Careers Courses for Computing in 2009
Computer and network support technicians are constantly sought after in the United Kingdom, as businesses become progressively more dependent upon their knowledge and fixing and repairing abilities. Our country’s need for more skilled and qualified individuals grows, as human beings become consistently more dependent upon PC’s in the modern world.
Getting to the most suitable career choice is very difficult – so which sectors are important to investigate and which questions do we need to be posing?
It’s important to understand: a actual training or a certification isn’t what this is about; a job that you want to end up in is. Many trainers unfortunately over-emphasise the piece of paper. Avoid becoming part of that group that choose a course that seems ‘fun’ or ‘interesting’ – and end up with a certification for a job they hate.
Stay focused on where you want to get to, and build your study action-plan from that – don’t do it back-to-front. Stay on target – making sure you’re training for an end-result you’ll still be enjoying many years from now. As a precursor to beginning a particular study programme, you’d be well advised to discuss individual career needs with an industry professional, to make sure the retraining programme covers all that is required.
Only consider learning programmes that’ll move onto commercially recognised qualifications. There are far too many trainers promoting their own ‘in-house’ certificates that are essentially useless when you start your job-search. All the major IT organisations such as Microsoft, Cisco, CompTIA or Adobe all have nationally approved proficiency programs. Major-league companies like these will give some sparkle to your CV.
Proper support should never be taken lightly – locate a good company that includes 24×7 access, as anything less will frustrate you and could put a damper on the speed you move through things. Locate training schools where you can receive help at any time of day or night (no matter if it’s in the middle of the night on a weekend!) Ensure you get direct access to tutors, and not simply some messaging service that means you’re constantly waiting for a call-back during office hours.
Keep your eyes open for training programs that utilise many support facilities from around the world. Each one should be integrated to offer a simple interface and also round-the-clock access, when it’s convenient for you, without any problems. You can’t afford to accept less than this. 24×7 support is the only kind that ever makes the grade with technical courses. Maybe late-evening study is not your thing; but for the majority of us however, we’re at work when traditional support if offered.
The age-old way of teaching, with books and manuals, is often a huge slog for most of us. If you’re nodding as you read this, check out study materials that are multimedia based. Where possible, if we can get all of our senses involved in our learning, then we often see hugely increased memory retention as a result.
Search for a course where you’ll receive a selection of DVD-ROM’s – you’ll start with videos of instructor demonstrations, and then have the opportunity to fine-tune your skills in fully interactive practice sessions. It’s wise to view a small selection of training examples before you sign the purchase order. Always insist on videoed instructor demonstrations and interactive audio-visual sections with practice modules.
Avoiding training that is delivered purely online is generally a good idea. Physical CD or DVD ROM materials are preferable where obtainable, enabling them to be used at your convenience – and not be totally reliant on a quality and continuous internet connection.
It’s quite a normal occurrence for students not to check on something of absolutely vital importance – how their company segments the courseware elements, and into how many parts. 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 the training stage by stage, until you’ve passed all the exams. But: With thought, many trainees understand that their training company’s typical path to completion is not what they would prefer. It’s often the case that a different order of study is more expedient. And what happens if they don’t finish at the pace they expect?
In a perfect world, you’d get ALL the training materials right at the beginning – giving you them all to come back to at any time in the future – at any time you choose. This allows a variation in the order that you complete your exams if another more intuitive route presents itself.
One crafty way that training companies make extra profits is by charging for exams up-front and then including an ‘Exam Guarantee’. This looks like a great idea for the student, until you think it through:
Everyone knows they’re still footing the bill for it – it’s not so hard to see that it’s already in the overall figure from the training company. Certainly, it’s not a freebie (although some people will believe anything the marketing companies think up these days!) The fact is that when trainees fund their own exams, one by one, they will be much more likely to get through on the first attempt – since they’re aware of their payment and therefore will put more effort into their preparation.
Don’t pay up-front, but seek out the best deal for you when you take the exam, and hang on to your cash. In addition, it’s then your choice where to do the examinations – which means you can stay local. A lot of extra profit is secured by many training colleges who incorporate exam fees into the cost of the course. Many students don’t take them for one reason or another but no refunds are given. Surprising as it sounds, providers exist who actually rely on students not sitting all the exams – as that’s very profitable for them. Most companies will insist that you take mock exams first and with-hold subsequent exam entries from you until you’ve completely proven that you’re likely to pass – making an ‘exam guarantee’ just about worthless.
The cost of exams was about 112 pounds twelve months or so ago through Prometric or VUE centres around the United Kingdom. So what’s the point of paying maybe a thousand pounds extra for ‘Exam Guarantees’, when it’s obvious that the responsible approach is study, commitment and preparing with good quality mock and practice exams.
Being a part of the information technology industry is amongst the most stimulating and innovative industries that you can get into right now. To be working on the cutting-edge of technology puts you at the fore-front of developments affecting everyone who lives in the 21st century. Society largely thinks that the technological advancement we have experienced is slowing down. All indicators point in the opposite direction. Massive changes are on the horizon, and most especially the internet is going to dominate how we conduct our lives.
And don’t forget salaries either – the average salary in the United Kingdom for the usual IT worker is significantly more than the national average. Odds are that you’ll receive a whole lot more than you could reasonably hope to get in other industries. It seems there’s no easing up for IT industry growth in the United Kingdom. The sector is continuing to expand enormously, and we don’t have anywhere near enough qualified skilled IT professionals to fill current job vacancies, so it’s not likely that this will change significantly for the significant future.
