It’s quite some achievement that you’ve made it this far! A fraction of the population say they enjoy their work, but the majority just bitch about it and nothing happens. Because you’ve done research we have a hunch that you’re finding out about training, so even now you’re ahead of the game. What comes next is get busy to find your direction.
With regard to specific training programs, discuss your thoughts with an industry expert who will be able to guide you on which area will be right for you. A person who will get an understanding of your personality, and find out what types of work suit you:
* Do you enjoy a busy working environment? Perhaps you like being a team player? Maybe you like to deal with tasks that you deal with by yourself?
* Banking and building are struggling right now, so which sector would suit you best?
* Once you’ve qualified, would you like your new abilities to see you to retirement age?
* Will this new qualification give you the opportunity to discover new employment possibilities, and remain in employment until you choose to stop?
We would advise that your number one choice is the IT sector – it’s common knowledge that it’s on the grow. IT isn’t all techie geeks staring at computers constantly – we know those jobs exist, but most jobs are done by ordinary men and women who earn considerably more than most.
So, why might we choose commercial certification and not familiar academic qualifications obtained from schools, colleges or universities?
Key company training (in industry terminology) is most often much more specialised. The IT sector has become aware that such specialised knowledge is what’s needed to cope with an increasingly more technical commercial environment. Adobe, Microsoft, CISCO and CompTIA are the key players in this arena.
Academic courses, for example, clog up the training with a lot of loosely associated study – with much too broad a syllabus. This holds a student back from learning the core essentials in sufficient depth.
It’s a bit like the TV advert: ‘It does what it says on the tin’. The company just needs to know what they’re looking for, and then request applicants with the correct exam numbers. Then they’re assured that a potential employee can do exactly what’s required.
Many training schools still use one of the most out-dated training concepts – classroom attendance. Quite often pushed as a positive point, if you talk to a student who has had to attend a few, don’t be surprised to be lectured on several if not all of these problems:
* Frequent round journeys – normally hundreds of miles at a time.
* Requesting time off work – typical colleges only offer weekday availability and typically group 2-3 days together. This is generally difficult for those of us who work for a living, and it’s made more problematic when you add the travel time on.
* Lost holiday days – many workers only have 20 days holiday. If half or more of that is used up by educational classes, vacation time is going to be quite short for most student’s families.
* Classes often are over-subscribed, so we end up having to take the ‘2nd best’ solution.
* Class pace – classes often have students of mixed skill, consequently there is often tension between students with more background knowledge and the ones who need a little longer.
* Tot up the cost of all the travel, fares, accommodation, parking and food and you’ll be in for a big surprise. Trainees have reported extra costs ranging from hundreds to over a thousand pounds. Do the maths – then you’ll know.
* Study privacy can be very important to most attendees. Why would you want to throw away potential advancement, pay-rises or achievement in your job while you’re training. If your employer knows you’ve committed to qualification in another area entirely, what do you think they’ll do?
* Who amongst us hasn’t avoided putting our hand’s up, because we wanted to fit in?
* For those who have work away from home, you now have to deal with the fact that classes now become impossible to get to – but unfortunately, they’ve already been paid for.
Why don’t you just watch and study with teachers one-to-one in ready-made lessons, working on them at your convenience – not somebody else’s.
Whenever you get stuck, use the provided 24×7 live support (that should come with any technical program.) You should remember, if your PC is a notebook PC, you can study wherever you want.
Forget taking notes – everything is prepared in advance for you. And if you want to repeat anything, it’s there.
Although there’s no way this can remove every little difficulty, it definitely reduces stress and eases things. You also have reduced travel, costs and hassle.
(C) Scott Edwards 2009. Navigate to www.ITTraining4PC.co.uk or HERE.
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