Cisco Support Training 2009
Network and PC support technicians are more and more in demand in the UK, as organisations rely heavily upon their knowledge and fixing and repairing abilities. The world’s desire for such qualified and commercially astute people is ever increasing, as commercial enterprise becomes vastly more technologically advanced.
Does job security really exist anywhere now? Here in the UK, with industry changing its mind on a whim, it seems increasingly unlikely. We could however locate security at the market sector level, by searching for areas of high demand, together with a lack of qualified workers.
The computer industry skills-gap around the United Kingdom clocks in at over 26 percent, according to the most recent e-Skills study. That means for every 4 jobs that exist around IT, there are barely three qualified workers to fill that need. Accomplishing the appropriate commercial computing qualification is correspondingly a fast-track to achieve a life-long and enjoyable career. Quite simply, retraining in Information Technology during the next year or two is almost definitely the safest career choice you could ever make.
If the IT market presents so many unparalleled career possibilities for us all – then which questions should we pose and what factors should we be considering?
The market provides an excess of employment in the IT industry. Finding the particular one for you is generally problematic. As with no commercial skills in IT, in what way could we be expected to understand what someone in a particular job does? Achieving an informed answer really only appears via a thorough study of several shifting factors:
* Your personal interests and hobbies – often these define what possibilities will satisfy you.
* Are you looking to pull off a closely held objective – like being your own boss in the near future?
* How highly do you rate salary – is an increase your main motivator, or does job satisfaction rate a lot higher on the scale of your priorities?
* With so many markets to choose from in IT – there’s a need to achieve some background information on what separates them.
* You will need to appreciate the differences between each area of training.
The bottom line is, your only chance of covering these is from an in-depth discussion with an advisor or professional who understands the market well enough to lead you to the correct decision.
Many training companies only give basic 9am till 6pm support (maybe a little earlier or later on certain days); It’s rare to find someone who offers late evening or full weekend cover. Look for training where you can access help at any time of day or night (irrespective of whether it’s the wee hours on Sunday morning!) You’ll need 24×7 direct access to mentors and instructors, and not a message system as this will slow you down – waiting for tutors to call you back – probably during office hours.
The very best training providers incorporate three or four individual support centres across multiple time-zones. Online access provides the interactive interface to link them all seamlessly, any time of the day or night, there is always help at hand, with no hassle or contact issues. Don’t compromise where support is concerned. Most would-be IT professionals that fall by the wayside, just need the right support system.
Those that are drawn to this type of work can be very practical by nature, and don’t always take well to classrooms, and endless reading of dry academic textbooks. If you’re thinking this sounds like you, use multimedia, interactive learning, where you can learn everything on-screen. Long-term memory is enhanced when all our senses are brought into the mix – experts have been clear on this for years now.
Modern training can now be done at home via easy-to-use DVD or CD ROM’s. Through instructor-led video classes you’ll learn your subject by way of their teaching and demonstrations. Then it’s time to test your knowledge by interacting with the software and practicing yourself. You’ll definitely want a look at some courseware examples from your training provider. The package should contain slide-shows, instructor-led videos and interactive labs where you get to practice.
Many companies provide just online versions of their training packages; and although this is okay the majority of the time, consider how you’ll deal with it if internet access is lost or you get slow speeds and down-time etc. It’s preferable to have physical CD or DVD discs which don’t suffer from these broadband issues.
We’re regularly asked to explain why traditional academic studies are now falling behind more qualifications from the commercial sector? With fees and living expenses for university students climbing ever higher, and the IT sector’s recognition that vendor-based training most often has much more commercial relevance, we have seen a large rise in Adobe, Microsoft, CISCO and CompTIA based training routes that supply key solutions to a student for considerably less. Higher education courses, for example, clog up the training with a great deal of loosely associated study – with a syllabus that’s far too wide. This holds a student back from getting enough specific knowledge about the core essentials.
It’s rather like the advert: ‘It does what it says on the tin’. Companies need only to know where they have gaps, and then advertise for someone with the specific certification. They’ll know then that all applicants can do what they need.
Exam ‘guarantees’ are sometimes offered as part of a training package – inevitably that means paying for the exams at the very beginning of your studies. However, prior to embracing the chance of a guarantee, be aware of the facts:
These days, we’re a bit more aware of hype – and usually we know that for sure we’re actually paying for it – it’s not because they’re so generous they want to give something away! Passing first time is everyone’s goal. Entering examinations one by one and funding them one at a time sees you much better placed to get through first time – you take it seriously and are conscious of what you’ve spent.
Do the examinations somewhere close to home and hold on to your money and pay for the exam when you take it. A surprising number of unscrupulous training course providers net huge amounts of money by asking for all the exam fees up-front and cashing in if they’re not all taken. It’s worth noting, with the majority of Exam Guarantees – you are not in control of when you can do your re-takes. They’ll only allow a re-take once completely satisfied.
Prometric and VUE exams are around 112 pounds in Britain at the time of writing. Students should be very wary of forking out hundreds of pounds extra in charges for ‘Exam Guarantees’ (most often hidden in the package) – when the best course materials, the right level of support and study, commitment and preparing with good quality mock and practice exams is what will really guarantee success.
Consider only retraining paths which lead to commercially recognised certifications. There are far too many trainers proposing minor ‘in-house’ certificates that are essentially useless when you start your job-search. Unless your qualification is issued by a major player like Microsoft, CompTIA, Adobe or Cisco, then you’ll probably find it won’t be commercially viable – because it won’t give an employer any directly-useable skills.
