Nice One! By reading this it’s likely you’re thinking about getting re-qualified for a new job - so already you’ve made a start. A small minority of us are satisfied with our careers, but no action is ever taken. You could be a member of the few who make a difference in their lives.
We’d strongly advise that prior to beginning any individual training program, you chat with an expert who has knowledge of the industry and can point you in the right direction. Such a person will go through personality profiling with you and assist in finding the right role for you:
* Is collaborating with others important to you? Is that as part of a team or with a lot of new people? Perhaps working alone in isolation would be more your thing?
* Building and Banking are a little shaky today, so it’s important to look very carefully at what sector will be best for you?
* Having completed your retraining, would you like this skill to see you to retirement age?
* Do you expect your new knowledge base to give you the opportunity to get a good job, and stay employable until sixty five?
We would advise you to really explore the computer industry - there are greater numbers of roles than employees, because it’s one of the few choices of career where the industry is growing. In contrast to the opinions of certain people, IT is not full of nerdy individuals looking at screens the whole day (some jobs are like that of course.) Most positions are done by ordinary people who enjoy better than average salaries.
Commercial certification is now, without a doubt, taking over from the traditional academic paths into the IT sector - why then is this happening? With university education costs climbing ever higher, alongside the IT sector’s growing opinion that corporate based study most often has much more commercial relevance, we have seen a big surge in Adobe, Microsoft, CISCO and CompTIA authorised training paths that create knowledgeable employees at a fraction of the cost and time involved. In essence, the learning just focuses on what’s actually required. It’s not quite as straightforward as that, but the principle remains that students need to concentrate on the fundamentally important skill-sets (along with a certain amount of crucial background) - without trying to cram in all sorts of other things (as universities often do).
Assuming a company understands what work they need doing, then all they have to do is advertise for someone with a specific qualification. Syllabuses are set to meet an exact requirement and aren’t allowed to deviate (in the way that degree courses can).
Beware of putting too much emphasis, as can often be the case, on the training course itself. Training for training’s sake is generally pointless; this is about gaining commercial employment. Begin and continue with the end in mind. Don’t let yourself become one of the unfortunate masses who set off on a track which looks like it could be fun - and get to the final hurdle of an accreditation for something they’ll never enjoy.
Prioritise understanding the expectations of your industry. What particular certifications you’ll be required to have and how you’ll build your experience level. It’s definitely worth spending time considering how far you think you’ll want to get as it will often present a very specific set of accreditations. The best advice for students is to talk with a skilled professional before they make a decision on a particular training course. This is required to ensure it has the required elements for the career that is sought.
Many training providers still use the rather old-fashioned idea of classroom attendance. Quite often pushed as a positive point, after discussion with someone who has first-hand experience, you’ll find them listing some or all of the following problems:
* Frequent round journeys - quite often 100’s of miles.
* If, like many of us, you work, then weekday events cause problems at work. More than likely you will be contending with several days in a row too.
* I think you’d agree that we usually find twenty days annual leave is not really enough. Knock off a good 50 percent of that for training classes and see how much more difficult it makes things.
* Classes invariably become bloated with students.
* The pace of the class - workshops often have trainees of different skill, consequently tension develops between students that want a quicker pace to those who want to go a little slower.
* A lot of attendees talk of the high costs involved with all the travelling back and forth to the facility while covering the cost of accommodation and food gets very expensive.
* A lot of attendees want training privacy thus avoiding all repercussions in their job.
* Surely, all of us at some time have avoided posing that question we were dying to ask, just because we didn’t want to look stupid?
* Working and living away - some students find they have to work or live somewhere else for certain parts of the programme. Classes end up being very difficult then, but the monies have already been handed over with your initial fees.
To find a more flexible route, employ pre-filmed workshops wherever you want to take them - taking them when it’s convenient to you - not someone else. You could study at home on your desktop PC or why not in the garden on a laptop. If you have any questions, then get onto the live 24×7 support (that should come with any technical program.) Any module can be repeated whenever it’s convenient - the more times you cover something - the more you’ll remember. And no worrying about keeping up with note-taking either - everything is already done for you already. Put simply: Time and money is saved, you have reduced hassle and you avoid killing more trees.
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