by Scott Edwards
We all have busy lives, and most often if we want to learn a new profession, getting educated alongside a job is what we’re faced with. Microsoft certified training could be the answer. In addition, you may want to get advice on the careers that are available once you’ve qualified, and what sort of person those jobs might be right for. Many people prefer to discuss what would suit them individually. Training programs must be designed to meet your needs. Consequently, having worked out the right IT job for you, your next focus is the most applicable training course to get you there.
Obviously, the computing market promises impressive prospects. Yet, to investigate it properly, what are the questions we should raise, and which are the sectors we need to investigate?
Beware of putting too much emphasis, like so many people do, on the training process. Your training isn’t about getting a plaque on your wall; this is about employment. You need to remain focused on where you want to go. It’s possible, for instance, to get a great deal of enjoyment from a year of study only to end up putting 20 long years into a tiresome job role, as an upshot of not doing some decent due-diligence at the outset. Set targets for earning potential and whether you’re an ambitious person or not. This will influence what particular exams will be expected and what industry will expect from you in return. Obtain help from an experienced industry professional that ‘gets’ the commercial realities of the area you’re interested in, and will be able to provide ‘A typical day in the life of’ synopsis of what duties you’ll be performing with each working day. It makes good sense to discover if this is the right course of action for you long before your course begins. There’s little point in beginning your training and then discover you’re on the wrong course.
Be watchful that any certifications you’re studying for will be recognised by employers and are the most recent versions. ‘In-house’ certificates are not normally useful in gaining employment. Unless the accreditation comes from a major player like Microsoft, Adobe, CompTIA or Cisco, then you’ll probably find it will have been a waste of time – because it won’t give an employer any directly-useable skills.
Most training companies will only provide support available from 9-6 (office hours) and sometimes later on specific days; It’s rare to find someone who offers late evening or full weekend cover. Never accept training that only supports trainees via a call-centre messaging system after 6-9pm in the evening and during weekends. Training schools will give you every excuse in the book why you don’t need this. Essentially – support is needed when it’s needed – not at times when they find it cheaper to provide it. The most successful trainers have many support offices active in different time-zones. They use an online interactive interface to seamlessly link them all together; any time of the day or night – help is at hand without any contact issues or hassle. Don’t ever make the mistake of taking second best with the quality of your support. The majority of trainees who can’t get going properly, are in that situation because they didn’t get the support necessary for them.
If you’re like many of the students we talk to then you probably enjoy fairly practical work – the ‘hands-on’ individual. Typically, the painful task of reading endless manuals would be considered as a last resort, but it doesn’t suit your way of doing things. You should use video and multimedia based materials if book-based learning really isn’t your style. Long-term memory is enhanced with an involvement of all our senses – this has been an accepted fact in expert circles for years now. The latest audio-visual interactive programs with demonstrations and practice sessions beat books hands-down. And you’ll find them fun and interesting. Every company that you look at should be able to show you a few examples of their training materials. You should hope for instructor-led videos and a variety of interactive modules. Pick disc based courseware (On CD or DVD) every time. Thus avoiding all the issues associated with internet connection failure and issues with signal quality.
Charging for exams upfront and presenting it as a guarantee for your exams is popular with many training course providers. However, let’s consider what’s really going on: Clearly it isn’t free – you’re still coughing up for it – it’s just been wrapped up in the price of the package. It’s well known in the industry that when trainees fund their relevant examinations, when they’re ready to take them and not before, they’ll be in a better position to get through on the first attempt – because they’ll be conscious of what they’ve paid and will therefore apply themselves appropriately. Don’t you think it’s more sensible to find the best exam deal or offer when you’re ready, rather than coughing up months or even a year or two in advance to the training course provider, and also to sit exams more locally – rather than possibly hours away from your area? Paying upfront for exam fees (which also includes interest if you’ve taken out a loan) is bad financial management. Resist being talked into filling the training company’s account with extra money of yours just to give them more interest! Some will be pinning their hopes on the fact that you will never make it to exams – then they’ll keep the extra money. In addition to this, many exam guarantees are worthless. The majority of companies won’t pay for re-takes until you’ve completely satisfied them that you’re ready this time. Average exam fees were about 112 pounds last year via Prometric or VUE centres around the United Kingdom. So why pay hundreds or thousands of pounds extra to have ‘Exam Guarantees’, when it’s obvious that the best guarantee is a regular, committed, study programme, with an accredited exam preparation system.
Now, why is it better to gain commercially accredited qualifications and not more traditional academic qualifications taught at the state educational establishments? With 3 and 4 year academic degree costs increasing year on year, and the industry’s recognition that key company training often has more relevance in the commercial field, there’s been a large rise in Microsoft, CISCO, Adobe and CompTIA authorised training programmes that provide key skills to an employee at a far reduced cost both money and time wise. Higher education courses, for example, become confusing because of a lot of loosely associated study – with a syllabus that’s far too wide. This prevents a student from getting enough specific knowledge about the core essentials. Think about if you were the employer – and you needed to take on someone with a very particular skill-set. What is easier: Trawl through loads of academic qualifications from various applicants, asking for course details and what commercial skills have been attained, or choose particular accreditations that specifically match what you’re looking for, and make your short-list from that. Your interviews are then about personal suitability – instead of long discussions on technical suitability.
It would be wonderful to believe that our jobs are secure and our future is protected, but the growing likelihood for the majority of jobs throughout the United Kingdom right now seems to be that security may be a thing of the past. We could however locate market-level security, by looking for areas that have high demand, coupled with a lack of qualified workers. Reviewing the computer industry, a recent e-Skills study highlighted a 26 percent deficit in trained staff. Therefore, out of each 4 positions existing across IT, organisations can only source trained staff for three of them. Highly qualified and commercially accredited new workers are consequently at a complete premium, and it looks like they will be for a long time. In reality, acquiring professional IT skills as you progress through the coming years is likely the finest career direction you could choose.
About the Author:
With 3 Decades experience, author Scott Edwards, battles for cheaper, quality interactive training in the UK. If you’re interested in
IT Courses, visit LearningLolly
Computer Training Courses.