Oct

Programming Study Across The UK - Options

By Jason Kendall

Should you be looking for training tracks certified by Microsoft, then you’ll naturally expect training organisations to provide a wide selection of some of the top training courses on the market today.

Maybe you’d choose to find advisors with experience of the IT industry, who could help you sort out which job role would suit you, and what sort of duties are correct for an individual with your character and ability.

Training courses must be tailored to match your current skills and aptitude. So, after working out the best kind of work for you, your next focus is the relevant route to get you there.

The sometimes daunting task of landing your first role in IT can be relieved by some training providers because they offer a Job Placement Assistance programme. It can happen though that there is more emphasis than is necessary on this service, for it is actually not that hard for well qualified and focused men and women to get a job in the IT environment - because companies everywhere are seeking well trained people.

Work on polishing up your CV right away however - you should get plenty of help from your training provider on this. Don’t put it off until you’ve graduated or passed any exams.

Having the possibility of an interview is more than not being known. A decent number of junior support jobs are bagged by trainees (who’ve only just left first base.)

Normally you’ll get quicker results from a specialised and independent local recruitment service than you will through a training company’s national service, as they will be more familiar with the area and local employers.

A good number of men and women, so it seems, spend evenings and weekends on their training and studies (for years sometimes), only to give up at the first hurdle when finding a job. Sell yourself… Work hard to put yourself out there. Don’t think a job’s just going to jump out in front of you.

Beware of putting too much emphasis, like so many people do, on the certification itself. You’re not training for the sake of training; you’re training to become commercially employable. Stay focused on what it is you want to achieve.

It’s unfortunate, but the majority of trainees commence training that sounds magnificent from the sales literature, but which delivers a career that is of no interest at all. Try talking to typical university leavers and you’ll see where we’re coming from.

You need to keep your eye on where you want to go, and create a learning-plan from that - don’t do it the other way round. Stay on target - making sure you’re training for an end-result you’ll still be enjoying many years from now.

Always seek guidance and advice from an experienced professional, even if there’s a fee involved - it’s considerably cheaper and safer to discover early on whether you’ve chosen correctly, rather than realise after two full years that you’ve picked the wrong track and have to start from the beginning again.

Traditional teaching in classrooms, using textbooks and whiteboards, is usually pretty hard going. If all this is ringing some familiar bells, check out study materials that are multimedia based.

We see a huge improvement in memory retention with an involvement of all our senses - educational experts have expounded on this for years now.

Find a course where you’re provided with an array of CD and DVD based materials - you’ll be learning from instructor videos and demo’s, with the facility to fine-tune your skills in fully interactive practice sessions.

It’s imperative to see some example materials from the company you’re considering. Be sure that they contain instructor-led video demonstrations with virtual practice-lab’s.

Often, companies will only use training that is purely available online; and while this is acceptable much of the time, consider what happens when you don’t have access to the internet or you get a slow connection speed. It is usually safer to have DVD or CD discs that don’t suffer from these broadband issues.

Considering how a program is ‘delivered’ to you isn’t always given the appropriate level of importance. In what way are your training elements sectioned? And in what sequence and do you have a say in when you’ll get each part?

Many think it logical (with a typical time scale of 1-3 years to pass all the required exams,) that a training provider will issue one module at a time, as you complete each part. But:

Maybe the order of study pushed by the company’s salespeople doesn’t suit all of us. It may be difficult to get through each and every section at the speed required?

To be honest, the perfect answer is to have their ideal ‘order’ of training laid out, but get everything up-front. You then have everything should you not complete it inside of their required time-scales.

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