subject: Computer Career Training Courses In Detail [print this page] Good for you! By reading this it's likely you're thinking about re-training to work in a different industry - so already you've made a start. Only one in ten of us are satisfied with our careers, but most complain but just stay there. So, why not be one of the few who decide to make the change.
We suggest that you discuss your ideas first - find someone who knows the industry; someone who'll give you career advice based on what works best for you, and offer only the career tracks that will suit you:
* Do you want to interact with other people? If so, do you want a team or are you hoping to meet new people? Or are you better working in isolation?
* What ideas are fundamental with regard to the sector of industry you'll be employed in?
* Do you want this to be a one off time that you'll have to retrain?
* Are you concerned about the possibility of getting another job, and being in demand in the employment market right up to retirement?
It would be an idea for you to really explore Information Technology - there are more positions than employees, plus it's one of the few choices of career where the market sector is expanding. Despite what some people believe, IT is not full of nerdy individuals gazing at their computer screens every day (if you like the sound of that though, they do exist.) Most positions are taken by average folk who like receiving larger than average salaries.
Any program that you're going to undertake has to build towards a widely recognised certification as an end-goal - and not some unimportant 'in-house' piece of paper. Only properly recognised accreditation from the top companies like Microsoft, CompTIA, Cisco and Adobe will mean anything to employers.
Getting your first commercial position is often made easier if you're supported with a Job Placement Assistance facility. With the huge need for more IT skills in the UK at the moment, it's not too important to become overly impressed with this service however. It isn't such a complex operation to find your first job once you're properly qualified.
Get your CV updated straight-away though (advice can be sought on this via your provider). Don't put it off till you've finished your exams. A good number of junior support jobs have been bagged by trainees who are still studying and have still to get qualified. At the very least this will get your CV into the 'possible' pile and not the 'no' pile. You can usually expect quicker service from a specialist locally based employment agency than any training course provider's centralised service, because they'll know local industry and the area better.
A slight aggravation for a number of training companies is how much trainees are focused on studying to get qualified, but how un-prepared they are to work on getting the role they're qualified for. Don't falter at the last fence.
In most cases, the average IT hopeful doesn't know in what direction to head in a computing career, or even which market to focus their retraining program on. Perusing a list of IT job-titles is next to useless. The vast majority of us have no idea what our own family members do for a living - let alone understand the subtleties of a specific IT job. Arriving at a well-informed decision will only come through a detailed analysis of many unique areas:
* The type of personality you have plus what interests you - what work-centred jobs you like and dislike.
* What is the time-frame for your training?
* Where do you stand on salary vs job satisfaction?
* Because there are so many areas to train for in IT - you'll need to pick up a basic understanding of what sets them apart.
* Having a proper look at the level of commitment, time and effort you'll make available.
For the majority of us, considering each of these concepts requires a good chat with a professional that knows what they're talking about. Not only the certifications - you also need to understand the commercial needs and expectations of industry too.
Trainees looking at this market are usually quite practically-minded, and won't enjoy sitting at a desk in class, and endless reading of dry academic textbooks. If this could be you, try the newer style of interactive study, where everything is presented via full motion video. Studies in learning psychology have shown that memory is aided when we receive multi-sensorial input, and we get physically involved with the study process.
Interactive full motion video involving demonstration and virtual lab's will turn you off book-based study for ever more. And you'll actually enjoy doing them. It's very important to see courseware examples from your chosen company. You'll want to see that they include video, demonstrations and various interactive elements.
Often, companies will only use just online versions of their training packages; and while this is acceptable much of the time, consider what happens if internet access is lost or you get slow speeds and down-time etc. A safer solution is the provision of CD and DVD ROM materials which will solve that problem.
