Computer Career Training Companies In The UK Compared
Posted: Friday, March 19, 2010
by Jason Kendall
It's really great that you've made it this far! Just ten percent of people say they enjoy their work, but a huge number simply moan about it and do nothing. The fact that you're here means we have a hunch that you're at least considering retraining, so you've already stood out from the crowd. Now you just need to get busy to find your direction.
* Do you operate better working alone or do you find company is vital for your sanity?
* What do you require from the market sector you work in? (Building and banking - not so stable as they once were.)
* And how many years do you want to get out of your retraining, and can your chosen industry give you the confidence that will happen?
* Are you concerned with regard to your possibilities of new employment opportunities, and keeping a job until you plan to retire?
We ask you to find out more about the computer industry - there are more positions than staff to fill them, and it's one of the few choices of career where the sector is on the grow. In contrast to the opinions of certain people, IT isn't all techie people staring at their computers every day (though naturally some jobs are like that.) Most positions are filled by people like you and me who enjoy better than average salaries.
Students hoping to kick off a career in IT often aren't sure what path is best, or even which market to get qualified in. I mean, without any understanding of IT in the workplace, how could you possibly know what someone in a particular field does each day? Let alone decide on what training route will be most suitable for success. To get to the bottom of this, there should be a discussion of several different aspects:
* Your personal interests and hobbies - these often show the areas you'll get the most enjoyment out of.
* What sort of time-frame do you want for the training process?
* Where do you stand on travelling time and locality vs salary?
* When taking into account all that IT encompasses, it's obvious you'll need to be able to see what's different.
* It's wise to spend some time thinking about what kind of effort and commitment that you will set aside for gaining your certifications.
The bottom line is, the best way of checking this all out is through a meeting with an advisor or professional that knows the industry well enough to lead you to the correct decision.
We need to make this very clear: You have to get round-the-clock 24x7 instructor support. Later, you'll kick yourself if you don't adhere to this. Email support is too slow, and phone support is often to a call-centre who will chat nicely with you for 5 minutes to ask what the issue is and then simply send an email to an instructor - who will call back over the next day or so (assuming you're there), at a time suitable for them. This is no use if you're stuck and can't continue and only have certain times available in which to do your studies.
World-class organisations offer an online round-the-clock facility involving many support centres over many time-zones. You're offered a simple interface that seamlessly selects the best facility available irrespective of the time of day: Support on demand. Never settle for a lower level of service. Support round-the-clock is the only kind that ever makes the grade with computer-based learning. Maybe late-evening study is not your thing; usually though, we're at work at the time when most support is available.
Talk to a professional consultant and they can normally tell you many horror stories of students who've been conned by dodgy salespeople. Ensure you only ever work with an experienced advisor who digs deep to find out what's appropriate to you - not for their bank-account! You need to find a starting-point that will suit you. Sometimes, the training inception point for a person with a little experience is largely different to the student with no experience. For students embarking on IT studies from scratch, you might like to break yourself in gently, starting with a user-skills course first. Usually this is packaged with most accreditation programs.
The perhaps intimidating chore of getting your first role in IT is often relieved by training colleges, through a Job Placement Assistance programme. With the growing need for more IT skills in Great Britain today, there isn't a great need to become overly impressed with this service however. It really won't be that difficult to secure your first job as long as you're correctly trained and certified.
Ideally you should have CV and Interview advice and support though; and we'd encourage all students to bring their CV up to date right at the beginning of their training - don't procrastinate and leave it till you've finished your exams. Various junior support roles have been bagged by people who are still studying and haven't even passed a single exam yet. This will at least get you on your way. The most efficient companies to help get you placed are usually independent and specialised local recruitment services. Because they only get paid when they place you, they have the necessary incentive to try that bit harder.
A big frustration for some training providers is how much trainees are focused on studying to get qualified, but how little effort that student will then put into getting the position they've trained for. Don't give up when the best is yet to come.Written by Jason Kendall. Visit Retraining For Adults or www.CareerChangeTraining.co.uk.
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