by Jason Kendall
Only one in ten people in the UK today are pleased and contented with their working life. The vast majority of course will do nothing about it. The reality of your getting here surely means that you’re considering or may be ready for a change.
We suggest that you discuss your ideas first – talk to a knowledgeable person; an advisor who can discover your ideal job, and then show you the training programs which will get you there:
* Do you see yourself dealing with people? Is that as part of a team or with a lot of new people? It could be working by yourself on specific tasks would be more your thing?
* Banking and building are facing difficulties at the moment, so which sector will be best for you?
* Should this be the only time you will need more qualifications?
* Do you feel uncomfortable with regard to your possibilities of getting new work, and keeping a job until you plan to retire?
We would advise you to have a good look at the IT sector – there are increasingly more jobs than people to do them, and it’s a rare career choice where the sector is growing. Despite what some people would have you think, it isn’t a bunch of techie geeks staring at their computers the whole time (though naturally some jobs are like that.) Most positions are filled by people like you and me who like receiving larger than average salaries.
Commencing from the viewpoint that we need to find the area of most interest first, before we can contemplate which training program would meet that requirement, how can we choose the right direction? Flicking through a list of odd-sounding and meaningless job titles is no use whatsoever. The vast majority of us have no idea what our next-door neighbours do at work each day – so what chance do we have in understanding the intricacies of any specific IT role. To work through this, we need to discuss several core topics:
* The kind of individual you are – what kind of jobs you find interesting, plus of course – what makes you unhappy.
* What length of time can you allocate for the training process?
* How important is salary to you – is it of prime importance, or is enjoying your job a lot higher on the priority-scale?
* Learning what typical job areas and sectors are – plus how they’re different to each other.
* You should also think long and hard about the level of commitment that you will set aside for your training.
To be honest, the only way to gain help on these areas tends to be through a good talk with someone that has years of experience in Information Technology (and specifically the commercial needs and requirements.)
Adding in the cost of examination fees as an inclusive element of the package price and presenting it as a guarantee for your exams is common for many training course providers. But let’s examine why they really do it:
These days, we are a little bit more aware of sales ploys – and generally we grasp that we’re actually paying for it (it’s not a freebie because they like us so much!) Should you seriously need to qualify first ‘go’, you must avoid exam guarantees and pay when entering exams, give it the necessary attention and give the task sufficient application.
Don’t pay up-front, but seek out the best deal for you at the time, and save having to find the money early. In addition, it’s then your choice where to take your exam – meaning you can choose a local testing centre. Including money in your training package for exams (plus interest – if you’re financing your study) is insane. Resist being talked into filling the training company’s account with additional funds only to please their Bank Manager! Some will be pinning their hopes on the fact that you don’t even take them all – but they won’t refund the cash. Don’t forget, with the majority of Exam Guarantees – the company decides when you can do your re-takes. You’ll have to prove conclusively that you can pass before they’ll pay for another exam.
With average prices for VUE and Pro-metric examinations coming in at around 112 pounds in the UK, the most cost-effective way to cover the cost is by paying when you need them. There’s no sense in throwing away maybe a thousand pounds extra at the start of your studies. A commitment to studying and the use of authorised exam preparation tools are actually the key to your success.
A lot of men and women think that the state educational path is the way they should go. Why then are commercially accredited qualifications becoming more popular with employers? The IT sector is of the opinion that for mastery of skill sets for commercial use, official accreditation supplied for example by CISCO, Adobe, Microsoft and CompTIA is closer to the mark commercially – at a far reduced cost both money and time wise. University courses, for instance, clog up the training with vast amounts of background study – with much too broad a syllabus. This holds a student back from getting enough specific knowledge about the core essentials.
The bottom line is: Accredited IT qualifications let employers know exactly what you’re capable of – everything they need to know is in the title: as an example – I am a ‘Microsoft Certified Professional’ in ‘Windows XP Administration and Configuration’. Therefore an employer can look at the particular needs they have and which qualifications will be suitable to deal with those needs.
The old fashioned style of teaching, with books and manuals, is an up-hill struggle for the majority of us. If all this is ringing some familiar bells, dig around for more practical courses that are multimedia based. Where possible, if we can study while utilising as many senses as possible, then we normally see dramatically better results.
Fully interactive motion videos with demonstrations and practice sessions will beat books every time. And they’re a lot more fun to do. It would be silly not to view some of the typical study materials provided before you purchase a course. What you want are instructor demonstrations, video tutorials and interactive audio-visual sections with practice modules.
It is generally unwise to go for purely on-line training. With highly variable reliability and quality from most broadband providers, make sure you get physical media such as CD or DVD ROM’s.
A knowledgeable and practiced consultant (in contrast with a salesperson) will ask questions and seek to comprehend your abilities and experience. This is vital for understanding the starting point for your education. With a bit of commercial experience or qualifications, you may find that your starting point is different from a beginner. Consider starting with a user-skills course first. Beginning there can make the slope up to the higher-levels a bit more manageable.
About the Author:
(C) Jason Kendall. Check out LearningLolly.com for superb career advice on
Learning C and
IT Courses.