Content for Reprint Blog

A very small number of men and women in the United Kingdom are pleased and contented with their working life. Inevitably, huge numbers will just stay there. You’ve reached this paragraph, which if nothing else suggests that you’re considering or may be ready for a change.

It’s advisable to get some help before you start – talk to a knowledgeable person; a guide who can really get to know you and find the best job role for you, and analyse the career tracks which will get you there:

* Do you like to work collaborating with people? Is that as part of a team or with many new people? Possibly operating on your own in isolation would give you pleasure?

* Are you considering which market sector you maybe could work in? (In this economy, it’s more important than ever to get it right.)

* Is this the final time you imagine you’ll re-train, and based on that, will your chosen career path allow you to do that?

* Do you expect your new knowledge base to give you the opportunity to find new work easily, and stay employable until your retirement plans kick in?

We would strongly recommend that your number one choice is the IT sector – it’s no secret that it’s getting bigger. IT isn’t all techie people gazing at their PC’s the whole time – it’s true there are those roles, but the majority of roles are filled with ordinary men and women who do very well out of it.

With the sheer volume of talk on the area of computing technology these days, how is it possible to recognize what precisely to look for?

If an advisor doesn’t ask you a lot of questions – chances are they’re just trying to sell you something. If they push a particular product before learning about your history and experience, then it’s very likely to be the case. If you’ve got a strong background, or perhaps a bit of real-world experience (some industry qualifications maybe?) then it’s more than likely your starting level will be very different from a student that is completely new to the industry. If this is going to be your opening crack at an IT exam then you might also want to start out with user-skills and software training first.

Please understand this most important point: You absolutely must have proper 24×7 professional support from mentors and instructors. You will have so many problems later if you don’t follow this rule rigidly. You’ll be waiting ages for an answer with email based support, and so-called telephone support is normally just routed to a call-centre who will chat nicely with you for 5 minutes to ask what the issue is and then simply send an email to an instructor – who will call back over the next day or so (assuming you’re there), at a time suitable for them. This is all next to useless if you’re lost and confused and have a one hour time-slot in which to study.

World-class organisations offer an internet-based 24×7 system pulling in several support offices throughout multiple time-zones. You will be provided with a simple environment that accesses the most appropriate office irrespective of the time of day: Support when it’s needed. Always pick a company that gives this level of learning support. Only true live 24×7 support provides the necessary backup.

We can guess that you’ve always enjoyed practical work – the ‘hands-on’ personality type. Usually, the trial of reading reference books and manuals is something you’ll make yourself do if you have to, but you really wouldn’t enjoy it. Check out video-based multimedia instruction if book-based learning really isn’t your style. Research over recent years has consistently verified that an ‘involved’ approach to study, where we utilise all our senses, will more likely produce memories that are deeper and longer-lasting.

Learning is now available via DVD-ROM discs, so you can study at your own computer. Through video streaming, you can sit back and watch the teachers showing you precisely how something is done, and then have a go at it yourself – in an interactive lab. It’s wise to view examples of the courseware provided before you sign the purchase order. You should expect instructor-led video demonstrations and audio-visual elements backed up by interactive lab’s.

You’ll find that many companies will only provide just online versions of their training packages; while you can get away with this much of the time, consider how you’ll deal with it if internet access is lost or you get slow speeds and down-time etc. It’s much safer to rely on physical CD or DVD discs which will solve that problem.

A lot of training schools are still maintaining a now out-dated method of training – classroom attendance. Very often portrayed as a huge benefit, following a chat with most students who’ve had to attend a couple, you’ll find them listing some or all of these:

* Multiple round journeys – normally hundreds of miles each and every time.

* Availability of classes; frequently weekdays only and sometimes two to three days together. It’s never convenient to take the required time off work.

* And don’t ignore lost holiday time. Usually we’re lucky to have four weeks vacation allowance. If half of that is used up on workshops, then we haven’t got much left for ourselves.

* ‘In-Centre’ workshop days normally end up far too big.

* Often, tension develops in the classroom as the right pace for one student is not the same as another.

* Don’t disregard the added expense of travelling or accommodation over-night either. Don’t be surprised to find this become many hundreds of pounds more – sometimes thousands. Sit down and add it up – it’ll shock and surprise you.

* Many students want to keep their training private and therefore avoiding all management questions in their job.

* Every one of us must, at some time, have avoided putting our hand’s up, because we wanted to look smarter?

* Typically, events are nigh on impossible to attend, where you live or work away from home for part of the week.

A more flexible training route is to employ videoed lessons in the comfort of your own home – and do it when it’s convenient to you – not someone else. Imagine… Utilising a notebook PC you can study wherever you want. And live 24 hr-a-day support is only a web-browser click away at times of difficulty. Repeat any modules if you need to – the more times you cover something – the more you’ll remember. And note-taking is gone forever – everything is already laid on for you. The outcome: Less hassle and stress, saved money, and you’ve avoided all travel.

Being a part of progressive developments in new technology is about as exciting as it can get. Your actions are instrumental in defining the world to come. Many people are of the opinion that the technological revolution we’ve been going through is cooling down. Nothing could be further from the truth. Terrific advances are ahead of us, and the internet in particular is going to dominate how we conduct our lives.

Let’s not ignore salaries also – the income on average across the UK for the usual person working in IT is considerably greater than the national average. Odds are you’ll make quite a bit more than you’d typically expect to bring in elsewhere. Experts agree that there’s a significant nationwide demand for professionally qualified IT workers. And with the marketplace continuing to expand, it appears this will be the case for years to come.