If you’d like a job in supporting networks then the Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator course is the ideal one for you. So if you’re just about to get started in the industry or have previous knowledge but need a professional certificate, a range of courses exist to suit your requirements. To qualify for an MCSA you need to pass 4 Microsoft Certified Professional exams (MCP’s). If you’re new to IT, you’ll probably need to pick up some skills before studying for the first of the four MCP’s. Identify a training company that can identify the ideal program for you and can match a course start point to your current skill set.
Can job security really exist anymore? Here in the UK, with industry changing its mind on a day-to-day basis, there doesn’t seem much chance. We can however reveal security at market-level, by digging for high demand areas, coupled with shortages of trained staff.
Using the computer sector for example, the most recent e-Skills analysis brought to light a national skills shortage in Great Britain of over 26 percent. Showing that for each four job positions in existence in Information Technology (IT), we have only 3 certified professionals to fill that need. Accomplishing in-depth commercial IT exams is therefore a fast-track to realise a long-lasting as well as pleasing line of work. As the Information Technology market is increasing at such a quick pace, is there any other area of industry worth investigating for retraining.
It’s incontrovertible, the computing industry promises unparalleled prospects. Yet, to investigate it properly, what are the questions we should be asking, and what are the most important considerations?
Looking around, we find a myriad of jobs and positions available in Information Technology. Picking the right one for yourself is generally problematic. What is our likelihood of grasping the tasks faced daily in an IT career if we’ve never been there? Often we have never met anyone who does that actual job anyway. To attack this, we need to discuss a variety of unique issues:
* Your personality type and interests - what work-oriented areas you enjoy or dislike.
* Do you want to re-train because of a specific raison d’etre - e.g. are you pushing to work at home (being your own boss?)?
* What are your thoughts on salary vs job satisfaction?
* Many students don’t properly consider the time needed to achieve their goals.
* You need to take in what is different for all the training areas.
To be honest, your only option to seek advice on these matters tends to be through a good talk with a professional that has a background in IT (and more importantly it’s commercial requirements.)
Most commercial training providers will only provide support available from 9-6 (office hours) and sometimes later on specific days; It’s rare to find someone who offers late evening or full weekend cover. Look for training with help available at any time you choose (even 1am on Sunday morning!) You’ll need direct access to tutors, and not access to a call-in service which takes messages - so you’re waiting for tutors to call you back when it’s convenient for them.
Keep your eyes open for colleges that have multiple support offices active in different time-zones. These should be integrated to provide a single interface as well as 24×7 access, when it suits you, with no hassle. Don’t ever make the mistake of taking second best when it comes to your support. The majority of would-be IT professionals that drop-out or fail, are in that situation because of a lack of support.
The age-old way of teaching, with books and manuals, can be pretty hard going sometimes. If this describes you, check out study materials that are multimedia based. If we’re able to study while utilising as many senses as possible, then the results are usually dramatically better.
Search for a course where you’ll receive a selection of CD and DVD ROM’s - you’ll learn by watching video tutorials and demonstrations, and then have the opportunity to practice your skills in interactive lab’s. You really need to look at the type of training provided by any company that you may want to train through. They have to utilise instructor-led video demonstrations with virtual practice-lab’s.
You’ll find that many companies will only provide training that is purely available online; and although this is okay the majority of the time, imagine the problems if internet access is lost or you get slow speeds and down-time etc. It’s preferable to have physical CD or DVD discs which will solve that problem.
So, why ought we to be looking at commercial certification and not the usual academic qualifications gained through the state educational establishments? With an ever-increasing technical demand on resources, industry has moved to specific, honed-in training that can only be obtained from the actual vendors - namely companies such as Microsoft, CompTIA, CISCO and Adobe. Often this saves time and money for the student. Higher education courses, for example, often get bogged down in a great deal of loosely associated study - with a syllabus that’s far too wide. This holds a student back from getting enough core and in-depth understanding on a specific area.
As long as an employer knows what they’re looking for, then they simply need to advertise for someone with a specific qualification. Commercial syllabuses all have to conform to the same requirements and can’t change from one establishment to the next (as academic syllabuses often do).
Always expect the most up to date Microsoft (or Cisco, CompTIA etc.) authorised simulation materials and exam preparation packages. Ensure that the practice exams are not just posing the correct questions from the right areas, but also asking them in the way the real exams will formulate them. It really messes up trainees if they’re met with completely different formats and phraseologies. Why don’t you check your knowledge through quizzes and mock ups of exams to get you ready for the real deal.
Several companies supply a practical Job Placement Assistance service, to assist your search for your first position. With the huge need for more IT skills in Britain even when times are hard, it’s not too important to become overly impressed with this service however. It really won’t be that difficult to land employment as long as you’ve got the necessary skills and qualifications.
Get your CV updated straight-away though (advice can be sought on this via your provider). Don’t procrastinate and leave it till you’ve finished your exams. It’s not unusual to find that you will get your first position whilst still on the course (sometimes when you’ve only just got going). If your CV doesn’t say what you’re learning (and it’s not being looked at by employers) then you don’t stand a chance! If it’s important to you to find work near your home, then it’s quite likely that a local IT focused recruitment consultancy may serve you better than the trainer’s recruitment division, as they are much more inclined to know local employment needs.
A slight frustration of some training providers is how much men and women are prepared to study to get top marks in their exams, but how un-prepared that student is to get the position they’re studied for. Don’t give up when the best is yet to come.
SOURCE: howtoearn.info
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