Today, most companies would be severely hampered if it weren't for support workers fixing both computers and networks, while advising users on a regular basis each week. Our hunger for those people is consistently on the grow, as industry becomes vastly more technologically advanced.
Have you recently questioned the security of your job? For most of us, this isn't an issue until something goes wrong. However, the reality is that true job security is a thing of the past, for all but the most lucky of us. We can however reveal security at market-level, by searching for areas of high demand, coupled with work-skill shortages.
Taking the computer market as an example, the last e-Skills investigation brought to light a skills shortage around Great Britain of around 26 percent. Showing that for each four job positions that are available in Information Technology (IT), there are only 3 trained people to fulfil that role. Achieving full commercial computer certification is consequently a quick route to succeed in a continuing as well as worthwhile line of work. Actually, gaining new qualifications in IT over the next year or two is probably the greatest choice of careers you could make.
Making the most suitable career development choice can be very hard - so what research do we need to do and what are the questions we need to pose?
For the most part, your average IT hopeful has no idea how they should get into a computing career, or even which area they should look at getting trained in. Because having no previous experience in computing, how could any of us understand what a particular job actually consists of? Arriving at a well-informed decision can only grow from a methodical examination across many shifting factors:
* Our personalities play an important role - what things get your juices flowing, and what are the things that get you down.
* What length of time can you allocate for the retraining?
* What priority do you place on travelling time and locality vs salary?
* With so many different sectors to gain certifications for in IT - you'll need to pick up some background information on what differentiates them.
* You need to understand what differentiates the myriad of training options.
When all is said and done, the only real way of covering these is by means of a good talk with an advisor or professional who knows the industry well enough to be able to guide you.
The classroom style of learning we remember from school, with books and manuals, is usually pretty hard going. If you're nodding as you read this, dig around for more practical courses which have a majority of interactive, multimedia parts. Long-term memory is enhanced with an involvement of all our senses - experts have been clear on this for years now.
Interactive audio-visual materials involving demonstration and virtual lab's will beat books every time. And you'll find them fun and interesting. It would be silly not to view a small selection of training examples before you make your decision. You should expect instructor demonstrations, video tutorials and a variety of audio-visual and interactive sections.
Avoiding training that is delivered purely online is generally a good idea. You want physical CD/DVD ROM course materials where possible, enabling them to be used at your convenience - you don't want to be reliant on your broadband being 'up' 100 percent of the time.
Many students come unstuck over a single training area which is often not even considered: How the training is broken down and physically delivered to you. By and large, you will purchase a course staged over 2 or 3 years and receive a module at a time. While this may sound logical on one level, consider this: What if there are reasons why you can't finish every single exam? And what if you find the order of the modules counter-intuitive? Due to no fault of yours, you mightn't complete everything fast enough and not get all the study materials as a result.
Truth be told, the very best answer is to have their ideal 'order' of training laid out, but make sure you have all of your learning modules right from the beginning. You're then in possession of everything if you don't manage to finish at their required pace.
Some commercial training providers will only offer basic 9am till 6pm support (maybe a little earlier or later on certain days); very few go late in the evening or at weekends. Email support is too slow, and phone support is often to a call-centre that 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 sitting there confused over an issue and have a one hour time-slot in which to study.
Top training providers opt for a web-based 24x7 service pulling in several support offices from around the world. You're offered a single, easy-to-use environment which seamlessly accesses whichever office is appropriate no matter what time of day it is: Support on demand. Never make do with less than you need and deserve. Direct-access round-the-clock support is the only way to go for technical study. Maybe burning the midnight-oil is not your thing; but for the majority of us however, we're working while the support is live.
It's not uncommon for companies to offer inclusive exam guarantees - they always involve paying for the exam fees up-front, before you've even made a start on the course. However, prior to embracing a course with such a promise, why not consider this:
These days, we are a little more 'marketing-savvy' - and generally we cotton on to the fact that we are actually being charged for it (it isn't free or out of the goodness of their hearts!) It's everybody's ambition to qualify on the first attempt. Taking your exams progressively one by one and funding them as you go makes it far more likely you'll pass first time - you revise thoroughly and are conscious of what you've spent.
Why pay a training college early for examinations? Hold on to your money and pay for the exam when you're ready, don't pay mark-ups - and take it closer to home - instead of miles away at the college's beck and call. Buying a course that includes payments for exams (and if you're financing your study there'll be interest on that) is a false economy. It's not your job to boost the training company's account with extra money of yours just to give them more interest! Many will hope you won't get to do them all - then they'll keep the extra money. Remember, with the majority of Exam Guarantees - they control when and how often you are allowed to have another go. They'll only allow a re-take once completely satisfied.
On average, exams cost approximately 112 pounds in the last 12 months through VUE or Pro-metric centres in the UK. So don't be talked into shelling out hundreds or thousands of pounds more to have 'an Exam Guarantee', when any student knows that the most successful method is study, commitment and preparing with good quality mock and practice exams.
Ensure all your exams are current and what employers are looking for - you're wasting your time with programmes which lead to some in-house certificate (which is as useless as if you'd printed it yourself). Only properly recognised accreditation from the major players like Microsoft, Adobe, CompTIA and Cisco will open the doors to employers.
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