by Jason Kendall
As you’re looking to study for the MCSE certificate, it’s likely you’ll come into one of two categories. You might be ready to enter the computer sector, and you’ve discovered that this commercial sector has lots of demand for men and women who are commercially qualified. Alternatively you could be someone with a certain amount of knowledge attempting to consolidate your skill-set with the MCSE qualification.
As you try to find out more, you will discover companies that short-change you by not providing the latest version from Microsoft. Don’t use these companies as you’ll have problems when it comes to exams. If you’re learning from an old version, it could be impossible to pass. Computer training companies ought to be completely focused on establishing the best direction for prospective students. Directing study is as much concerned with helping people to work out which way to go, as it is giving them help to reach their destination.
Understanding a sensible job option is very difficult – so where do we need to look and what questions should we seek the answer to?
Usually, the typical IT hopeful doesn’t know in what direction to head in IT, or even what market to focus their retraining program on. After all, if you don’t have any know-how of the IT sector, what chance is there for you to know what some particular IT person does each day? Let alone decide on what educational path provides the best chances for your success. Ultimately, any kind of right answer really only appears via a detailed study covering many shifting areas:
* The kind of individual you consider yourself to be – what tasks do you enjoy doing, and on the other side of the coin – what you definitely don’t enjoy.
* Are you hoping to obtain training due to a certain raison d’etre – i.e. do you aim to work from home (working for yourself?)?
* Have you thought about salary vs job satisfaction?
* Getting to grips with what the normal IT roles and markets are – plus how they’re different to each other.
* Our advice is to think deeply about what kind of effort and commitment you’re going to invest in gaining your certifications.
To be honest, it’s obvious that the only real way to investigate these matters is through a chat with an advisor or professional who has a background in computing (and more importantly it’s commercial needs and requirements.)
A lot of commercial training providers only provide basic 9am till 6pm support (maybe a little earlier or later on certain days); It’s rare to find someone who offers late evening or full weekend cover. Try and find training with help available at all hours of the day and night (no matter if it’s in the middle of the night on a weekend!) Make sure it’s always direct-access to qualified mentors and tutors, and not access to a call-in service which takes messages – so you’re constantly waiting for a call-back – probably during office hours.
The most successful trainers utilise several support facilities around the globe in several time-zones. By utilising an interactive interface to seamlessly link them all, at any time you choose, help is just seconds away, with no hassle or contact issues. Unless you insist on 24×7 support, you’ll regret it very quickly. You may avoid using the support late in the night, but you’re bound to use weekends, early mornings or even late evenings at some point.
Most trainers typically provide a bunch of books and manuals. It’s not a very interesting way to learn and not ideal for studying effectively. Research over recent years has time and time again confirmed that connecting physically with our study, is proven to produce longer-lasting and deeper memory retention.
Locate a program where you’ll receive a library of CD and DVD ROM’s – you’ll learn by watching video tutorials and demonstrations, with the facility to use virtual lab’s to practice your new skills. It would be silly not to view some examples of the kind of training materials you’ll be using before you make your decision. You should expect videoed instructor demonstrations and audio-visual elements backed up by interactive lab’s.
You should avoid purely online training. You want physical CD/DVD ROM course materials where offered, so that you have access at all times – it’s not wise to be held hostage to your internet connection always being ‘up’ and available.
How the program is actually delivered to you isn’t always given the appropriate level of importance. How is the courseware broken down? And in what order and do you have a say in when you’ll get each part? By and large, you’ll join a programme taking 1-3 years and receive one element at a time until graduation. While this may sound logical on one level, consider this: How would they react if you didn’t complete everything at the speed they required? And maybe you’ll find their order of completion won’t be as easy as some other structure would for you.
For the perfect solution, you want ALL the study materials up-front – giving you them all for the future to come back to – irrespective of any schedule. You can also vary the order in which you complete each objective if another more intuitive route presents itself.
Consider the following facts very carefully if you think the sales ploy of examination guarantees seems like a good idea:
Everybody’s aware that they’re still being charged for it – it’s quite obvious to see that it’s already in the overall figure from the course provider. It’s absolutely not free (it’s just marketing companies think we’ll fall for anything they say!) If you want to pass first time, then the most successful route is to pay for each exam as you go, prioritise it appropriately and apply yourself as required.
Look for the very best offer you can when you’re ready, and hang on to your cash. In addition, it’s then your choice where to take your exam – so you can choose somewhere closer to home. What’s the point in paying early for examination fees when there’s absolutely nothing that says you have to? Big margins are made by companies getting paid upfront for exams – and banking on the fact that many won’t be taken. It’s worth noting that exam re-takes with organisations who offer an ‘Exam Guarantee’ are tightly controlled. You’ll be required to sit pre-tests so you can prove to them you have a good chance of passing.
The cost of exams was about 112 pounds twelve months or so ago through Prometric or VUE centres around the United Kingdom. So don’t be talked into shelling out hundreds or thousands of pounds more to get ‘an Exam Guarantee’, when it’s no secret that the best guarantee is study, commitment and preparing with good quality mock and practice exams.
A service that many training companies provide is a programme of Job Placement assistance. This is designed to help you get your first commercial position. Don’t get overly impressed with this service – it’s quite easy for their marketing department to overstate it’s need. At the end of the day, the need for well trained IT people in Britain is what will make you attractive to employers.
Get your CV updated straight-away though (advice and support for this should come from your course provider). Don’t put it off for when you’re ready to start work. Various junior support jobs have been bagged by trainees who are still studying and haven’t even passed a single exam yet. This will at the very least get you on your way. If you’d like to keep travelling time and costs to a minimum, then you’ll probably find that an independent and specialised local employment service may serve you better than the trainer’s recruitment division, due to the fact that they’re far more likely to have insider knowledge of what’s available near you.
In a nutshell, as long as you put the same commitment into getting a position as into studying, you’re not likely to experience problems. Some people curiously invest a great deal of time on their course materials and just give up once they’ve got certified and seem to suppose that interviewers know they’re there.
Huge changes are flooding technology over the next generation – and it becomes more and more thrilling each day. Computer technology and connections through the web is going to dramatically change the direction of our lives over future years; profoundly so.
A typical IT employee over this country as a whole is likely to get significantly more than employees on a par in another industry. Mean average salaries are around the top of national league tables. Excitingly, there is not a hint of a downturn for IT industry growth throughout this country. The sector continues to grow hugely, and as we have a skills gap that means we only typically have three IT workers for every four jobs it’s not showing any signs that it will even slow down for quite some time to come.
About the Author:
The author: Jason Kendall life has been in
IT for 2 Decades. He now consults around
commercial certification. If you’re interested in
MCSE Training, visit LearningLolly
IT Courses.