What could a trainee searching for certified training from Microsoft expect to find today? Patently, training providers ought to have a number of course choices that match the needs of training tracks certified by Microsoft. Try to review all your options with an advisor who is on familiar terms with the commercial demands for IT staff, and will help you select the best kind of work to suit your abilities and character. Be sure your training program is personalised to your current level of knowledge and ability. Select a company that will always guarantee that the training is appropriate for the job you want to get.
If the computing market offers so many unparalleled career possibilities for us – what sort of questions should we pose and what areas are important to consider?
Of course: the course itself or an accreditation is not what you’re looking for; the job or career that you’re getting the training for is. Too many training companies over-emphasise the actual accreditation. It’s a sad testimony to the sales skills of many companies, but the majority of trainees kick-off study that often sounds magnificent in the sales literature, but which delivers a career that doesn’t satisfy. Try talking to typical university students and you’ll see where we’re coming from.
Make sure you investigate your feelings on earning potential, career development, and if you’re ambitious or not. It makes sense to understand what the role will demand of you, which particular qualifications will be required and in what way you can develop commercial experience. Talk to an experienced industry advisor that understands the work you’re contemplating, and who’ll explain to you an in-depth explanation of what you’re going to be doing in that job. Researching these areas well before beginning a learning course makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it?
Watch out that all certifications you’re studying for are recognised by industry and are bang up to date. ‘In-house’ exams and the certificates they come with are generally useless. Only nationally recognised accreditation from the top companies like Microsoft, Cisco, CompTIA and Adobe will open the doors to employers.
If you forget everything else – then just remember this: You absolutely must have proper 24×7 support from professional instructors. You will have so many problems later if you don’t heed this. Avoid, like the plague, any organisations that use call-centres ‘out-of-hours’ – where an advisor will call back during office hours. This is no use if you’re stuck and need help now.
Be on the lookout for training schools that have multiple support offices from around the world. Every one of them needs to be seamlessly combined to provide a single interface as well as round-the-clock access, when it suits you, with no fuss. Always choose a trainer that cares. Only true 24×7 round-the-clock live support provides the necessary backup.
The age-old way of teaching, using textbooks and whiteboards, is an up-hill struggle for the majority of us. If this describes you, find training programs that are on-screen and interactive. Memory is vastly improved when multiple senses are involved – this has been an accepted fact in expert circles for years now.
Interactive audio-visual materials involving demonstration and virtual lab’s will forever turn you away from traditional book study. And they’re far more fun. All companies should willingly take you through some simple examples of their training materials. Make sure you encounter videos of instructor-led classes and interactive areas to practice in.
It’s folly to select online only courseware. Connection quality and reliability varies hugely across the ISP (internet service provider) market, you should always obtain disc based courseware (On CD or DVD).
Most people don’t even think to ask about something of absolutely vital importance – how their company segments the courseware, and into how many bits. Trainees may consider it sensible (with training often lasting 2 or 3 years for a full commercial certification,) that a training provider will issue the training stage by stage, until you’ve passed all the exams. But: How would they react if you didn’t complete everything within the time limits imposed? And maybe you’ll find their order of completion won’t be as easy as some other structure would for you.
The ideal circumstances are to get all your study materials delivered to your address right at the beginning; the whole caboodle! Thus avoiding any future problems that could impede the reaching of your goals.
You’ll come across courses which guarantee examination passes – this always means exams have to be paid for upfront, at the very beginning of your studies. But before you get taken in by the chance of a guarantee, think about this:
These days, we have to be a tad more knowledgeable about sales gimmicks – and usually we cotton on to the fact that it is something we’re paying for (it isn’t free or out of the goodness of their hearts!) It’s well known in the industry that when students fund each examination, one at a time, there’s a much better chance they’ll pass every time – since they’ll be conscious of the cost and their application will be greater.
Shouldn’t you be looking to go for the best offer when you take the exam, not to pay the fees marked up by the training company, and to take it closer to home – rather than possibly hours away from your area? Many questionable training colleges make huge profits by getting paid for examinations upfront then cashing in if they’re not all taken. Pay heed to the fact that, in the majority of cases of ‘exam guarantees’ – the company controls how often and when you can re-take the exam. Subsequent exam attempts are only authorised at the company’s say so.
Due to typical VUE and Prometric examinations in the United Kingdom costing around 112 pounds, by far the best option is to pay for them as you take them. There’s no sense in throwing away maybe a thousand pounds extra at the start of your studies. Consistent and systematic learning, coupled with quality exam simulation software is what will really see you through.
Huge changes are flooding technology in the near future – and this means greater innovations all the time. It’s a common misapprehension that the increase in technology we’ve been going through is easing off. All indicators point in the opposite direction. There are huge changes to come, and the internet in particular will be the most effective tool in our lives.
If earning a good living is way up on your goal sheet, then you will be happy to know that the average salary for the majority of IT staff is noticeably more than with other market sectors. As the IT industry keeps developing nationally and internationally, the chances are that demand for certified IT professionals will continue actively for the significant future.
