As well as learning about the ins and outs of building and maintaining computers, students on an A+ training course will have instruction on how to work in antistatic conditions, along with remote access, fault finding and diagnostics. Should you be thinking of taking care of computer networks, add the very comprehensive Network+ to your training package. Including Network+ will prepare you to get a higher paid position. Alternatively, you may prefer the networking qualifications from Microsoft, i.e. MCP, MCSA MCSE.

Many men and women think that the state educational track is still the best way into IT. So why then are qualifications from the commercial sector slowly and steadily replacing it? Industry is now aware that for mastery of skill sets for commercial use, proper accreditation from such organisations as Adobe, Microsoft, CISCO and CompTIA is far more effective and specialised – for considerably less. Obviously, an appropriate portion of relevant additional knowledge has to be taught, but core specifics in the areas needed gives a commercially trained student a massive advantage.

When an employer knows what areas they need covered, then they just need to look for a person with the appropriate exam numbers. Commercial syllabuses all have to conform to the same requirements and aren’t allowed to deviate (as academic syllabuses often do).

If you’re like many of the students we talk to then you probably enjoy fairly practical work – a ‘hands-on’ type. If you’re anything like us, the painful task of reading endless manuals would be considered as a last resort, but it doesn’t suit your way of doing things. Consider interactive, multimedia study if learning from books is not your thing. Many years of research has time and time again shown that becoming involved with our studies, to utilise all our senses, is far more likely to produce long-lasting memories.

Learning is now available in the form of CD and DVD ROM’s, so you can study at your own computer. Utilising the latest video technology, you can sit back and watch the teachers showing you precisely how it’s all done, and then practice yourself – via the interactive virtual lab’s. It would be silly not to view examples of the courseware provided before you sign the purchase order. Always insist on instructor demonstrations, video tutorials and audio-visual elements backed up by interactive lab’s.

You should avoid purely online training. Physical CD or DVD ROM materials are preferable where possible, so that you have access at all times – you don’t want to be reliant on a good broadband connection all the time.

It’s important to understand: a training program or a certification is not what you’re looking for; a job that you want is. A lot of colleges seem to put too much weight in the qualification itself. It’s a sad fact, but thousands of new students kick-off study that often sounds fabulous in the prospectus, but which delivers a career that is of no interest. Speak to a selection of university students and you’ll see where we’re coming from.

You need to keep your eye on what you want to achieve, and build your study action-plan from that – don’t do it back-to-front. Keep your eyes on your goals – making sure you’re training for a career you’ll enjoy for years to come. Our recommendation would be to look for advice and guidance from an experienced industry professional before making your final decision on some particular study path, so there’s no doubt that the specific package will give the skill-set required for your career choice.

Look at the points below and pay great regard to them if you’re inclined to think the marketing blurb about examination guarantees seems like a good idea:

In this day and age, we tend to be a tad more knowledgeable about sales gimmicks – and the majority of us ought to realise that of course we’re actually paying for it – they’re not just being charitable and doling out freebies! Should you seriously need to pass first time, evidence suggests you must pay for one exam at a time, prioritise it appropriately and give the task sufficient application.

Isn’t it outrageous to have to pay the college at the start of the course for examination fees? Find the best exam deal or offer at the appropriate time, don’t pay mark-ups – and do it in a local testing centre – not at somewhere of their bidding. Big margins are made by many training colleges who get money for exam fees in advance. A number of students don’t take them for various reasons but the company keeps the money. Astoundingly enough, providers exist who depend on students not taking their exams – as that’s where a lot of their profit comes from. The majority of companies will insist on pre-tests and with-hold subsequent exam entries from you until you’ve demonstrated an excellent ability to pass – which makes an ‘Exam Guarantee’ frankly useless.

Shelling out hundreds or thousands of pounds on ‘Exam Guarantees’ is foolish – when a commitment to studying and the use of authorised exam preparation tools is actually the key to your success.

Each programme of learning has to build towards a nationally accepted exam as an end-result – and not some unimportant ‘in-house’ printed certificate to hang in your hallway. Only properly recognised examinations from the major players like Microsoft, Cisco, CompTIA and Adobe will mean anything to employers.

(C) Jason Kendall. Try LearningLolly.com for intelligent career tips on Comptia Certification and Comptia Certification Course.

Routers connect to networks, so look for a program that includes basic networking skills (for example Network+, perhaps with A+) before getting going with CCNA. It’s vital that you’ve got some knowledge of how networks operate before you commence any Cisco training or you could find yourself a little lost. When you’ve qualified and are on the job market, you’ll benefit from having a good knowledge of networks to complement your CCNA.

Having the right skills and understanding prior to starting your Cisco CCNA course skills is crucial. So talk to someone who will be able to help you.

Beware of putting too much emphasis, as a lot of students can, on the training process. Training is not an end in itself; this is about gaining commercial employment. Begin and continue with the end in mind. It’s common, for instance, to obtain tremendous satisfaction from a year of studying only to end up putting 20 long years into a job you hate, as an upshot of not doing the correct level of soul-searching when you should’ve – at the outset.

It’s a good idea to understand what industry will expect from you. What certifications they will want you to have and how you’ll build your experience level. It’s definitely worth spending time setting guidelines as to how far you’d like to get as often it can control your selection of certifications. Have a chat with someone that has a background in the industry you’re considering, and who can give you an in-depth explanation of the kind of things you’ll be doing on a daily basis. Contemplating this well before you start on any retraining program makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it?

Can job security honestly exist anywhere now? Here in the UK, with industry changing its mind on a whim, it certainly appears not. Now, we only experience security through a quickly growing marketplace, driven forward by work-skills shortages. It’s this shortage that creates just the right setting for market-security – a far better situation.

Investigating the computing industry, a key e-Skills investigation highlighted an over 26 percent shortage in trained professionals. That means for each four job positions that are available throughout the computer industry, there are only 3 trained people to fill that need. Achieving the appropriate commercial Information Technology certification is thus a fast-track to realise a long-term and gratifying career. While the market is evolving at the speed it is, is there any other area of industry worth investigating for your new career.

Students often end up having issues because of one aspect of their training which is often not even considered: The method used to ’segment’ the courseware before being delivered to your home. Delivery by courier of each element one stage at a time, taking into account your exam passes is how things will normally arrive. Of course, this sounds sensible, but you should take these factors into account: What if for some reason you don’t get to the end of each and every exam? And what if the order provided doesn’t meet your requirements? Through no fault of your own, you may go a little slower and not receive all the modules you’ve paid for.

The very best situation would see you getting every piece of your study pack packed off to your home before you even start; the complete package! This prevents any future issues from rising that will affect your progress.

So, why ought we to be looking at commercial qualifications as opposed to traditional academic qualifications obtained from schools, colleges or universities? As demand increases for knowledge about more and more complex technology, the IT sector has moved to the specialised training that can only come from the vendors – in other words companies like CISCO, Adobe, Microsoft and CompTIA. Often this saves time and money for the student. University courses, for instance, clog up the training with a great deal of background study – and a syllabus that’s too generalised. Students are then prevented from understanding the specific essentials in enough depth.

Put yourself in the employer’s position – and you required somebody who had very specific skills. What is easier: Go through reams of different degrees and college qualifications from graduate applicants, trying to establish what they know and which trade skills they have, or select a specialised number of commercial certifications that exactly fulfil your criteria, and then select who you want to interview from that. Your interviews are then about personal suitability – instead of having to work out if they can do the job.

Ask any professional advisor and they’ll regale you with many terrible tales of students who’ve been sold completely the wrong course for them. Make sure you deal with a skilled professional who digs deep to discover the most appropriate thing for you – not for their paycheque! You need to find a starting-point that will suit you. If you have a strong background, or even a touch of real-world experience (some industry qualifications maybe?) then obviously your starting point will be very different from a student that is completely new to the industry. If this is your opening stab at studying to take an IT exam then you might also want to practice with a user-skills course first.

(C) Jason Kendall. Pop over to LearningLolly.com for clear ideas on Adult Training and Cisco CCNA Training.

Should you want a future in network support then the Microsoft MCSA (Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator) course will suit you perfectly. So if you’re just about to get started in the industry or have previous knowledge but no certificate, there’s a range of courses to suit your requirements. If you want to get into the IT workplace as a beginner, it’s likely you’ll need to learn a few things before attempting to go for the MCP’s (Microsoft Certified Professional exams) required to pass the MCSA. Search for a training organisation that’s able to design a course to cater for you – it should be possible for you to chat with an advisor to work out what the best way forward is for you.

For the most part, a average person doesn’t know in what direction to head in the IT industry, or even what area they should be considering getting trained in. As in the absence of any commercial background in the IT industry, how can most of us be expected to know what someone in a particular job does? The key to answering this issue properly comes from a thorough conversation around a variety of topics:

* Which type of individual you think yourself to be – what kind of jobs you enjoy, and on the other side of the coin – what you definitely don’t enjoy.

* What is the time-frame for the training process?

* What scale of importance is the salary – is an increase your main motivator, or is enjoying your job further up on your list of priorities?

* Getting to grips with what typical IT areas and sectors are – and what makes them different.

* Our advice is to think deeply about the level of commitment you’re going to invest in the accreditation program.

Ultimately, the best way of understanding everything necessary is through a long chat with someone that knows the industry well enough to give you the information required.

A question; why might we choose commercial qualifications and not familiar academic qualifications taught at tech’ colleges and universities? As demand increases for knowledge about more and more complex technology, industry has moved to specific, honed-in training that the vendors themselves supply – for example companies like Adobe, Microsoft, CISCO and CompTIA. Often this saves time and money for the student. Patently, a reasonable quantity of relevant additional knowledge must be taught, but precise specialisation in the exact job role gives a commercially educated person a distinct advantage.

As long as an employer is aware what work they need doing, then all they have to do is advertise for the particular skill-set required. Syllabuses are all based on the same criteria and can’t change from one establishment to the next (like academia frequently can and does).

Traditional teaching in classrooms, with books and manuals, can be pretty hard going sometimes. If all this is ringing some familiar bells, dig around for more practical courses which have a majority of interactive, multimedia parts. Where possible, if we can utilise all of our senses into our learning, then the results are usually dramatically better.

Search for a course where you’ll receive a selection of DVD-ROM’s – you’ll be learning from instructor videos and demo’s, and be able to use virtual lab’s to practice your new skills. It makes sense to see some examples of the kind of training materials you’ll be using before you sign on the dotted line. Always insist on videoed instructor demonstrations and audio-visual elements backed up by interactive lab’s.

It’s usually bad advice to select online only courseware. Due to the variable nature of connection quality from most broadband providers, you should always obtain physical media such as CD or DVD ROM’s.

Be alert that all qualifications that you’re considering are recognised by industry and are the most recent versions. Training companies own certificates are generally useless. Unless the accreditation comes from a big-hitter like Microsoft, Cisco, CompTIA or Adobe, then chances are it won’t be commercially viable – because it won’t give an employer any directly-useable skills.

Technology and IT is one of the most thrilling and changing industries that you could be a part of. To be dealing with leading-edge technology means you’re a part of the huge progress that will affect us all over the next generation. Society largely thinks that the increase in technology that’s been a familiar part of our recent lives is lowering its pace. This couldn’t be more wrong. There are huge changes to come, and the internet particularly is going to dominate how we conduct our lives.

And don’t forget that on average, the income of a person in the world of IT across the UK is significantly better than in other market sectors, which means you’ll more than likely earn much more as an IT specialist, than you’d expect to earn elsewhere. Experts agree that there’s a considerable UK-wide requirement for trained and qualified IT technicians. In addition, with the marketplace continuing to expand, it looks like this will be the case for the significant future.