by Scott Edwards
What might you expect the best training companies certified by Microsoft to give a student in Britain in this day and age? Undoubtedly, the ultimate in Microsoft certified training tracks, presenting a range of courses to lead you into a selection of professions with IT. Maybe you’d like to talk to industry experts, who could help you sort out whereabouts in industry would be best, and what sort of duties are a good match for someone with your abilities and personal preferences. Once you’ve decided on your career path, your next search is for a relevant course tailored to your needs. The standard of teaching should leave no room for complaints.
Obviously, the computing market promises impressive prospects. Yet, to investigate it properly, what are the questions we should raise, and which are the sectors we need to investigate?
Beware of putting too much emphasis, as can often be the case, on the certification itself. Training is not an end in itself; this is about employment. Focus on the end-goal. Students often train for a single year but end up performing the job-role for decades. Ensure you avoid the fatal error of finding what seems like a program of interest to you and then put 10-20 years into a job you hate! It’s essential to keep your focus on what it is you’re trying to achieve, and then build your training requirements around that – don’t do it the other way round. Keep your eyes on your goals and study for a job that will keep you happy for many years. Seek help from an experienced industry professional that ‘gets’ the commercial realities of the area you’re interested in, and who can give you ‘A day in the life of’ synopsis of of what you’ll be doing during your working week. It makes good sense to discover if this is the right course of action for you long before you embark on your training program. There’s little reason in beginning your training only to find you’ve taken the wrong route.
It only makes sense to consider study programs which grow into commercially acknowledged exams. There are loads of minor schools promoting unknown ‘in-house’ certificates that are essentially useless in the real world. Unless your qualification is issued by a conglomerate such as Microsoft, Cisco, CompTIA or Adobe, then you’ll probably find it will be commercially useless – as no-one will have heard of it.
Training support for students is an absolute must – find a program offering 24×7 direct access to instructors, as not obtaining this level of support will severely impede your ability to learn. Locate training schools where you can access 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 access directly to professional tutors and not simply some messaging service that means waiting for tutors to call you back – probably during office hours. The best training colleges utilise an online access 24 hours-a-day package pulling in several support offices over many time-zones. You’re offered a simple interface which seamlessly selects the best facility available irrespective of the time of day: Support when you need it. Never make the mistake of compromise where support is concerned. Many students who can’t get going properly, would have had a different experience if they’d got the right support package in the first place.
If you’re like many of the students we talk to then you probably enjoy fairly practical work – the ‘hands-on’ individual. Typically, the painful task of reading endless manuals would be considered as a last resort, but it doesn’t suit your way of doing things. You should use video and multimedia based materials if book-based learning really isn’t your style. Long-term memory is enhanced with an involvement of all our senses – this has been an accepted fact in expert circles for years now. The latest audio-visual interactive programs with demonstrations and practice sessions beat books hands-down. And you’ll find them fun and interesting. Every company that you look at should be able to show you a few examples of their training materials. You should hope for instructor-led videos and a variety of interactive modules. Pick disc based courseware (On CD or DVD) every time. Thus avoiding all the issues associated with internet connection failure and issues with signal quality.
Charging for exams upfront and presenting it as a guarantee for your exams is popular with many training course providers. However, let’s consider what’s really going on: Clearly it isn’t free – you’re still coughing up for it – it’s just been wrapped up in the price of the package. It’s well known in the industry that when trainees fund their relevant examinations, when they’re ready to take them and not before, they’ll be in a better position to get through on the first attempt – because they’ll be conscious of what they’ve paid and will therefore apply themselves appropriately. Don’t you think it’s more sensible to find the best exam deal or offer when you’re ready, rather than coughing up months or even a year or two in advance to the training course provider, and also to sit exams more locally – rather than possibly hours away from your area? Paying upfront for exam fees (which also includes interest if you’ve taken out a loan) is bad financial management. Resist being talked into filling the training company’s account with extra money of yours just to give them more interest! Some will be pinning their hopes on the fact that you will never make it to exams – then they’ll keep the extra money. In addition to this, many exam guarantees are worthless. The majority of companies won’t pay for re-takes until you’ve completely satisfied them that you’re ready this time. Average exam fees were about 112 pounds last year via Prometric or VUE centres around the United Kingdom. So why pay hundreds or thousands of pounds extra to have ‘Exam Guarantees’, when it’s obvious that the best guarantee is a regular, committed, study programme, with an accredited exam preparation system.
What is the reason why qualifications from colleges and universities are now falling behind more commercial qualifications? With the costs of academic degree’s becoming a tall order for many, plus the industry’s recognition that corporate based study is closer to the mark commercially, we have seen a large rise in CISCO, Adobe, Microsoft and CompTIA authorised training courses that supply key solutions to a student at a far reduced cost both money and time wise. In essence, students are simply taught the necessary specifics in depth. It’s not quite as straightforward as that, but the most important function is always to focus on the exact skills required (including a degree of required background) – without overdoing the detail in all sorts of other things (as universities often do). Imagine if you were an employer – and you wanted someone who could provide a specific set of skills. What is easier: Wade your way through a mass of different academic qualifications from hopeful applicants, having to ask what each has covered and what trade skills they’ve mastered, or choose a specific set of accreditations that perfectly fit your needs, and make your short-list from that. The interview is then more about the person and how they’ll fit in – rather than on the depth of their technical knowledge.
We’d all like to believe that our jobs are safe and the future is protected, but the growing likelihood for most jobs in England at the moment seems to be that security may be a thing of the past. Of course, a quickly growing market-place, where staff are in constant demand (because of a massive shortfall of fully trained people), creates the conditions for real job security. The Information Technology (IT) skills deficit around Great Britain currently stands at over 26 percent, as reported by the latest e-Skills study. It follows then that for each 4 job positions that exist across Information Technology (IT), organisations can only find trained staff for 3 of them. This single reality on its own highlights why the country desperately needs considerably more workers to get trained and enter the IT industry. Because the IT sector is developing at the speed it is, it’s unlikely there’s any better sector worth considering for a new future.
About the Author:
Scott Edwards sources and advises on the very latest forms of computer based training in the UK. For advice on
IT Courses, visit LearningLolly
Computer Courses.
