by Jason Kendall
As you're looking to study for an MCSE, you're probably in 1 of 2 situations. You may want to come into the computer world, and you've found this commercial sector has lots of demand for men and women who are commercially qualified. Or you might be a knowledgeable person attempting to gain accreditation with an MCSE.
Take care to ensure you confirm that the training provider you're using is definitely teaching with the latest level of Microsoft development. Many trainees are left in a mess when they discover they've been educated in an out-of-date syllabus which will need updating. Stay away from organisations that are just interested in your money. Ask for comprehensive, personal guidance to ensure you are taking the right decisions. Guard against being rushed into a one-size-fits-all course by an over-keen salesman.
When was the last time you considered the security of your job? For the majority of us, this issue only becomes a talking point when something goes wrong. But in today's marketplace, the lesson often learned too late is that true job security has gone the way of the dodo, for nearly everyone now. Whereas a fast growing sector, where there just aren't enough staff to go round (because of an enormous shortage of properly qualified workers), enables the possibility of proper job security.
Using the IT sector for instance, a key e-Skills study demonstrated massive skills shortages in the country of around 26 percent. Or, to put it differently, this highlights that the UK can only find three properly accredited workers for each 4 job positions in existence today. Achieving in-depth commercial IT qualification is correspondingly a 'Fast Track' to achieve a life-long as well as worthwhile line of work. It would be hard to imagine if a better time or market state of affairs is ever likely to exist for gaining qualification for this rapidly growing and blossoming industry.
How do we reach a good choice then? With such prospects, we'll need to know where to be looking - and what to be investigating.
Looking around, we find a plethora of job availability in IT. Deciding which one could be right in this uncertainty often proves challenging. Since without any previous experience in Information Technology, in what way could we know what any job actually involves? To get to the bottom of this, we need to discuss a variety of different aspects:
* Personality factors and interests - what work-related things you like and dislike.
* What length of time can you allocate for the retraining?
* Where is the salary on a scale of importance - is it the most important thing, or do you place job satisfaction higher up on your list of priorities?
* With everything that the IT industry encompasses, you really need to be able to take in what's different.
* It's wise to spend some time thinking about the amount of time and effort you're going to give to your training.
At the end of the day, the best way of checking this all out is from a meeting with an experienced advisor that through years of experience will be able to guide you.
Full support is of the utmost importance - locate a good company that provides 24x7 direct access, as anything else will annoy you and definitely hamper your progress. Avoid, like the plague, any organisations which use 'out-of-hours' call-centres - with your call-back scheduled for standard office hours. This is no use if you're stuck and need an answer now.
The best training colleges provide an online round-the-clock package pulling in several support offices from around the world. You will have a single, easy-to-use interface that accesses the most appropriate office irrespective of the time of day: Support available as-and-when you want it. Never make do with less than this. Support round-the-clock is the only viable option when it comes to computer-based training. Maybe late-evening study is not your thing; often though, we're out at work during the provided support period.
Many trainers provide mainly work-books and reference manuals. This can be very boring and not a very good way of studying effectively. Research over recent years has always shown that becoming involved with our studies, to utilise all our senses, is far more likely to produce long-lasting memories.
The latest audio-visual interactive programs involving demonstration and virtual lab's will turn you off book-based study for ever more. And they're far more fun. Each company you're contemplating must be able to demonstrate a few samples of their training materials. You're looking for evidence of tutorial videos and demonstrations and many interactive sections.
It's usually bad advice to choose training that is only available online. With highly variable reliability and quality from most broadband providers, it makes sense to have CD or DVD ROM based materials.
Now, why is it better to gain commercial certification instead of familiar academic qualifications obtained from schools and Further Education colleges? Key company training (to use industry-speak) is far more specialised and product-specific. Industry has become aware that a specialist skill-set is what's needed to meet the requirements of a technologically complex world. CISCO, Adobe, Microsoft and CompTIA are the key players in this arena. Academic courses, as a example, clog up the training with too much loosely associated study - and much too wide a syllabus. This prevents a student from getting enough core and in-depth understanding on a specific area.
Put yourself in the employer's position - and you required somebody who had very specific skills. What should you do: Go through loads of academic qualifications from hopeful applicants, struggling to grasp what they've learned and which commercial skills they have, or choose a specific set of accreditations that precisely match your needs, and make your short-list from that. Your interviews are then about personal suitability - instead of long discussions on technical suitability.
Authorised exam preparation and simulation materials are essential - and must be supplied by your training supplier. Steer clear of depending on non-official exam preparation questions. The type of questions asked can be completely unlike authorised versions - and sometimes this can be a real headache when it comes to taking the real exam. Why don't you verify how much you know by doing tests and simulated exams prior to taking the real deal.
It can be a nerve-racking task, but getting your first role in IT can be eased by some companies, via a Job Placement Assistance facility. It can happen though that people are too impressed with this facility, because it is genuinely quite straightforward for any motivated and trained individual to get a job in this industry - as employers are keen to find appropriately well trained people.
Whatever you do, avoid waiting until you've finished your training before getting your CV updated. As soon as you start studying, enter details of your study programme and tell people about it! It's possible that you won't have even taken your exams when you will be offered your first junior support position; although this can't and won't happen if interviewers don't get sight of your CV. If it's important to you to find work near your home, then you'll probably find that a local (but specialised) recruitment consultancy can generally work much better for you than some national concern, for they're going to have insider knowledge of the jobs that are going locally.
Many men and women, it would appear, put a great deal of effort into their studies (for years sometimes), and just give up when it comes to attempting to secure the right position. Introduce yourself... Do your best to let employers know about you. A job isn't just going to bump into you.
About the Author:
With 20 yrs experience, author Jason Kendall, campaigns for low-cost, quality interactive UK education. If you're interested in
MCSE Training, visit LearningLolly
MCSE 2008.