Regional Stock Reports

As you’re looking to study a course to qualify for an MCSE, it’s likely you’ll come into one of two categories. You’re either just starting to enter the computer sector, and you’ve found the IT industry has a huge demand for people with the right qualifications. Instead you could be a knowledgeable person ready to formalise your skills with an MCSE.

We’d recommend you check that your provider is educating you on the latest Microsoft version. A number of trainees become very demoralised when it turns out they have been studying for an outdated MCSE program which now needs updating. Don’t be pushed into a computer course without the right advice. Look for a training company that will ensure you are on an appropriate training track for your needs.

Your training program should always include the latest Microsoft (or relevant organisation’s) authorised exam preparation packages. Don’t go for training programs depending on non-accredited exam preparation systems. Their phraseology can be completely unlike authorised versions - and this leads to huge confusion when it comes to taking the real exam. ‘Mock’ or practice exams are very useful for confidence building - so that when you come to take the proper exam, you won’t be worried.

So many training providers are all about the certification, and completely avoid what it’s all actually about - which will always be getting the job or career you want. Always start with the end in mind - don’t make the vehicle more important than the destination. It’s not unheard of, in many cases, to thoroughly enjoy one year of training but end up spending 10 or 20 years in something completely unrewarding, entirely because you stumbled into it without the correct level of soul-searching when it was needed - at the start.

It’s a good idea to understand what expectations industry may have of you. Which particular certifications you’ll be required to have and how you’ll build your experience level. It’s also worth spending time considering how far you’d like to get as it may force you to choose a particular set of certifications. It’s worth seeking guidance from a professional that can best explain the industry you’re hoping to qualify in, and who can offer ‘A typical day in the life of’ type of explanation of the job being considered. All of these things are very important as you’ll need to fully understand if you’re barking up the wrong tree.

Watch out that all qualifications that you’re considering are commercially relevant and are up-to-date. The ‘in-house’ certifications provided by many companies are often meaningless. From an employer’s viewpoint, only the major heavyweights like Microsoft, Adobe, CompTIA or Cisco (to give some examples) will open the right doors. Anything less won’t make the grade.

A lot of training providers only provide office hours or extended office hours support; It’s rare to find someone who offers late evening or full weekend cover. Don’t buy certification programs which can only support trainees through a call-centre messaging system after office-staff have gone home. Training companies will try to talk you round from this line of reasoning. Essentially - support is required when it’s required - not at times when they find it cheaper to provide it.

We recommend that you search for study programmes that have multiple support offices across multiple time-zones. Each one should be integrated to enable simple one-stop access and also 24×7 access, when it’s convenient for you, without any problems. Always choose a training provider that offers this level of study support. As only true round-the-clock 24×7 support truly delivers for technical programs.

The way a programme is physically sent to you can often be overlooked. How is the courseware broken down? What is the specific order and at what speed is it delivered? Drop-shipping your training elements stage by stage, according to your own speed is the usual method of releasing your program. Of course, this sounds sensible, but you should take these factors into account: What could you expect if you didn’t actually complete each and every exam within the time limits imposed? Often the staged order doesn’t come as naturally as some other structure would for you.

In a perfect world, you’d get ALL the training materials right at the beginning - giving you them all to come back to in the future - at any time you choose. Variations can then be made to the order that you complete each objective where a more intuitive path can be found.

When you select any computer course or training it’s essential that the certification you’ll be working towards appropriates with industries needs. In addition, ensure that the course suits you, and your personal ability level. You can choose from office skills packages from Microsoft, or become a specialist IT professional. Plain speaking courses will set you on the right track to achieve your goals.

By taking advantage of the latest training methods and getting rid of wasteful procedures, there’s a new style of course provider supplying a better brand of teaching and assistance for very competitive prices.

If there’s any chance you’ll be enrolling with a training provider who is still using workshops as part of their program, then consider these issues encountered by the majority of trainees:

* Masses of travelling to and from the workshops - sometimes very long trips.

* Asking for frequent time off work - typical companies provide weekday availability and group several days in a chunk. This can be hard for a lot of working people, especially if travelling time is added into the mix.

* And let’s not forget the lost holiday days. Most of us have twenty days annual leave. If half is given up to classes, then we aren’t going to be doing much vacationing.

* In a situation where running costs are very high, most colleges make the classes quite large - not ideal (and far less personal).

* The pace of the workshop - workshops normally have trainees of different talent, consequently there is often tension between the quicker-learners and those who prefer a more relaxed pace.

* Many students report that the (not inconsiderable) costs of getting to and from the training centre whilst paying for accommodation and food gets very expensive.

* Do you really want the possibility of getting side-stepped for a possible promotion or wage increases because of your studies.

* Surely, all of us at some time have avoided putting our hand’s up, because we wanted to look smarter?

* Living away for part of your working week - many trainees find they have to work or live somewhere else for part of the program. Days in-centre are therefore problematic to attend, unfortunately the monies have already been handed over with your initial fees.

It would be better to just watch and gain knowledge from instructors one-on-one in videoed modules, studying them when it suits you - not somebody else. Imagine… Using a notebook PC then you’re free to learn in the garden, a park, or just outside. And 24×7 support is only a web-click away if you hit challenges. Note-taking is a thing of the past - all the lessons and background info are laid out on a plate. Any time you want to repeat something, it’s there. The upshot: Much less stress and hassle, more money in the bank, and you’ve avoided all travel.

Be watchful that any certifications you’re studying for are recognised by industry and are up-to-date. ‘In-house’ exams and the certificates they come with are usually worthless. If the accreditation doesn’t feature a conglomerate such as Microsoft, Adobe, Cisco or CompTIA, then you’ll probably find it will be commercially useless - because it won’t give an employer any directly-useable skills.

It’s quite a normal occurrence for students not to check on something of absolutely vital importance - the way their training provider divides up the physical training materials, and into how many parts. Students often think it makes sense (with a typical time scale of 1-3 years to pass all the required exams,) that a training provider will issue the training stage by stage, until you’ve passed all the exams. But: Many students find that their training company’s ’standard’ path of training isn’t ideal for them. You may find that it’s more expedient to use an alternative order of study. And what if you don’t get to the end inside of the expected timescales?

In a perfect world, you want everything at the start - giving you them all to come back to in the future - at any time you choose. This also allows you to vary the order in which you attack each section as and when something more intuitive seems right for you.

In today’s high speed society, support workers who are able to mend PC’s and networks, and offer constant help to users, are essential in all areas of the business environment. Because of the multifaceted levels of technology, greater numbers of competent professionals are required to specialise in the smooth operation of functions we’ve come to rely on.

Trainees looking at this market can be very practical by nature, and won’t enjoy sitting at a desk in class, and slogging through piles of books. If you identify with this, try the newer style of interactive study, where everything is presented via full motion video. Learning psychology studies show that much more of what we learn in remembered when we receive multi-sensorial input, and we get physically involved with the study process.

Modern training can now be done at home via easy-to-use DVD or CD ROM’s. By watching and listening to instructors on video tutorials you’ll absorb the modules, one by one, via their teaching and demonstrations. You can then test yourself by utilising the practice lab’s and modules. It’s very important to see the type of training provided by any company that you may want to train through. They have to utilise instructor-led video demonstrations with virtual practice-lab’s.

Plump for physical media such as CD or DVD ROM’s if possible. This then avoids all the potential pitfalls with broadband ‘downtime’ or slow-speeds.

A valuable training program will undoubtedly have fully authorised exam preparation packages. Avoid depending on non-official exam preparation questions. The type of questions asked is often somewhat different - and this could lead to potential problems in the actual examination. Be sure to ask for testing modules so you can test your knowledge at any point. Practice exams help to build your confidence - then you’re much more at ease with the real thing.

Make sure you don’t get caught-up, as many people do, on the certification itself. Training for training’s sake is generally pointless; you’re training to become commercially employable. Focus on the end-goal. It’s unfortunate, but a great many students begin programs that seem marvellous in the sales literature, but which delivers a career that doesn’t fulfil at all. Talk to many college graduates and you’ll see where we’re coming from.

Take time to understand how you feel about career progression and earning potential, and how ambitious you are. You should understand what industry expects from you, what qualifications are required and in what way you can develop commercial experience. All students are advised to speak with a skilled professional before deciding on their training course. This is essential to ensure it contains the commercially required skills for the chosen career path.

With so much choice, it’s not really surprising that most potential career changers balk at what job they should even pursue. Because having no solid background in the IT industry, in what way could we be expected to know what someone in a particular job does? To attack this, we need to discuss a variety of core topics:

* Your individual personality and interests - the sort of working tasks you enjoy or dislike.

* Do you hope to pull off a closely held dream - for instance, working from home someday?

* Have you thought about salary vs job satisfaction?

* Understanding what the main work areas and markets are - plus how they’re different to each other.

* How much time you will spend on getting qualified.

For the average person, dissecting each of these concepts will require meeting with a professional who can investigate each area with you. And we’re not only talking about the accreditations - but also the commercial requirements and expectations of industry too.

We need to make this very clear: You have to get round-the-clock 24×7 instructor support. You will have so many problems later if you let this one slide. Many only provide email support (too slow), and telephone support is usually to a call-centre which will make some notes and then email an advisor - who will attempt to call you within 24-48 hrs, when it’s convenient to them. This is not a lot of use if you’re stuck with a particular problem and have a one hour time-slot in which to study.

Top training companies incorporate three or four individual support centres from around the world. An online system provides an interactive interface to join them all seamlessly, no matter what time you login, help is at hand, without any problems or delays. If you opt for less than online 24×7 support, you’ll regret it. It may be that you don’t use it late in the night, but consider weekends, late evenings or early mornings.

The CompTIA A+ course covers 4 different sectors - you’ll need exam certification in two of these areas to be considered A+ competent. For this reason, most colleges restrict their A+ to just two of the four in the syllabus. To us, this is selling you short - certainly you’ll have the qualification, but knowing about the others will set you apart in the workplace, where gaps in your knowledge will expose weaknesses. So that’s why you need education in everything.

As well as being taught how to build and fix computers, students on an A+ training course will be shown how to work in antistatic conditions, along with remote access, fault finding and diagnostics. If your ambition is taking care of computer networks, you’ll need to add CompTIA Network+ to your training package. This qualification will mean you can command a more senior job role. Other ones that might be interesting to you are the networking qualifications from Microsoft, i.e. MCP, MCSA MCSE.

Commencing from the viewpoint that it’s good to locate the market that sounds most inviting first and foremost, before we’re even able to chew over what educational program would meet that requirement, how can we choose the correct route? Since having no commercial skills in computing, how could any of us know what any job actually involves? Achieving the right answer only comes via a careful investigation of many changing areas:

* Our personalities play a starring role - what things get your juices flowing, and what are the things that put a frown on your face.

* What length of time can you allocate for retraining?

* Does salary have a higher place on your wish list than some other areas.

* Always think in-depth about the level of commitment required to attain their desired level.

* It makes sense to understand the differences across the myriad of training options.

The best way to avoid the industry jargon, and uncover the most viable option for your success, have an informal chat with an industry-experienced advisor; a person who will cover the commercial realities and truth while explaining the accreditations.

Review the following facts carefully if you believe the marketing blurb about ‘guaranteeing’ exams sounds like a benefit to the student:

You’re paying for it ultimately. One thing’s for sure - it isn’t free - it’s simply been shoe-horned into the price as a whole. It’s everybody’s ambition to qualify on the first attempt. Going for exams in order and funding them one at a time makes it far more likely you’ll pass first time - you put the effort in and are mindful of the investment you’ve made.

Don’t you think it’s more sensible to go for the best offer when you take the exam, rather than coughing up months or even a year or two in advance to a training college, and also to sit exams more locally - rather than possibly hours away from your area? Paying in advance for examinations (plus interest - if you’re financing your study) is a false economy. It’s not your job to boost the training company’s account with additional funds simply to help their cash-flow! A lot bank on the fact that you won’t get to do them all - so they don’t need to pay for them. You should fully understand that re-takes with organisations with an ‘Exam Guarantee’ inevitably are heavily regulated. You will be required to do mock exams until you’ve demonstrated an excellent ability to pass.

Exam fees averaged approximately 112 pounds twelve months or so ago through Prometric or VUE centres around the United Kingdom. So don’t be talked into shelling out hundreds or thousands of pounds more to get ‘Exam Guarantees’, when common sense dictates that what’s really needed is a commitment to studying and the use of authorised exam preparation tools.

Usually, trainers will provide a bunch of books and manuals. Learning like this is dull and repetitive and isn’t the best way to go about studying effectively. Studies have repeatedly verified that becoming involved with our studies, to utilise all our senses, will more likely produce memories that are deeper and longer-lasting.

Fully interactive motion videos utilising video demo’s and practice lab’s will forever turn you away from traditional book study. And you’ll find them fun and interesting. Make sure to obtain a study material demo’ from the school that you’re considering. The materials should incorporate slide-shows, instructor-led videos and virtual practice lab’s for your new skills.

Pick physical media such as CD or DVD ROM’s every time. You can then avoid all the difficulties of broadband ‘downtime’ or slow-speeds.

Can job security really exist anywhere now? Here in the UK, with businesses changing their mind whenever it suits, we’d question whether it does. We could however locate security at market-level, by digging for areas that have high demand, together with shortages of trained staff.

The computing Industry skills shortfall throughout the United Kingdom falls in at approx twenty six percent, as reported by the latest e-Skills analysis. It follows then that for each four job positions that exist in the computer industry, employers can only source trained staff for three of the four. This single notion alone clearly demonstrates why the country needs considerably more workers to get trained and enter the IT industry. Actually, acquiring professional IT skills as you progress through the years to come is probably the safest career move you’ll ever make.

Students often end up having issues because of a single courseware aspect which doesn’t even occur to them: The way the training is divided into chunks and delivered to your home. Delivery by courier of each element one piece at a time, taking into account your exam passes is how things will normally arrive. This sounds sensible, but you might like to consider this: What if you don’t finish every single exam? And what if the order provided doesn’t meet your requirements? Because of nothing that’s your fault, you may not meet the required timescales and not receive all the modules you’ve paid for.

To be honest, the perfect answer is to have a copy of their prescribed order of study, but get all the study materials at the start. You’re then in possession of everything in the event you don’t complete everything as fast as they’d like.