If you're seeking Microsoft certified training, then you'll naturally expect training providers to supply a wide selection of some of the top training...
If you're seeking Microsoft certified training,
then you'll naturally expect training providers to supply a wide selection of some of the top training courses on the market today. It's advisable to consider all the options with a person who has knowledge of the commercial demands for IT staff, and will help you select the most fruitful career to suit your abilities and character. When you've settled on the area you want to get into, an applicable training course needs to be picked that's a match for your current level of knowledge and ability. This should be personalised for you as an individual.
An important area that is sometimes not even considered by trainees considering a training program is that of 'training segmentation'. This is essentially the breakdown of the materials for delivery to you, which can make a dramatic difference to where you end up. You may think that it makes sense (with most training taking 1-3 years for a full commercial certification,) that a training provider will issue a single section at a time, as you complete each part. However: What would their reaction be if you find it difficult to do everything at the speed they required? Often the staged order won't fit you as well as another different route may.
In a perfect world, you want everything at the start - giving you them all to return to any point - at any time you choose. This allows a variation in the order that you attack each section if you find another route more intuitive.
You should remember: the actual training program or an accreditation is not the ultimate goal; the career you're training for is. Too many training companies over-emphasise the piece of paper. You could be training for only a year and end up performing the job-role for decades. Avoid the mistake of taking what may be an 'interesting' course and then put 10-20 years into a job you don't like!
It's a good idea to understand what industry will expect from you. What precise qualifications they will want you to have and how you'll go about getting some commercial experience. Spend some time thinking about how far you think you'll want to progress your career as it will often present a very specific set of certifications. Look for help from an experienced professional who has commercial knowledge of your chosen market-place, and will be able to provide 'A typical day in the life of' synopsis of what you'll actually be doing during your working week. It just makes sense to ensure you're on the right track long before you jump into the study-program. After all, what is the point in starting to train only to find you've taken the wrong route.
Several companies supply a practical Job Placement Assistance program, to help you get your first job. But don't place too much emphasis on it - it isn't unusual for training companies to make it sound harder than it is. Ultimately, the massive skills shortage in the United Kingdom is the reason you'll find a job.
Help with your CV and interview techniques should be offered (alternatively, check out one of our sites for help). Ensure you work on your old CV today - not when you're ready to start work! Quite often, you will be offered your initial job whilst you're still studying (sometimes when you've only just got going). If your CV doesn't show your latest training profile (and it isn't in the hands of someone with jobs to offer) then you won't even be considered! If you'd like to keep travelling time and costs to a minimum, then you'll often find that a specialist locally based employment agency can generally be more appropriate than some national concern, because they're far more likely to have insider knowledge of local employment needs.
Just be sure that you don't put hundreds of hours of effort into your studies, only to stop and expect somebody else to land you a job. Stop procrastinating and start looking for yourself. Put the same resource into landing your first job as you did to gain the skills.
You have to make sure that all your certifications are current and commercially required - forget courses that only give in-house certificates. From the perspective of an employer, only top businesses such as Microsoft, Adobe, CompTIA or Cisco (as an example) will open the right doors. Anything less won't make the grade.
Frequently, your everyday person has no idea what way to go about starting in IT, or what area they should be considering getting trained in. Consequently, if you have no know-how of the IT industry, how could you possibly know what a particular IT employee does each day? Let alone arrive at which educational path would be most appropriate for ultimate success. To come through this, we need to discuss a variety of different aspects:
* Which type of individual you reckon you are - what tasks do you get enjoyment from, and conversely - what don't you like doing.
* What time-frame are you looking at for the retraining?
* Have you thought about job satisfaction vs salary?
* When taking into account all that computing encapsulates, you'll need to be able to absorb what's different.
* You should also think long and hard about the amount of time and effort you'll put into the accreditation program.
To cut through the barrage of jargon, and discover what'll really work for you, have an informal meeting with an industry-experienced advisor; a person who can impart the commercial reality whilst covering each certification.
