’s easy to find a course that should get you to your destination.

So many training providers are all about the certification, and completely avoid why you’re doing this - which is of course employment. Always start with the final destination in mind - don’t make the journey more important than where you want to get to. It’s a sad testimony to the sales skills of many companies, but a large percentage of students begin programs that seem marvellous from the syllabus guide, but which delivers a career that is of no interest. Try talking to typical university leavers for examples.

You must also consider what your attitude is towards career development, earning potential, and how ambitious you are. You should understand what (if any) sacrifices you’ll need to make for a particular role, what particular accreditations they want you to have and in what way you can develop commercial experience. Our recommendation would be to take advice from an experienced industry advisor before you begin a particular learning programme, so there’s no doubt that the specific package will give the appropriate skill-set.

You have to be sure that all your accreditations are what employers want - forget courses which lead to some in-house certificate (which is as useless as if you’d printed it yourself). From an employer’s perspective, only the major heavyweights such as Microsoft, Cisco, CompTIA or Adobe (to give some examples) really carry any commercial clout. Nothing else will cut the mustard.

The classroom style of learning we remember from school, utilising reference manuals and books, is often a huge slog for most of us. If you’re nodding as you read this, dig around for more practical courses that are multimedia based. Many years of research has time and time again shown that an ‘involved’ approach to study, where we utilise all our senses, is proven to produce longer-lasting and deeper memory retention.

Top of the range study programs now offer interactive discs. By watching and listening to instructors on video tutorials you’ll take everything in through their teaching and demonstrations. Then you test your knowledge by using practice-lab’s. It’s imperative to see some example materials from the company you’re considering. You’ll want to see that they include video demo’s and interactive elements such as practice lab’s.

Avoid training that is purely online. Ideally, you should opt for CD and DVD ROM courseware where offered, so you can use them wherever and whenever you want - ISP quality varies, so you don’t want to be totally reliant on your broadband being ‘up’ 100 percent of the time.

It’s quite a normal occurrence for students not to check on something of absolutely vital importance - how their training provider actually breaks down and delivers the courseware sections, and into how many separate packages. A release of your materials piece by piece, as you complete each module is the typical way that your program will arrive. While sounding logical, you should consider these factors: Students often discover that the company’s typical path to completion isn’t the easiest way for them. Sometimes, varying the order of study will be far more suitable. Perhaps you don’t make it inside of the expected timescales?

The very best situation would see you getting all the training materials delivered to you immediately; every single thing! Then, nothing can hinder the reaching of your goals.

The somewhat scary thought of finding your first IT job can be eased by some companies, via a Job Placement Assistance programme. The need for this feature can be bigged up out of proportion though - it’s easy for companies marketing departments to overplay it. Ultimately, the massive skills shortage in the UK is what will make you attractive to employers.

CV and Interview advice and support might be provided (alternatively, check out one of our sites for help). Be sure to you polish up your CV immediately - don’t wait until you’ve finished your exams! Getting onto the ‘maybe’ pile of CV’s is more than not being regarded at all. Often junior support jobs are given to trainees (who’ve only just left first base.) Generally, an independent and specialised local recruitment consultancy (who will get paid by the employer when they’ve placed you) will perform better than any division of a training company. They should, of course, also be familiar with the local industry and employment needs.

Do ensure you don’t conscientiously work through your course materials, and then do nothing more and expect somebody else to find you a job. Get off your backside and make your own enquiries. Channel as much time and energy into finding your first job as you did to get trained.