by Jason Kendall
Well Done! As you’re reading this article you’ve doubtless been pondering on retraining for a new career – that means you’ve already taken one more step than the majority. Only one in ten of us are happy and fulfilled in our work, but most just moan and do nothing about it. You could join a select group who actually do something about it.
On the subject of training, it’s important to initially know what you want and don’t want from the position you’d like to train for. Be sure that a new career would suit you better before much time and effort is spent re-directing your life. We recommend looking at the destination you’re hoping for, to make the right judgements:
* Is having company at work important to you? Perhaps you like being a team player? Maybe you like to deal with tasks that you can get on with on your own?
* What elements are you looking for from the industry your job is in? (If it’s stability you’re after, you might think twice about banks or the building industry right now.)
* Once your training has been completed, would you like your skills to see you to retirement age?
* Would it be useful for your retraining to be in an industry where you know you’ll remain employable until your pension kicks in?
It’s important that one of your key sectors is IT – everyone knows that it’s on the grow. IT isn’t all techie geeks looking at computer screens all day – of course there are those roles, but the majority of roles are carried out by ordinary men and women who get on very well.
The world of information technology is amongst the most electrifying and revolutionary industries to be involved in today. Being up close and personal with technology puts you at the fore-front of developments affecting everyone who lives in the 21st century. We’ve only just begun to get a feel for how technology will define our world. Computers and the Internet will profoundly alter how we see and interrelate with the entire world over the coming decades.
Always remember that on average, the income of a person in the IT sector in Great Britain is considerably better than average salaries nationally, so in general you’ll be in a good position to earn a lot more as a trained IT professional, than you would in most typical jobs. There is a considerable national demand for trained and qualified IT technicians. In addition, with the marketplace continuing to expand, it is likely there’s going to be for quite some time to come.
Making a sensible career choice is hard enough – so what research do we need to do and which questions should we ask?
For the most part, the normal person really has no clue where to start with a computing career, or even which area is worth considering for retraining. As in the absence of any solid background in IT, in what way could we be expected to understand what a particular job actually consists of? Generally, the way to deal with this question in the best manner flows from an in-depth chat, covering several areas:
* Personalities play a major role – what things get your juices flowing, and what tasks you really dislike.
* Is it your desire to pull off a specific goal – for example, becoming self-employed as quickly as possible?
* What scale of importance is the salary – is it of prime importance, or does job satisfaction rate a little higher on your priority-list?
* Looking at the many markets that computing encompasses, you’ll need to be able to absorb what’s different.
* Having a good look at the level of commitment, time and effort you’ll make available.
In actuality, it’s obvious that the only real way to investigate these areas is through a chat with an advisor or professional that understands the IT industry (and chiefly the commercial requirements.)
It’s so important to understand this key point: You have to get round-the-clock 24×7 support from professional instructors. Later, you’ll kick yourself if you don’t heed this. Try and find training where you can access help at any time of the day or night (no matter if it’s in the middle of the night on a weekend!) Make sure it’s always direct access to tutors, and not access to a call-in service which takes messages – so you’re waiting for tutors to call you back at a convenient time for them.
We recommend looking for training programs that incorporate three or four individual support centres across multiple time-zones. All of them should be combined to offer a simple interface as well as round-the-clock access, when you need it, with no fuss. Seek out a company that cares. As only live 24×7 support delivers what is required.
We can guess that you’ve always enjoyed practical work – a ‘hands-on’ person. If you’re anything like us, the unfortunate chore of reading reference guides is something you’ll make yourself do if you have to, but you really wouldn’t enjoy it. You should use video and multimedia based materials if learning from books is not your thing. We see a huge improvement in memory retention when all our senses are brought into the mix – learning experts have been saying this for many years.
The latest audio-visual interactive programs utilising video demo’s and practice lab’s will beat books every time. And they’re far more fun. You must ensure that you see examples of the study materials provided by each company you’re contemplating. They have to utilise video demo’s and interactive elements such as practice lab’s.
Purely on-line training should be avoided. Physical CD or DVD ROM materials are preferable where possible, so that you have access at all times – and not be totally reliant on a quality and continuous internet connection.
Quite often, students have issues with one area of their training which doesn’t even occur to them: The breakdown of the course materials before being couriered to your address. Training companies will normally offer some sort of program spread over 1-3 years, and deliver each piece one-by-one as you complete each section or exam. On the surface this seems reasonable – until you consider the following: What if you don’t finish every single section? And what if the order provided doesn’t meet your requirements? Without any fault on your part, you might take a little longer and not receive all the modules you’ve paid for.
In an ideal situation, you’d ask for every single material to be delivered immediately – giving you them all to come back to in the future – irrespective of any schedule. This allows a variation in the order that you complete your exams as and when something more intuitive seems right for you.
Adding in the cost of examinations upfront and presenting it as a guarantee for your exams is common for many companies. But let’s examine why they really do it:
Clearly it’s not free – you’re still being charged for it – it’s just been wrapped up in the price of the package. If you want to qualify first ‘go’, then you should fund each exam as you take it, prioritise it appropriately and be ready for the task.
Do your exams as locally as possible and find the best exam deal or offer available then. Is there a good reason to pay interest on a bigger loan than is necessary because you’ve paid early for exam fees when you didn’t need to? A great deal of money is netted by organisations getting paid upfront for exams – and then hoping that you won’t take them all. Don’t forget, in the majority of cases of ‘exam guarantees’ – they control when and how often you can re-take the exam. You’ll have to prove conclusively that you can pass before they’ll pay for another exam.
The cost of exams was around the 112 pounds mark in the last 12 months via VUE or Pro-metric centres in the UK. Therefore, why splash out often many hundreds of pounds extra for ‘Exam Guarantees’, when it’s no secret that what’s really needed is a regular, committed, study programme, with an accredited exam preparation system.
Many trainers will provide a useful Job Placement Assistance program, to assist your search for your first position. However sometimes this feature is bigged up too much, because it’s really not that difficult for any motivated and trained individual to land work in this industry – because companies everywhere are seeking skilled employees.
You would ideally have CV and Interview advice and support though; additionally, we would recommend any student to update their CV right at the beginning of their training – don’t wait till you’ve finished your exams. You’ll often find that you’ll secure your initial job while you’re still a student (even in the early stages). If your CV doesn’t say what you’re learning (and it hasn’t been posted on jobsites) then you won’t even be considered! You can usually expect better results from a specialist locally based employment agency than you will through a training course provider’s national service, as they’ll know local industry and the area better.
Not inconsiderable numbers of people, apparently, conscientiously work through their course materials (for years sometimes), only to give up at the first hurdle when attempting to secure their first job. Introduce yourself… Make an effort to put yourself out there. A job isn’t just going to bump into you.
About the Author:
Author Jason Kendall divides his time between consulting and promoting quality training and support in the UK. If you’re interested in
Computer Training, visit LearningLolly
Computer Courses.