As you do your searches, you’ll come across colleges that compromise their offerings by not providing the latest version from Microsoft. Avoid such training providers as it will create challenges for you at exam time. If your knowledge is of the wrong syllabus, it could be impossible to pass. Training providers should be dedicated to offering the correct route for their students. Directing learning is equally about helping people to work out which way to go, as it is giving them help to reach their destination.
A sneaky way that colleges make a lot more is by adding exam fees upfront to the cost of a course then giving it ‘Exam Guarantee’ status. It looks like a good deal, but is it really:
You’re paying for it one way or another. One thing’s for sure – it isn’t free – they’ve simply charged more for the whole training package. Should you seriously need to get a first time pass, you must pay for one exam at a time, give it the priority it deserves and give the task sufficient application.
Find the best exam deal or offer available at the time, and hang on to your cash. You’ll also be able to choose where to take your exam – which means you can stay local. Big margins are made by a significant number of organisations that get money upfront for exam fees. Many students don’t take them for one reason or another but the company keeps the money. Astoundingly enough, there are training companies that actually rely on students not sitting all the exams – as that’s very profitable for them. Additionally, ‘Exam Guarantees’ often aren’t worth the paper they’re written on. Many training companies won’t pay for re-takes until you’ve completely satisfied them that you’re ready this time.
Paying maybe a thousand pounds extra on ‘Exam Guarantees’ is short-sighted – when study, commitment and preparing with good quality mock and practice exams is actually the key to your success.
Be careful that the exams you’re working towards will be recognised by employers and are current. The ‘in-house’ certifications provided by many companies are often meaningless. You’ll find that only recognised examinations from the major players like Microsoft, Adobe, CompTIA and Cisco will be useful to a future employer.
Huge changes are washing over technology over the next generation – and this means greater innovations all the time. We’re in the very early stages of beginning to scrape the surface of how technology is going to shape our lives. The internet will profoundly revolutionise the way we see and interact with the world around us over the coming decades.
Always remember that on average, the income of a person in the IT market over Britain as a whole is much higher than in the rest of the economy, therefore you will probably earn significantly more as an IT specialist, than you’d expect to earn elsewhere. Because the IT market sector is still growing nationally and internationally, it’s predictable that demand for certified IT professionals will remain buoyant for quite some time to come.
People attracted to this sort of work are usually quite practically-minded, and don’t really enjoy classrooms, and slogging through piles of books. If you identify with this, use multimedia, interactive learning, where everything is presented via full motion video. Our ability to remember is increased when we use multiple senses – this has been an accepted fact in expert circles for decades now.
Search for a course where you’re provided with an array of DVD-ROM’s – you’ll start with videos of instructor demonstrations, and be able to use virtual lab’s to practice your new skills. It’s wise to view a small selection of training examples before you sign the purchase order. The minimum you should expect would be video tutorials, instructor demo’s and a variety of audio-visual and interactive sections.
It doesn’t make sense to select online only courseware. With highly variable reliability and quality from most broadband providers, make sure you get disc based courseware (On CD or DVD).
Searching for your first position in IT is often made easier with a Job Placement Assistance program. Because of the huge shortage of skills in Britain at the moment, it’s not necessary to place too much emphasis on this feature however. It’s actually not as hard as some people make out to get your first job as long as you’re correctly trained and certified.
Get your CV updated straight-away though – you should get plenty of help from your training provider on this. Don’t wait till you’ve finished your exams. It can happen that you haven’t even got to the exam time when you will get your initial junior support position; yet this can’t and won’t happen if interviewers don’t get sight of your CV. The top companies to help get you placed are most often specialist independent regional recruitment consultancies. Because they only get paid when they place you, they’ll work that much harder to get a result.
Various men and women, apparently, are prepared to study their hearts out (for years sometimes), only to do nothing special when trying to get the right position. Promote yourself… Do everything you can to get in front of employers. Good jobs don’t just knock on your door.
(C) Jason Kendall. Visit LearningLolly.com for great ideas on MCSE Training Course and MCSA MCSE.
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