A expert and professional advisor (vs a salesman) will ask questions and seek to comprehend your current situation. This is useful for working out your starting point for training. Sometimes, the training inception point for someone with experience is substantially different to the student with none. If this is going to be your opening attempt at studying for an IT examination then you should consider whether to cut your teeth on some basic Microsoft package and Windows skills first.

Commercial qualifications are now, most definitely, beginning to replace the older academic routes into the industry - but why should this be? Key company training (to use industry-speak) is far more effective and specialised. The IT sector has acknowledged that a specialist skill-set is vital to service the demands of a technologically complex marketplace. Microsoft, CompTIA, CISCO and Adobe dominate in this arena. Clearly, a necessary quantity of associated information has to be covered, but essential specialisation in the exact job role gives a commercially educated student a huge edge.

When it comes down to the nitty-gritty: Accredited IT qualifications let employers know exactly what you're capable of - it says what you do in the title: i.e. I am a 'Microsoft Certified Professional' in 'Designing Security for a Windows 2003 Network'. So an employer can look at their needs and which qualifications are required to perform the job.

If you're considering a trainer who is still using workshop days as part of their program, then take note of these difficulties encountered by most students:

- Loads of travelling - frequent trips and quite often 100's of miles at a go.

- Workshop availability; frequently weekdays only and sometimes two to three days together. You then have the difficulty of the days away from work.

- At just 4 weeks off each year, sacrificing half of them for training events leaves us with very few opportunities for days off.

- Workshops often reach their maximum intake very quickly, giving us the only option of a slot that doesn't really suit.

- The pace of the workshop - classes can have students of varying aptitude, so there is often tension between those that want to go quickly as opposed to those who prefer a more relaxed pace.

- Let's not forget the extra expense of driving or taking public transport and accommodation either. This can run to many hundreds of pounds more - sometimes thousands. Work it out - it'll shock and surprise you.

- Do you want to risk the possibility of letting yourself be overlooked for a possible promotion or salary hikes because of your studies.

- Many of us find it difficult to ask questions in a room full of our fellow attendees - who wants to look like they're the only one who doesn't get it?

- For those who have work away from home, it's apparent that workshops now become awkward to keep up - unfortunately however, they've been paid for in advance.

To find a more flexible route, make use of videoed lessons at the location of your choice - studying at your own pace, when it suits you - not someone else. If anything comes up, make use of the 24x7 support (that should've been packaged with any technical type of training.) Bear in mind, if you own a laptop, study can take place anywhere. Note-taking is a thing of the past - all the lessons are prepared and laid out for you - ready to go. If you need to cover something again, it's there. The outcome: Much less stress and hassle, less cost, and no wasted travelling time.

MS Office Skills Self-Paced Courses >>