Should you be looking for certified training from Microsoft, you’ll obviously be expecting companies to offer a wide selection of the finest training courses available today. You’ll want to consider all the options with a person who has knowledge of the requirements in the workplace, and is able to show you the most fruitful career to suit your personality. Training must be put together to suit your ability level and skills. Hence, having got to grips with the right IT job for you, your next focus is the most applicable training course to see you into your career.

With all this debate covering IT right now, how do we know what in particular to look for?

Ignore the typical salesman that offers any particular course without a thorough investigation so as to understand your abilities as well as experience level. Always check they have access to a wide-enough range of products so they can solve your training issues. With a strong background, or perhaps a bit of live experience (possibly even some previous certification?) then it’s more than likely the point from which you begin your studies will be very different from someone with no background whatsoever. For students embarking on IT studies from scratch, you might like to avoid jumping in at the deep-end, beginning with user-skills and software training first. This can be built into any educational course.

You have to make sure that all your exams are current and also valid commercially – forget programs that lead to in-house certificates. Only nationally recognised qualifications from the likes of Microsoft, CompTIA, Cisco and Adobe will have any meaning to employers.

There is no way of over emphasising this: It’s essential to obtain proper 24×7 round-the-clock instructor and mentor support. You’ll severely regret it if you don’t follow this rule rigidly. Email support is too slow, and phone support is often to a call-centre who 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’s convenient to them. This is no use if you’re sitting there confused over an issue and only have a specific time you can study.

It’s possible to find professional training packages which give students online direct access support all the time – no matter what time of day it is. Don’t under any circumstances take less than you need and deserve. Support round-the-clock is the only way to go when it comes to technical training. Maybe burning the midnight-oil is not your thing; but for most of us, we’re out at work at the time when most support is available.

Usually, trainers will provide a big box of books. This can be very boring and not really conducive to remembering. We see a huge improvement in memory retention when multiple senses are involved – experts have been clear on this for as long as we can remember.

Search for a course where you’ll receive a library of DVD-ROM’s – you’ll be learning from instructor videos and demo’s, followed by the chance to hone your abilities through virtual lab’s. Make sure to obtain a demonstration of the study materials from the school that you’re considering. The materials should incorporate demo’s from instructors, slideshows and interactive labs where you get to practice.

Many companies provide training that is purely available online; while you can get away with this much of the time, think what will happen if you lose your internet access or you only get very a very slow connection sometimes. It’s much safer to rely on actual CD or DVD ROMs that will solve that problem.

One crafty way that colleges make a lot more is through up-front charges for exams and presenting it as a guarantee for your exams. This sounds impressive, but is it really:

It’s become essential these days that we’re a little more ‘marketing-savvy’ – and the majority of us ought to grasp that it is something we’re paying for – it’s not because they’re so generous they want to give something away! The honest truth is that if a student pays for their own exams, one at a time, they will be much more likely to pass first time – because they’re aware of their investment in themselves and will therefore apply themselves appropriately.

Why pay your training college early for examinations? Go for the best offer when you take the exam, rather than coughing up months or even a year or two in advance – and do it in a local testing centre – instead of miles away at the college’s beck and call. Considerable numbers of so-called credible training colleges secure a great deal of profit through charging for all the exam fees up-front then hoping that you won’t take them all. Many training companies will require you to do mock exams and with-hold subsequent exam entries from you until you’ve proven conclusively that you can pass – making an ‘exam guarantee’ just about worthless.

Average exam fees were 112 pounds or thereabouts in the last 12 months when taken at local VUE or Pro-metric centres throughout the country. So what’s the point of paying maybe a thousand pounds extra to get ‘Exam Guarantees’, when it’s obvious that what’s really needed is consistent and systematic learning, coupled with quality exam simulation software.

Qualifications from the commercial sector are now, without a doubt, starting to replace the more academic tracks into the IT sector – so why is this the case? The IT sector now recognises that to learn the appropriate commercial skills, proper accreditation from companies such as Microsoft, CompTIA, CISCO and Adobe is closer to the mark commercially – at a far reduced cost both money and time wise. Typically, only that which is required is learned. It isn’t quite as lean as that might sound, but the most important function is always to focus on the exact skills required (along with a certain amount of crucial background) – without overdoing the detail in every other area (as degree courses are known to do).

Imagine if you were an employer – and you wanted someone who could provide a specific set of skills. Which is the most straightforward: Trawl through reams of different degrees and college qualifications from hopeful applicants, asking for course details and which vocational skills they have, or select a specialised number of commercial certifications that exactly fulfil your criteria, and make your short-list from that. The interview is then more about the person and how they’ll fit in – instead of long discussions on technical suitability.

Discovering job security in the current climate is very unusual. Companies often remove us out of the workplace with very little notice – as and when it suits them. We’re able though to locate security at the market sector level, by probing for areas of high demand, tied with work-skill shortages.

Offering the computer business for example, the last e-Skills investigation demonstrated a skills deficit around the UK of around 26 percent. Put simply, we’re only able to fill 3 out of each four job positions in IT. Acquiring in-depth commercial computing certification is thus a quick route to achieve a long-lasting and enjoyable occupation. In reality, gaining new qualifications in IT during the years to come is almost definitely the finest career direction you could choose.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 26th, 2009 at 9:52 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.