What might you expect the top of the range training companies certified by Microsoft to offer a student in this country currently? Clearly, the most supreme Gold Partner Microsoft certified training tracks, providing a portfolio of courses to take you into a selection of professions with IT. It’s a good idea to look for a person who’s got industry experience, who might give you help to sort out what sort of job would be right for you, and the kind of responsibilities that are suitable for someone with a personality like yours. Having selected the area you want to get into, an applicable training course must be singled out that’s a match for your current level of knowledge and ability. Make sure it’s well designed for you.

The world of information technology is one of the more thrilling and changing industries that you can get into right now. Being a member of a team working on breakthroughs in technology puts you at the fore-front of developments affecting everyone who lives in the 21st century. We’re at the dawn of starting to get a handle on how all this change will affect us. The way we communicate and interact with everyone around us will be profoundly affected by computers and the internet.

And keep in mind that the average salary in IT in the United Kingdom is considerably more than average salaries nationally, which means you’ll be in a good position to receive a lot more once qualified in IT, than you’d expect to earn elsewhere. It’s evident that we have a significant nationwide requirement for trained and qualified IT technicians. And as growth in the industry shows little sign of contracting, it seems there’s going to be for years to come.

So, what questions should we be raising so as to get the understanding required? As it seems there are a good many fairly unique prospects for us to mull over.

Many companies focus completely on the certification process, and avoid focusing on the reasons for getting there – getting yourself a new job or career. Always begin with the end in mind – don’t get hung-up on the training vehicle. Imagine training for just one year and then end up doing the job for 20 years. Avoid the mistake of opting for what may seem to be a program of interest to you only to waste your life away with a job you hate!

Stay tuned-in to what it is you’re trying to achieve, and then build your training requirements around that – not the other way round. Keep your eyes on your goals and ensure that you’re training for something that will keep you happy for many years. You’d also need help from an experienced person who can explain the market you think may suit you, and is able to give you ‘A day in the life of’ explanation for each job considered. This really is essential because you need to know if this change is right for you.

Students who consider this area of study can be very practical by nature, and don’t always take well to classrooms, and struggling through thick study-volumes. If this could be you, go for more modern interactive training, with on-screen demonstrations and labs. Where we can study while utilising as many senses as possible, then we normally see dramatically better results.

Interactive full motion video involving demonstration and virtual lab’s will beat books every time. And they’re a lot more fun to do. You really need to look at courseware examples from each company you’re contemplating. You’ll want to see that they include instructor-led video demonstrations with virtual practice-lab’s.

It’s usually bad advice to choose training that is only available online. Because of the variable quality and reliability of the ISP (internet service provider) market, it makes sense to have actual CD or DVD ROM’s.

Training support for students is an absolute must – look for a package providing 24×7 full access, as not obtaining this level of support will severely hold up your pace and restrict your intake. Many only provide email support (too slow), and phone support is often to a call-centre who will just take down the issue and email it over to their technical team – who will attempt to call you within 24-48 hrs, when it suits them. This is not a lot of use if you’re stuck with a particular problem and can only study at specific times.

Top training companies have many support offices from around the world. They use an online interactive interface to join them all seamlessly, irrespective of the time you login, there is always help at hand, without any problems or delays. Never make do with a lower level of service. Direct-access 24×7 support is the only kind to make the grade with IT study. Maybe late-evening study is not your thing; often though, we’re working when traditional support if offered.

Accredited exam simulation and preparation packages are vital – and really must be sought from your training company. Don’t fall foul of relying on non-accredited exam preparation systems. The type of questions asked can be completely unlike authorised versions – and often this creates real issues when the proper exam time arrives. You should make sure you check your depth of understanding by doing quizzes and practice in simulated exam environments to prepare you for taking the real thing.

Commercial qualifications are now, without a doubt, already replacing the traditional academic paths into the IT sector – so why is this the case? With university education costs becoming a tall order for many, together with the industry’s increasing awareness that key company training most often has much more commercial relevance, we have seen a large rise in CISCO, Adobe, Microsoft and CompTIA accredited training paths that create knowledgeable employees at a fraction of the cost and time involved. In a nutshell, students are simply taught the necessary specifics in depth. It’s slightly more broad than that, but principally the objective has to be to master the precisely demanded skill-sets (with some necessary background) – without attempting to cover a bit about everything else (as academia often does).

Imagine if you were an employer – and your company needed a person with some very particular skills. What’s the simplest way to find the right person: Wade your way through loads of academic qualifications from graduate applicants, asking for course details and which trade skills they have, or choose particular accreditations that perfectly fit your needs, and make your short-list from that. You’ll then be able to concentrate on getting a feel for the person at interview – instead of having to work out if they can do the job.

You have to make sure that all your accreditations are what employers want – you’re wasting your time with programs which lead to some in-house certificate (which is as useless as if you’d printed it yourself). If the accreditation doesn’t feature a company like Microsoft, CompTIA, Cisco or Adobe, then you may discover it could have been a waste of time and effort – because it won’t give an employer any directly-useable skills.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 24th, 2009 at 2:47 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.