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Thinking of taking an MCSE? If the answer’s ‘yes’, there’s a good chance that you’re probably in 1 of 2 situations: You’re someone with a certain amount of knowledge and you’d like to consolidate your skill-set with the MCSE qualification. In contrast you could be completely new to the computer workplace, but it’s apparent to you there’s a huge demand for certified networking professionals.

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 A number of trainees become very demoralised when it turns out they have been studying for an outdated MCSE program which now needs updating.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) accredited exam simulation and preparation packages. Make sure that the practice exams haven’t just got questions from the right areas, but also asking them in the way that the actual final exam will formulate them. It really messes up trainees if they’re met with completely different formats and phraseologies. Always ask for testing modules in order to test your knowledge along the way. Practice exams help to build your confidence - then you won’t be quite so nervous at the actual exam.

A fatal Faux-Pas that students everywhere can make is to choose a career based on a course, rather than starting with where they want to get to. Training academies are brimming over with direction-less students that chose a program because it looked interesting - instead of what would yield the career they desired. Don’t let yourself become one of those unfortunate students who select a program that on the surface appears interesting - and end up with a plaque on the wall for a career they’ll never really get any satisfaction from.

Never let your focus stray from where you want to get to, and build your study action-plan from that - avoid getting them back-to-front. Keep on track and study for a career you’ll enjoy for years to come. Seek help from a professional advisor who understands the sector you wish to join, and who can offer ‘A typical day in the life of’ outline of of what you’ll be doing on a day-to-day basis. It makes good sense to know if this change is right for you before you jump into the study-program. After all, what is the point in kicking off your training only to find you’ve taken the wrong route.

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 companies only give basic 9am till 6pm support (maybe a little earlier or later on certain days); not many go late into the evening (after 8-9pm) or cover weekends properly. Try and find training with help available at any time you choose (even if it’s early hours on Sunday morning!) You’ll need direct access to tutors, and not simply some messaging service that means you’re consistently being held in a queue for a call-back at a convenient time for them.

Top training companies have many support offices across multiple time-zones. Online access provides the interactive interface to seamlessly link them all, no matter what time you login, help is just a click away, with no hassle or contact issues. Search out a company that is worth purchasing from. As only round-the-clock 24×7 support truly delivers for technical programs.

An important area that is sometimes not even considered by potential students weighing up a particular programme is ‘training segmentation’. This basically means the method used to break up the program for delivery to you, which vastly changes where you end up. By and large, you will purchase a course that takes between and 1 and 3 years and receive a module at a time. It seems to make sense on one level, but consider these issues: Maybe the order of study insisted on by the company won’t suit you. It may be difficult to get through all the elements within their timetable?

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.

With an abundance of IT and computer courses on offer these days, it’s best to take advice from a company that can help you decide on the right one for you. Reputable organisations will talk thoroughly through the different job roles that could be right for you, before offering you a training program that can take you where you want to go. Why not try Microsoft User Skills packages, or take a career track and specialise. Plain speaking courses will help you achieve the goals you set yourself.

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.

* Monday to Friday access for events can be usual, and trying to take several days leave in a single chunk causes a lot of problems for most working students.

* Lost holiday days - a lot of workers are given only twenty days of leave annually. If you give up at least half to your study classes, vacation time is going to be quite short for students and their families.

* Workshop days often end up over full.

* Tension can run high in many classes where students want to progress at their own pace.

* The cost of travel - travelling backwards and forwards to the training college together with several days accommodation can really add up each time you attend. With only five to ten workshops at about thirty-five pounds for one over-night room, plus 40 pounds for petrol and food at 15 pounds, that equates to four to nine hundred pounds of hidden costs that we now have to fund.

* Most trainees want their studies to remain private to avoid any kind of repercussions whilst in their current job.

* It’s not unusual to find it difficult to ask questions when surrounded by our fellow trainees - as we don’t want to look silly.

* For those of us who need to occasionally live away for part of the week, imagine the increased difficulty in making the required workshops, when time is at a premium.

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.

Make sure that all your qualifications are what employers want - don’t even consider studies which end up with a useless in-house certificate or plaque. If your certification doesn’t come from a company like Microsoft, CompTIA, Cisco or Adobe, then you’ll probably find it will be commercially useless - because no-one will recognise it.

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?

Put simply, the best solution is to obtain their recommendation on the best possible order of study, but get everything up-front. Everything is then in your possession in case you don’t finish quite as quick as they’d want.

Network and computer support staff are ever more in demand in this country, as businesses have come to depend on their technical advice and skills. The nation’s requirement for increasing numbers of skilled and qualified individuals multiplies, as human beings become ever more dependent on PC’s in the modern world.

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.

Learning is now available on CD and DVD discs, where everything is taught on your PC. Using video-streaming, you can sit back and watch the teachers showing you precisely how to do something, and then practice yourself - in an interactive lab. It’s imperative to see some example materials from any company that you may want to train through. Be sure that they contain full motion videos of instructors demonstrating the topic with lab’s to practice the skills in.

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.

Authorised simulation materials and exam preparation packages are vital - and absolutely ought to be supplied by your course provider. Don’t fall foul of relying on non-official exam papers and questions. Their phraseology can be quite different - and sometimes this can be a real headache when it comes to taking the real exam. You should make sure you check whether you’re learning enough by doing tests and mock ups of exams to prepare you for taking the real thing.

An all too common mistake that we encounter all too often is to look for the actual course to take, instead of focusing on where they want to get to. Colleges are full of unaware students that chose a program because it looked interesting - rather than what would get them the job they want. It’s common, for example, to find immense satisfaction in a year of study only to end up putting 20 long years into a job you hate, as a consequence of not performing the correct research when you should’ve - at the outset.

Get to grips with earning potential and whether you’re an ambitious person or not. Sometimes, this affects which certifications you’ll need to attain and what’ll be expected of you in your new role. Obtain help from an industry professional who ‘gets’ the commercial realities of the area you’re interested in, and will be able to provide ‘A typical day in the life of’ understanding of what kinds of tasks you’ll be undertaking with each working day. It’s sensible to understand whether or not this is right for you before you start on any retraining programme. There’s little point in starting to train only to find you’ve taken the wrong route.

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.

* What time-frame are you looking at for your training?

* Have you thought about salary vs job satisfaction?

* Considering all that Information Technology encapsulates, it’s obvious you’ll need to be able to absorb how they differ.

* You should also think long and hard about the level of commitment you’re going to give to your education.

The best way to avoid the confusing industry jargon, and uncover the most viable option for your success, have a good talk with an industry-experienced advisor; someone who will cover the commercial realities and truth while explaining all the qualifications.

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 comprises of 4 specialised sectors - the requirement is exam passes in 2 specialities to be considered A+ competent. This is why, most colleges only offer two of the training options. We think this is selling you short - certainly you’ll have the qualification, but knowledge of every section will give you greater confidence in industry, where knowledge of all four will be necessary. That’s the reason why you deserve training in all 4 specialities.

Courses in A+ computer training teach diagnostic techniques and fault-finding - via hands on and remote access, as well as building and fixing and understanding antistatic conditions. Should you be thinking of maintaining networks, you’ll need to add Network+ to your A+ course. This qualification will enable you to assist you greatly in the job market. You may also want to consider the networking qualifications from Microsoft, i.e. MCP, MCSA MCSE.

Usually, your normal student doesn’t know where to start with IT, or even which area to focus their retraining program on. Since without any solid background in the IT industry, how can most of us be expected to understand what anyone doing a particular job actually does? To get through to the essence of this, a discussion is necessary, covering several definitive 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.

* Looking at the many markets that the IT industry encompasses, you’ll need to be able to see what’s different.

* Having a good look at the level of commitment, time and effort that you’re going to put into it.

To be honest, your only option to investigate these matters is via a conversation with an advisor or professional that understands the IT industry (and chiefly the commercial requirements.)

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

It’s become essential these days that we have to be a little bit more aware of sales ploys - and most of us realise that of course it is actually an additional cost to us (it’s not a freebie because they like us so much!) Those who enter their exams one by one, funding them as they go are far more likely to pass first time. They are thoughtful of what they’ve paid and revise more thoroughly to ensure they are ready.

Look for the very best offer you can at the time, and keep hold of your own money. You’ll also be able to choose where to take your exam - so you can find somewhere local. Huge profits are made by some training companies who get money upfront for exam fees. For quite legitimate reasons, a number of students don’t get to do their exams but the company keeps the money. Amazingly, there are providers that depend on students not taking their exams - as that’s how they make a lot of their profit. Re-takes of any failed exams with organisations who offer an ‘Exam Guarantee’ are monitored with tight restrictions. You’ll be required to sit pre-tests until you’ve proven that you’re likely to pass.

Exam fees averaged around the 112 pounds mark twelve months or so ago via UK VUE or Prometric centres. So why pay hundreds or thousands of pounds extra to get ‘an Exam Guarantee’, when common sense dictates that the best guarantee is a commitment to studying and the use of authorised exam preparation tools.

Those that are drawn to this type of work are often very practical, and don’t always take well to classrooms, and poring through books and manuals. If you identify with this, go for more modern interactive training, with on-screen demonstrations and labs. Research has always verified that getting into our studies physically, is proven to produce longer-lasting and deeper memory retention.

Locate a program where you’ll receive a library of DVD-ROM’s - you’ll be learning from instructor videos and demo’s, with the facility to use virtual lab’s to practice your new skills. You’ll definitely want a study material demo’ from the training company. You should ask for expert-led demonstrations, slideshows and interactive labs where you get to practice.

It doesn’t make sense to opt for on-line only training. Because of the variable quality and reliability of all internet service providers, ensure that you have access to CD or DVD ROM based materials.

Most of us would love to think that our careers will remain secure and the future is protected, but the growing likelihood for most sectors throughout England at the moment is that there is no security anymore. Where there are rising skills shortfalls coupled with increasing demand however, we generally locate a newly emerging type of market-security; as fuelled by the constant growth conditions, organisations find it hard to locate the number of people required.

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.

Considering how a program is ‘delivered’ to you isn’t always given the appropriate level of importance. In what way are your training elements sectioned? What is the order and at what speed is it delivered? Typically, you will purchase a course taking 1-3 years and receive a module at a time. While this may sound logical on one level, consider this: What would happen if you didn’t finish each and every exam at the required speed? Sometimes their preference of study order won’t be as easy as some other structure would for you.

To be straight, the perfect answer is to have their ideal ‘order’ of training laid out, but get everything up-front. Everything is then in your possession if you don’t manage to finish at their required pace.

Well done! Discovering this piece means you’re likely to be contemplating your career, and if training for a new career’s in your mind that means you’ve taken it further than most. Are you aware that hardly any of us are contented at work - yet the vast majority of us will do absolutely nothing about it. We encourage you to stand out from the crowd and do something - think about how you could enjoy Monday mornings.

On the subject of training, it’s essential to first define your requirements from the career you’re looking to get into. It’s important to discover if a new career would suit you better before your energies are focused on changing the direction of your life. Prudence suggests looking at the big picture first, to make an informed decision:

* Do you operate better working alone or is being part of a team an essential criteria for you?

* Are you thinking carefully about which area you could be employed in? (With the economic downturn, it’s more important than ever to be selective.)

* Once you’ve qualified, are you hoping your new skills will give you the ability to take you through to retirement?

* Do you have niggles about your chances of finding new employment, and staying employable until you plan to retire?

It’s important that your number one choice is the IT sector - it’s well known that it’s on the grow. It’s not full of geeky individuals gazing at their PC’s all day - we know those roles do exist, but most jobs are done by people like you and me who earn considerably more than most.

One crafty way that training companies make more money is by adding exam fees upfront to the cost of a course and then including an ‘Exam Guarantee’. It looks like a good deal, but let’s just examine it more closely:

Patently it’s not free - you are paying for it - the price has simply been included in the whole thing. It’s well known in the industry that when trainees fund each progressive exam, one at a time, they’ll be in a better position to qualify each time - because they’re aware of their investment in themselves and therefore will put more effort into their preparation.

Why should you pay the college early for exams? Go for the best offer when you take the exam, rather than coughing up months or even a year or two in advance - and take it closer to home - not at somewhere of their bidding. Is there a good reason to pay interest on a bigger loan than is necessary because you’ve paid early for exam fees when there’s absolutely nothing that says you have to? Huge profits are netted by organisations charging upfront for all their exams - and then hoping that you won’t take them all. The majority of organisations will require you to sit pre-tests and with-hold subsequent exam entries from you until you’ve completely proven that you’re likely to pass - which makes an ‘Exam Guarantee’ frankly useless.

Due to typical VUE and Prometric exams coming in at approximately 112 pounds in Great Britain, the most cost-effective way to cover the cost is by paying when you need them. Why splash out often many hundreds of pounds extra at the beginning of your training? Study, commitment and preparing with good quality mock and practice exams is what will really guarantee success.

If an advisor doesn’t ask many questions - it’s more than likely they’re just a salesperson. If they’re pushing towards a particular product before understanding your background and current experience level, then it’s very likely to be the case. With a little work-based experience or some accreditation, your starting-point of learning is different from a beginner. If you’re a student commencing IT study from scratch, it can be helpful to start out slowly, starting with a user-skills course first. This can be built into most accreditation programs.

We’re regularly asked to explain why qualifications from colleges and universities are now falling behind more qualifications from the commercial sector? Accreditation-based training (to use industry-speak) is far more specialised and product-specific. Industry has realised that this level of specialised understanding is vital to cope with an acceleratingly technical workplace. CISCO, Adobe, Microsoft and CompTIA are the dominant players. They do this by honing in on the skills that are really needed (alongside an appropriate level of related knowledge,) as opposed to trawling through all the background ‘padding’ that degrees in computing can often find themselves doing - to fill a three or four year course.

In simple terms: Accredited IT qualifications provide exactly what an employer needs - the title says it all: as an example - I am a ‘Microsoft Certified Professional’ in ‘Planning and Maintaining a Windows 2003 Infrastructure’. So companies can identify just what their needs are and what certifications will be suitable to deal with those needs.

Being at the forefront of revolutionary new technology is about as exciting as it can get. You’re involved with impacting progress around the world. Technological changes and dialogue via the internet is going to spectacularly shape our lifestyles in the future; overwhelmingly so.

Let’s not forget that typical remuneration in IT across the UK is noticeably greater than remuneration packages in other industries, therefore you’ll be in a good position to receive much more as an IT specialist, than you’d expect to earn elsewhere. Due to the technological sector increasing year on year, it’s looking good that the requirement for qualified professionals will continue to boom for a good while yet.

Many trainers provide a big box of books. It’s not a very interesting way to learn and not really conducive to studying effectively. Where possible, if we can study while utilising as many senses as possible, then we normally see dramatically better results.

Locate a program where you’ll receive a selection of DVD-ROM’s - you’ll be learning from instructor videos and demo’s, with the facility to fine-tune your skills in fully interactive practice sessions. Any company that you’re considering must be pushed to demo some samples of their courseware. You’re looking for evidence of tutorial videos and demonstrations and a variety of interactive modules.

You’ll find that many companies will only provide online training only; sometimes you can get away with this - but, consider how you’ll deal with it if your access to the internet is broken or you only get very a very slow connection sometimes. It’s preferable to have actual CD or DVD ROMs that will not have these problems.

The Microsoft MCSA (Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator) course is perfect for men and women looking to get into supporting networks. Whether you want to get going or already have knowledge but want to formalise that with an acknowledged certification, it’s possible to achieve your goals with the right training. For someone just entering the world of computers, it could be appropriate to pick up some skills ahead of getting involved in the first of the four Microsoft Certified Professional exams (MCP’s) that are required to achieve an MCSA. Look for a company that can create a bespoke package to suit you - one who will guide you to guarantee that you make the right choices.

So, why should we consider qualifications from the commercial sector rather than more traditional academic qualifications gained through the state educational establishments? The IT sector is of the opinion that for mastery of skill sets for commercial use, certified accreditation from such organisations as Microsoft, CompTIA, CISCO and Adobe is closer to the mark commercially - for much less time and money. The training is effectively done by concentrating on the skills that are really needed (along with a proportionate degree of associated knowledge,) instead of going into the heightened depths of background non-specific minutiae that computer Science Degrees often do - to pad out the syllabus.

The bottom line is: Accredited IT qualifications tell an employer precisely what skills you have - the title is a complete giveaway: i.e. I am a ‘Microsoft Certified Professional’ in ‘Planning and Maintaining a Windows 2003 Infrastructure’. Consequently an employer can identify exactly what they need and what certifications will be suitable to deal with those needs.

Frequently, a normal IT hopeful really has no clue in what direction to head in the IT industry, or even what area is worth considering for retraining. Therefore, if you’ve got no background in IT in the workplace, what chance is there for you to know what a particular IT employee actually does day-to-day? And of course decide on which certification program is the most likely for ultimate success. To get through to the essence of this, there should be a discussion of a number of core topics:

* The type of personality you have plus what interests you - what working tasks please or frustrate you.

* Why you’re looking at getting involved with IT - is it to overcome some personal goal like being self-employed for example.

* Where is the salary on a scale of importance - is it of prime importance, or does job satisfaction rate further up on your list of priorities?

* Getting to grips with what the normal career areas and markets are - including what sets them apart.

* The time and energy you’ll have available to spend on the training program.

To be honest, you’ll find the only real way to gain help on these matters is through a chat with someone who has years of experience in IT (and chiefly it’s commercial requirements.)

So many training providers focus completely on the certification process, and forget why you’re doing this - getting yourself a new job or career. Your focus should start with the final destination in mind - don’t make the vehicle more important than the destination. You could be training for only a year and end up doing the job for 20 years. Avoid the mistake of choosing what sounds like a very ‘interesting’ program and then put 10-20 years into something you don’t even enjoy!

It’s essential to keep your focus on what it is you’re trying to achieve, and create a learning-plan from that - avoid getting them back-to-front. Stay on target - making sure you’re training for an end-result that will keep you happy for many years. It’s worth seeking help from an advisor who knows the commercial realities of the sector you’ve chosen, and will be able to provide ‘A day in the life of’ explanation of the job being considered. These things are incredibly important because you obviously have to know if you’re going down the right road.

You have to make sure that all your qualifications are current and commercially required - don’t bother with courses which end up with a useless in-house certificate or plaque. From the perspective of an employer, only the major heavyweights such as Microsoft, CompTIA, Cisco or Adobe (to give some examples) provide enough commercial weight. Anything less won’t make the grade.

A useful feature that many training companies provide is a Job Placement Assistance program. It’s intention is to assist your search for your first position. It can happen though that too much is made of this feature, for it’s really not that difficult for a well trained and motivated person to secure a job in the IT industry - as employers are keen to find appropriately skilled employees.

However, what is relevant is to have CV and Interview advice and support though; also we would encourage everybody to work on polishing up their CV as soon as training commences - don’t wait till you’ve finished your exams. It’s possible that you won’t have even passed your first exam when you land your first junior support position; although this can’t and won’t happen unless you’ve posted your CV on job sites. You’ll normally experience better results from a specialised and independent local recruitment service than you’ll get from a training provider’s national service, because they will understand the local industry and employment needs.

In a nutshell, as long as you focus the same level of energy into getting your first job as into studying, you’re not going to hit many challenges. A number of students inexplicably put hundreds of hours into their training and studies and then call a halt once qualified and appear to be under the impression that jobs will come to them.