Choosing a study program that fulfils the working world is crucially important in our turbulent times. In addition, it’s also necessary to select a course that you will get on well with, that matches your abilities and personality.
There are so many directions you can go in. Some people need User Skills from Microsoft, others want career skills such as courses on Networking, Programming, Databases or Web Design – and all can be catered for. But don’t rush into it, don’t just guess. It’s much better to talk to a company who has experience of the IT economy, and can help you arrive at the right destination.
State-of-the-art training techniques now allow students to be educated on a different type of course, that is much cheaper than more outdated courses. The economies of scale of these courses allows everybody access to them.
One interesting way that colleges make more money is by adding exam fees upfront to the cost of a course and presenting it as a guarantee for your exams. This sounds impressive, but is it really:
Patently it’s not free – you’re still paying for it – it’s just been wrapped up in the price of the package.
If it’s important to you to get a first time pass, you must avoid exam guarantees and pay when entering exams, give it the priority it deserves and give the task sufficient application.
Go for the best offer you can find when you’re ready, and keep hold of your own money. You’ll then be able to select where you take your exam – so you can find somewhere local.
Why tie up your cash (or borrow more than you need) for exam fees when there was no need to? A lot of profit is secured by training companies getting money in early for exam fees – and banking on the fact that many won’t be taken.
Most companies will require you to do mock exams and prohibit you from re-taking an exam until you’ve completely proven that you’re likely to pass – so an ‘Exam Guarantee’ comes with many clauses in reality.
Splashing out often many hundreds of pounds extra on an ‘Exam Guarantee’ is foolish – when consistent and systematic learning, coupled with quality exam simulation software is what will get you through.
Commercial qualifications are now, most definitely, starting to replace the more academic tracks into the IT industry – so why is this the case?
As we require increasingly more effective technological know-how, the IT sector has had to move to the specialised core-skills learning that can only be obtained from the actual vendors – namely companies like Adobe, Microsoft, CISCO and CompTIA. This often comes in at a fraction of the cost and time.
They do this by honing in on the particular skills that are needed (alongside a relevant amount of related knowledge,) as opposed to spending months and years on the background non-specific minutiae that degrees in computing can get bogged down in – to pad out the syllabus.
When an employer is aware what they’re looking for, then all they have to do is advertise for the particular skill-set required. Commercial syllabuses are all based on the same criteria and don’t change between schools (in the way that degree courses can).
Often, trainers provide a shelf full of reference manuals. This can be very boring and isn’t the best way to go about achieving retention.
Research into the way we learn shows that we remember much more when we use all our senses, and we get practically involved in what we’re studying.
Learning is now available in the form of CD and DVD ROM’s, so everything is learned directly from your own PC. Through video streaming, you will be able to see the instructor presenting exactly how something is done, with some practice time to follow – via the interactive virtual lab’s.
It’s wise to view a small selection of training examples before you hand over your cheque. The minimum you should expect would be instructor-led video demonstrations and interactive audio-visual sections with practice modules.
Select CD and DVD ROM based physical training media whenever you can. Thus avoiding all the issues associated with broadband ‘downtime’ or slow-speeds.
It’s essential to have authorised exam simulation and preparation programs included in your course.
Students regularly can get confused by trying to prepare themselves with questions that aren’t from official sources. It’s not uncommon that the question formats and phraseology is unfamiliar and it’s important to prepare yourself for this.
Obviously, it’s very important to know that you’ve thoroughly prepared for your commercial exam prior to going for it. Revising simulated tests logs the information in your brain and will save a lot of money on unsuccessful attempts at exams.
Copyright 2009 S. Edwards. Go to www.OnlineCareerAdvice.co.uk/aoncaad.html or Microsoft Certifications.
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