by Jason Kendall
It’s really great that you’ve already got this far! A fraction of the population enjoy their work and find it stimulating, but a huge number simply moan about it and take no action. By looking for this it’s probable that you’re at least considering retraining, which means you’re already ahead of the pack. Now you just need to research and follow-through.
When considering retraining, it’s vital that you have in mind what you want and don’t want from the job you’re hoping to qualify for. Ensure that things would be a lot better before you spend time and effort taking a new turn. We recommend looking at the big picture first, to make an informed decision:
* Do you want to interact with other people? If so, do you like working with the same people or do you want to meet lots of new people? Maybe you’d rather be left alone to get on with things?
* Which criteria’s are fundamental with regard to the industry you’ll be employed in?
* 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.
With so much choice, there’s no surprise that a large majority of career changers don’t really understand the best career path they will follow. How likely is it for us to understand the day-to-day realities of any IT job when it’s an alien environment to us? Most likely we don’t know someone who is in that area at all. Achieving an informed resolution only comes through a meticulous examination of many altering areas:
* What hobbies you have and enjoy – these can show the possibilities will satisfy you.
* Why you want to consider getting involved with Information Technology – is it to conquer a long-held goal like working from home maybe.
* Any personal or home needs you may have?
* 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.
Ultimately, the most intelligent way of covering these is from a meeting with an advisor that has enough background to give you the information required.
A sneaky way that colleges make more money is by adding exam fees upfront to the cost of a course and presenting it as a guarantee for your exams. It looks impressive, but is it really:
It’s very clear we’re still being charged for it – obviously it has already been included in the overall figure from the training provider. It’s absolutely not free – don’t think these companies are so generous with their money! The fact is that if a student pays for each examination, at the time of taking them, there’s a much better chance they’ll pass first time – since they’ll be conscious of what they’ve paid and their application will be greater.
Does it really add up to pay the training company at the start of the course for examinations? Go for the best offer when you’re ready, rather than pay marked up fees – and take it closer to home – rather than in some remote place. What’s the point in paying early for examination fees when you didn’t need to? Big margins are made by companies getting paid upfront for exams – and banking on the fact that many won’t be taken. Many training companies will insist on pre-tests and hold you back from re-takes until you’ve completely proven that you’re likely to pass – so an ‘Exam Guarantee’ comes with many clauses in reality.
Exams taken at VUE and Prometric centres are around 112 pounds in Great Britain. What’s the point of paying huge fees for ‘exam guarantees’ (usually wrapped up in the course package price) – when a quality course, support and study, commitment and preparing with good quality mock and practice exams is what will really guarantee 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.
If an employer is aware what work they need doing, then they simply need to advertise for the particular skill-set required. Vendor-based syllabuses are set to meet an exact requirement and can’t change from one establishment to the next (in the way that degree courses can).
Often, trainers provide a shelf full of reference manuals. Obviously, this isn’t much fun and isn’t the best way to go about studying effectively. Research over recent years has always shown that an ‘involved’ approach to study, where we utilise all our senses, will more likely produce memories that are deeper and longer-lasting.
Locate a program where you’ll receive a selection of DVD-ROM’s – you’ll start with videos of instructor demonstrations, and be able to use virtual lab’s to practice your new skills. You’ll definitely want a study material demo’ from the training company. The materials should incorporate demo’s from instructors, slideshows and lab’s for you to practice your skills in.
Plump for physical media such as CD or DVD ROM’s in all circumstances. You can then avoid all the difficulties of broadband outages, failure and signal quality issues etc.
Get rid of any salesman who pushes one particular program without performing a ‘fact-find’ to assess your abilities as well as experience level. Always check they have access to a large range of products so they can solve your training issues. It’s worth remembering, if you have some relevant previous certification, then it’s not unreasonable to expect to commence studying further along than someone who is new to the field. Opening with a basic PC skills course first may be the ideal way to commence your computer programme, but really depends on your level of familiarity with computers.