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A variety of different training programs are on the market for trainees wanting to get into the IT industry. To find the right one for you, look at organisations that will help you find an ideal career for your characteristics, and then run through the details of the job, so you can be sure you're going to enjoy it. There are courses covering Microsoft User Skills to career courses in Web Design, Databases, Programming and Networking. There is a huge amount of choice and that means you'll be likely to need to discuss your requirements with an industry expert prior to making your choice: you don't want to learn about a subject for an area that you don't enjoy!
by JasonKendall
A variety of different training programs are on the market for trainees wanting to get into the IT industry. To find the right one for you, look at organisations that will help you find an ideal career for your characteristics, and then run through the details of the job, so you can be sure you're going to enjoy it. There are courses covering Microsoft User Skills to career courses in Web Design, Databases, Programming and Networking. There is a huge amount of choice and that means you'll be likely to need to discuss your requirements with an industry expert prior to making your choice: you don't want to learn about a subject for an area that you don't enjoy!
State-of-the-art training techniques at last give trainees the facility to learn on an interactive course, that costs significantly less than old-style courses. The low overhead structure of the new courses puts them within everyone's reach.
Finding job security in this economic down-turn is problematic. Businesses frequently throw us out of the workforce with very little notice - whenever it suits. However, a quickly growing market-place, with huge staffing demands (as there is a big shortage of trained staff), opens the possibility of lasting job security.
Using the computing industry as an example, the most recent e-Skills survey brought to light massive skills shortages around the country of around 26 percent. Put simply, we can only fill three out of each four job positions in Information Technology (IT). Fully taught and commercially grounded new professionals are therefore at a complete premium, and it's estimated to remain so for a long time to come. Quite simply, gaining new qualifications in IT over the next few years is most likely the safest career choice you could ever make.
So if the IT sector presents some unique job possibilities for us - then what are the questions we need to ask and which factors should we be considering?
Usually, the everyday person has no idea what way to go about starting in a computing career, let alone which area they should look at getting trained in. Since without any previous experience in IT, in what way could we know what any job actually involves? Consideration of several points is important when you need to dig down a solution that suits you:
* The kind of individual you reckon you are - what kind of jobs you get enjoyment from, plus of course - what makes you unhappy.
* What length of time can you allocate for the training process?
* Where is the salary on a scale of importance - is it the most important thing, or does job satisfaction rate further up on the scale of your priorities?
* Learning what typical job areas and markets are - and what makes them different.
* How much time you'll put into the training program.
For the majority of us, considering all these ideas needs a long talk with an advisor that knows what they're talking about. Not only the accreditations - but also the commercial requirements and expectations of the market as well.
Proper support should never be taken lightly - look for a package providing 24x7 full access, as anything else will annoy you and definitely put a damper on the speed you move through things. Avoid those companies that use 'out-of-hours' call-centres - where you'll get called back during the next 'working' day. It's not a lot of help when you've got study issues and could do with an answer during your scheduled study period.
The most successful trainers use multiple support centres around the globe in several time-zones. By utilising an interactive interface to provide a seamless experience, any time of the day or night, help is just seconds away, without any contact issues or hassle. If you fail to get yourself online 24x7 support, you'll regret it very quickly. You might not want to use the service in the middle of the night, but consider weekends, evenings and early mornings at some point.
It's likely that you've always enjoyed practical work - a 'hands-on' personality type. Typically, the painful task of reading endless manuals would be considered as a last resort, but you really wouldn't enjoy it. Check out video-based multimedia instruction if book-based learning really isn't your style. Studies in learning psychology have shown that much more of what we learn in remembered when we receive multi-sensorial input, and we put into practice what we've been studying.
Find a course where you'll receive a selection of DVD-ROM's - you'll learn by watching video tutorials and demonstrations, with the facility to fine-tune your skills in fully interactive practice sessions. It's imperative to see courseware examples from each company you're contemplating. It's essential they incorporate video demo's and interactive elements such as practice lab's.
Purely on-line training should be avoided. Ideally, you should opt for CD and DVD ROM courseware where offered, so that you have access at all times - you don't want to be reliant on your broadband being 'up' 100 percent of the time.
Sometimes students are under the impression that the traditional school, college or university path is the right way even now. So why are commercially accredited qualifications becoming more in demand? As we require increasingly more effective technological know-how, industry has been required to move to the specialised training that the vendors themselves supply - for example companies such as Adobe, Microsoft, CISCO and CompTIA. This usually turns out to involve less time and financial outlay. In essence, only that which is required is learned. It's slightly more broad than that, but the principle remains that students need to focus on the exact skills required (alongside some required background) - without overdoing the detail in every other area - in the way that academic establishments often do.
Imagine if you were an employer - and you required somebody who had very specific skills. Which is the most straightforward: Pore through a mass of different academic qualifications from several applicants, asking for course details and what trade skills they've mastered, 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.
Adding in the cost of examination fees up-front then giving it 'Exam Guarantee' status is common for many training course providers. But let's examine why they really do it:
You'll pay for it ultimately. One thing's for sure - it isn't free - it's just been rolled into the price of the whole package. If it's important to you to pass in one, then you should fund each exam as you take it, give it the necessary attention and apply yourself as required.
Does it really add up to pay your college early for examinations? Find the best deal you can when you take the exam, rather than coughing up months or even a year or two in advance - and do it locally - rather than in some remote place. Paying upfront for exams (which also includes interest if you've taken out a loan) is insane. Why fill a company's coffers with additional funds just to give them a good cash-flow! Many will hope you don't even take them all - so they don't need to pay for them. You should fully understand that re-takes through companies who offer an 'Exam Guarantee' are monitored with tight restrictions. You will be required to do mock exams until you've demonstrated an excellent ability to pass.
With average Prometric and VUE exams coming in at around 112 pounds in the UK, it makes sense to pay as you go. Why splash out often many hundreds of pounds extra at the beginning of your training? A commitment to studying and the use of authorised exam preparation tools are actually the key to your success.
Consider only training courses that'll move onto commercially approved qualifications. There are loads of small colleges promoting 'in-house' certificates which are worthless in the real world. Unless the accreditation comes from a big-hitter like Microsoft, CompTIA, Adobe or Cisco, then you may discover it will be commercially useless - as it'll be an unknown commodity.
About the Author:
The author: Jason Kendall has worked in IT for 20 yrs. He now advises on commercial certification. If you're interested in Comptia A+, visit LearningLolly Network+. |
