In the fast-paced world we live in, support workers who can fix computers and networks, and give constant advice to users, are indispensable in every sector of industry. Whilst we’re all becoming progressively beholden to computers and networks, we in turn find ourselves increasingly more reliant upon the skilled and qualified network engineers, who ensure the systems function properly.
How are we supposed to go about making an informed decision then? With so many opportunities, we have to know where we should be looking – and of course, what to actually be searching for.
Far too many companies only concern themselves with gaining a certificate, and forget the reasons for getting there – getting yourself a new job or career. Always begin with the end goal – too many people focus on the journey. Students often train for a single year but end up doing a job for a lifetime. Ensure you avoid the fatal error of finding what seems like an ‘interesting’ training program and then spend decades in an unrewarding career!
Stay focused on what you want to achieve, and formulate your training based on that – not the other way round. Stay on target and ensure that you’re training for an end-result that’ll reward you for many long and fruitful years. It’s worth seeking help from someone who can explain the market you think may suit you, and is able to give you ‘A day in the life of’ outline of what you actually do on the job. All of these things are essential because you obviously have to know if this change is right for you.
There is no way of over emphasising this: It’s essential to obtain proper 24×7 round-the-clock instructor support. You will have so many problems later if you don’t heed this. Beware of institutions that use ‘out-of-hours’ messaging systems – where you’ll get called back during normal office hours. This is no use if you’re stuck and want support there and then.
Keep your eyes open for providers that utilise many support facilities across multiple time-zones. Each one should be integrated to provide a single interface and also round-the-clock access, when you want it, with no hassle. Never make do with less than you need and deserve. Online 24×7 support is the only way to go for technical training. Perhaps you don’t intend to study during the evenings; but for the majority of us however, we’re at work while the support is live.
The classroom style of learning we remember from school, using textbooks and whiteboards, is an up-hill struggle for the majority of us. If all this is ringing some familiar bells, find training programs which feature interactive and multimedia modules. Research 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.
Top of the range study programs now offer interactive CD and DVD ROM’s. Real-world classes from the instructors will mean you’ll find things easier to remember via their teaching and demonstrations. You can then test yourself by practicing and interacting with the software. It would be silly not to view a small selection of training examples before you sign on the dotted line. Always insist on instructor demonstrations, video tutorials and interactive modules with audio-visual elements.
Avoid training that is purely online. You want physical CD/DVD ROM course materials where possible, as you need to be able to use them whenever it’s convenient for you – and not be totally reliant on your broadband being ‘up’ 100 percent of the time.
Many certification companies are still using the rather old-fashioned idea of classroom lessons. Very often portrayed as a huge benefit, if you talk to a student who has had to attend a few, you’ll most likely hear about many or all of these issues:
* Loads of travelling – many trips and quite often hundreds of miles each time.
* Mon-Fri access to classes is the norm, and getting two to three days out of work causes a lot of problems for most working students.
* Don’t overlook lost vacation time. We typically get 4 weeks annual leave. If over 50 percent is used in classes, then there’s very little left over for us.
* Training events sometimes become quickly full, leaving us with the ’2nd best’ solution.
* Tension can be created in mixed classes because most students want to move at a pace comfortable for them.
* Don’t disregard the increased cost of driving or taking public transport and several days accommodation either. This may well run to a lot of money – from hundreds to thousands. Take some time to add it all up – you may be surprised.
* The majority of attendees want their studies to remain private thus avoiding all come-back from their current employer.
* It’s very common for people to hide the fact that they want to raise a question – purely because they’re amongst other classmates.
* For students working away from home occasionally, it’s a fact of life that events are now very hard to attend – and yet, the money has already been paid.
It really does make more sense to take classes at your convenience – not your training provider’s – and employ videos of instructors with interactive virtual-lab’s. You can study anywhere you want. If you own a laptop, take in some fresh air in your garden as you study. Any issues that arise just logon to the 24×7 support facility. Note-taking is gone forever – you have the lessons and accompanying information ready-made for you. If you need to cover something again, it’s all right there. The bottom line: Much less stress and hassle, saved money, and no wasted travelling time.
Have you recently questioned how safe your job is? For most of us, we only think of this after something goes wrong. However, the lesson often learned too late is that true job security is a thing of the past, for nearly everyone now. Wherever we find escalating skills shortfalls mixed with rising demand though, we generally locate a newer brand of security in the marketplace; where, fuelled by conditions of continuous growth, employers find it hard to locate the number of people required.
Taking the computer business for instance, the most recent e-Skills study highlighted massive skills shortages throughout the UK of over 26 percent. It follows then that for each 4 job positions that exist across the computer industry, companies are only able to locate trained staff for 3 of them. This one fact in itself highlights why the country urgently requires so many more trainees to enter the Information Technology market. In reality, gaining new qualifications in IT over the next year or two is probably the safest career direction you could choose.
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