Shade, Shutters & Blinds

Well Done! As you’re looking at this you’ve doubtless been pondering on re-training to work in a different industry – so you’ve already done more than most. Only one in ten of us are satisfied with our careers, but most complain but just stay there. You could join a select group who actually do something about it.

With regard to individual courses, discuss your thoughts with an industry expert who will give you advice on the right type of training for you. A person who will get an understanding of your personality, and find out what types of work suit you:

* Is working with other people your thing? Perhaps you like being a team player? Perhaps you prefer not to be disturbed and enjoy responsibilities that you can complete alone?

* Building and Banking are struggling right now, so think carefully about the sector that will be best for you?

* Once you’ve qualified, would you like your new abilities to take you through to retirement?

* Do you feel uncomfortable about the possibility of finding new employment, and staying employable right up to retirement?

A predominant industry in this country to meet the above criteria is the IT industry. There’s a need for more qualified people in IT, just check out any jobsite and there’ll be a long list. Don’t let people tell you it’s all techie people gazing towards theirscreens all day – there are loads more jobs than that. Large numbers of the people in the computer industry are just like the rest of us, but they enjoy their work and get well paid.

How can we make the right choice then? With so much reward available, we’ll need to know where to look – and of course, what to actually be looking for.

So many training providers focus completely on the certification process, and completely miss why you’re doing this – which is of course employment. Always start with the final destination in mind – don’t make the journey more important than where you want to get to. It’s common, in many cases, to get a great deal of enjoyment from a year of study and then find yourself trapped for decades in a job you hate, simply because you did it without some quality research at the outset.

Spend some time thinking about what you want to earn and what level of ambition fits you. This will influence which particular exams will be required and how much effort you’ll have to give in return. As a precursor to beginning a learning program, it makes sense to talk through specific career requirements with an experienced professional, in order to be sure the retraining programme covers all the bases.

Watch out that all accreditations you’re studying for are commercially relevant and are the most recent versions. ‘In-house’ certificates are often meaningless. From a commercial standpoint, only the top companies like Microsoft, CompTIA, Cisco or Adobe (for instance) will get you short-listed. Anything less won’t make the grade.

One thing you must always insist on is proper direct-access 24×7 support with professional mentors and instructors. It’s an all too common story to find providers that only seem to want to help while they’re in the office (9am till 6pm, Monday till Friday usually) and nothing at the weekends. Email support is too slow, and so-called telephone support is normally just routed to a call-centre which will take the information and email an instructor – who’ll call back sometime over the next 1-3 days, at a suitable time to them. This is not a lot of use if you’re stuck with a particular problem and only have a specific time you can study.

Top training companies incorporate three or four individual support centres around the globe in several time-zones. An online system provides an interactive interface to seamlessly link them all together, at any time you choose, there is always help at hand, without any problems or delays. Search out a training provider that gives this level of learning support. Because only round-the-clock 24×7 support gives you the confidence to make it.

Students who consider this area of study often have a very practical outlook on work, and don’t always take well to classrooms, and struggling through thick study-volumes. If this is putting you off studying, try the newer style of interactive study, with on-screen demonstrations and labs. Many years of research has constantly verified that getting into our studies physically, is much more conducive to long-term memory.

The latest home-based training features self-contained CD or DVD materials. Instructor-led tutorials will mean you’ll learn your subject by way of their teaching and demonstrations. Then it’s time to test your knowledge by interacting with the software and practicing yourself. Always insist on a demonstration of the study materials from your training provider. The package should contain expert-led demonstrations, slideshows and lab’s for you to practice your skills in.

Purely on-line training should be avoided. You want physical CD/DVD ROM course materials where possible, as you need to be able to use them whenever it’s convenient for you – ISP quality varies, so you don’t want to be totally reliant on a good broadband connection all the time.

Most people don’t even think to ask about something that can make a profound difference to their results – how their company divides up the courseware elements, and into how many parts. Many think it logical (with most training taking 1-3 years to pass all the required exams,) that a training provider will issue one module at a time, until you’ve passed all the exams. But: What could you expect if you didn’t actually complete all the exams at the speed they required? And maybe you’ll find their order of completion doesn’t come as naturally as another different route may.

To provide the maximum security and flexibility, most students now choose to have all their training materials (which they’ve now paid for) sent immediately, and not in a piecemeal fashion. It’s then your own choice in which order and at what speed you want to finish things.

One interesting way that course providers make extra profits is by adding exam fees upfront to the cost of a course and offering an exam guarantee. It looks like a good deal, but let’s just examine it more closely:

We all know that we’re still footing the bill for it – it’s quite obvious to see that it’s already in the gross price invoiced by the training company. Certainly, it’s not a freebie – and it’s insulting that we’re supposed to think it is! Evidence shows that if a student pays for each progressive exam, one at a time, the chances are they’re going to pass first time – since they’ll think of their payment and so will prepare more thoroughly.

Hold on to your money and pay for the exam at the time, and avoid college mark-up fees. In addition, it’s then your choice where to sit the exam – so you can choose somewhere closer to home. A surprising number of so-called credible training providers make big margins by getting paid for exam fees early and banking on the fact that many won’t be taken. Most companies will insist on pre-tests and not allow you to re-take an exam until you’ve completely proven that you’re likely to pass – which actually leaves you with no guarantee at all.

Splashing out often many hundreds of pounds extra on ‘Exam Guarantees’ is naive – when consistent and systematic learning, coupled with quality exam simulation software is what will really see you through.

Sometimes, individuals don’t understand what IT means. It’s thrilling, changing, and means you’re a part of the huge progress of technology that will affect us all over the next generation. Computing technology and dialogue via the internet will noticeably alter the way we live our lives over future years; profoundly so.

If money is way up on your goal sheet, then you will be happy to know that the income on average for most men and women in IT is a lot greater than salaries in the rest of the economy. Due to the technological sector increasing nationally and internationally, it’s likely that demand for appropriately qualified IT professionals will flourish for decades to come.