Choosing Computer Training 2009
By Jason Kendall

With an abundance of courses available, it can be difficult to know what to look for. Pick out one that matches up with your personality and your level of ability, and one that is in demand commercially. The courses range from Microsoft User Skills up to career training for Web Design, Databases, Programming and Networking. There's a great deal of choice and so the chances are you'll want to talk through your options with an industry expert prior to making your choice: you don't want to get on the wrong course for something that doesn't suit you!
The latest training methods now enable students to learn on an innovative style of course, that is far less expensive than old-style courses. The price of these courses puts them within everyone's reach.
How are we supposed to reach an informed decision then? With so much reward available, it's essential to be guided as to where to dig - and what to be investigating.
It's important to understand: the actual training program or a qualification is not what you're looking for; the career that you want is. A lot of colleges seem to place too much importance on the certificate itself. You could be training for only a year and end up doing the job for 20 years. Avoid the mistake of finding what seems like a program of interest to you and then spend decades in an unrewarding career!
Make sure you investigate how you feel about career development, earning potential, plus your level of ambition. It's vital to know what will be expected of you, which particular accreditations are required and how to develop your experience. Obtain help from an experienced professional who appreciates the market you're interested in, and is able to give you 'A day in the life of' synopsis of of what you'll be doing day-to-day. It just makes sense to know if this change is right for you well before you embark on your training program. There's little reason in kicking off your training only to realise you've made a huge mistake.
You should only consider learning programs which lead to industry accepted certifications. There are loads of small companies suggesting 'in-house' certificates which aren't worth the paper they're printed on in the real world. If the accreditation doesn't feature a company like Microsoft, Cisco, CompTIA or Adobe, then you may discover it will be commercially useless - because no-one will recognise it.
Many training companies will only offer support to you inside of office hours (typically 9am-6pm) and sometimes a little earlier or later; It's rare to find someone who offers late evening or full weekend cover. Avoid, like the plague, any organisations that use call-centres 'out-of-hours' - where you'll get called back during standard office hours. It's no use when you're stuck on a problem and could do with an answer during your scheduled study period.
The very best training providers have many support offices active in different time-zones. An online system provides an interactive interface to seamlessly link them all, any time of the day or night, there is always help at hand, with no hassle or contact issues. You can't afford to accept anything less. Support round-the-clock is the only way to go with computer-based study. Maybe late-evening study is not your thing; usually though, we're working at the time when most support is available.
Students who consider this area of study often have a very practical outlook on work, and don't always take well to classrooms, and struggling through thick study-volumes. If you're thinking this sounds like you, opt for more involving, interactive learning materials, where everything is presented via full motion video. Research over recent

years has always confirmed that connecting physically with our study, is much more conducive to long-term memory.
Modern training can now be done at home via self-contained CD or DVD materials. Through instructor-led video classes you'll absorb the modules, one by one, through the expert demonstrations. Knowledge can then be tested by utilising the practice lab's and modules. It's imperative to see the type of training provided by your chosen company. It's essential they incorporate full motion videos of instructors demonstrating the topic with lab's to practice the skills in.
It's unwise to choose training that is only available online. With highly variable reliability and quality from your average broadband company, make sure you get disc based courseware (On CD or DVD).
Students often end up having issues because of a single training area which doesn't even occur to them: The breakdown of the course materials before being delivered to your home. By and large, you'll join a programme that takes between and 1 and 3 years and receive a module at a time. It seems to make sense on one level, but consider these issues: Maybe the order of study pushed by the company's salespeople doesn't suit all of us. What if you find it hard to complete all the sections within their timetable?
Truth be told, the best option is to obtain their recommendation on the best possible order of study, but get everything up-front. You then have everything in case you don't finish quite as quick as they'd want.
One interesting way that training companies make a lot more is by adding exam fees upfront to the cost of a course and presenting it as a guarantee for your exams. It looks impressive, but let's just examine it more closely:
You'll pay for it ultimately. You can be assured it's not a freebie - it's just been rolled into the price of the whole package. People who enter their exams one by one, funding them as they go are much better placed to get through first time. They're thoughtful of what they've paid and take the necessary steps to be up to the task.
Hold on to your money and pay for the exam at the appropriate time, and hang on to your cash. You'll also be able to choose where to take your exam - which means you can stay local. Is there a good reason to pay interest on a bigger loan than is necessary because you've paid early for examinations when you didn't need to? Huge profits are netted by organisations charging upfront for all their exams - and banking on the fact that many won't be taken. Remember, in the majority of cases of 'exam guarantees' - the company decides when you can re-take the exam. They'll only allow a re-take once completely satisfied.
Exam fees averaged around the 112 pounds mark twelve months or so ago through VUE or Pro-metric centres in the UK. So why pay hundreds or thousands of pounds extra for 'an Exam Guarantee', when common sense dictates that the most successful method is a regular, committed, study programme, with an accredited exam preparation system.
Massive developments are flooding technology over the next generation - and this means greater innovations all the time. We've only just begun to see just how technology is going to shape our lives. Computers and the Internet will profoundly revolutionise the way we view and interact with the world as a whole over the coming years.
A usual IT technician throughout Britain has been shown to earn much more money than fellow workers in another industry. Standard IT salaries are hard to beat nationally. With the IT marketplace increasing nationally and internationally, it's likely that the requirement for qualified professionals will continue to boom for years to come.
Author Jason Kendall divides his time between advising and consulting on superior education and support in the UK. To find out more on Computer Training, visit LearningLolly Computer Training Courses.