As your research has brought you here it's possible that either you're considering a career change into IT and an MCSE certificate appeals to you, or you're currently an IT professional and it's apparent that you need the Microsoft qualification.
When looking into training providers, steer clear of any who reduce their out-goings by not upgrading their courses to the latest version from Microsoft. Overall, this will end up costing the student a great deal more as they will have been educated in an outdated MCSE course which will have to be revised to suit the working environment.
The focus of a training company should primarily be on the best thing for their clients, and everyone involved should have a passion for their results. Working towards an MCSE isn't just about the certification - it should initially look at assisting you in working on the most valid way forward for you.
We can all agree: There really is no such thing as individual job security anymore; there's only industry and sector security - any company is likely to fire a solitary member of staff whenever it suits the company's commercial needs.
In times of rising skills deficits mixed with increasing demand though, we can locate a fresh type of security in the marketplace; driven forward by the constant growth conditions, organisations are struggling to hire the staff required.
Taking the computing sector as an example, the last e-Skills analysis demonstrated a national skills shortage across the UK of around 26 percent. To explain it in a different way, this highlights that Great Britain can only find three qualified staff for every 4 jobs that are available at the moment.
Fully taught and commercially accredited new staff are thus at an absolute premium, and in all likelihood it will stay that way for much longer.
In reality, gaining new qualifications in IT throughout the coming years is most likely the best career move you'll ever make.
A proficient and professional advisor (vs a salesman) will talk through your current situation. This is useful for calculating the starting point for your education.
With a strong background, or maybe some live experience (possibly even some previous certification?) then obviously the level you'll need to start at will be quite dissimilar from someone with no background whatsoever.
If this is your opening crack at studying to take an IT exam then you may want to practice with some basic PC skills training first.
Students hopeful to start an IT career generally aren't sure what path to consider, or even what area to achieve their certification in.
What is our likelihood of grasping the day-to-day realities of any IT job if we've never been there? Most likely we don't even know anybody who is in that area at all.
To attack this, there should be a discussion of several core topics:
* Our personalities play a significant part - what kind of areas spark your interest, and what tasks put a frown on your face.
* What sort of time-frame do you want for the retraining?
* Is the money you make further up on your wish list than some other areas.
* When taking into account all that IT encompasses, it's a requirement that you can take in what is different.
* Having a serious look at the level of commitment, time and effort that you're going to put into it.
The best way to avoid the confusing industry jargon, and uncover the best route for you, have a good talk with an industry-experienced advisor; someone who understands the commercial reality whilst covering all the qualifications.
We're regularly asked to explain why qualifications from colleges and universities are being overtaken by more commercially accredited qualifications?
With fees and living expenses for university students climbing ever higher, plus the industry's increasing awareness that accreditation-based training most often has much more commercial relevance, we've seen a dramatic increase in Adobe, Microsoft, CISCO and CompTIA based training programmes that educate students at a much reduced cost in terms of money and time.
Clearly, a necessary degree of associated information has to be learned, but precise specifics in the required areas gives a commercially trained student a distinct advantage.
The crux of the matter is this: Authorised IT qualifications provide exactly what an employer needs - the title says it all: for example, I am a 'Microsoft Certified Professional' in 'Planning and Maintaining a Windows 2003 Infrastructure'. Therefore companies can identify exactly what they need and which qualifications are required to fulfil that.
You should only consider study paths that lead to industry acknowledged certifications. There's an endless list of trainers pushing minor 'in-house' certificates which will prove unusable in today's commercial market.
Unless the accreditation comes from a big-hitter like Microsoft, Cisco, CompTIA or Adobe, then it's likely it could have been a waste of time and effort - because it won't give an employer any directly-useable skills.
When looking into training providers, steer clear of any who reduce their out-goings by not upgrading their courses to the latest version from Microsoft. Overall, this will end up costing the student a great deal more as they will have been educated in an outdated MCSE course which will have to be revised to suit the working environment.
The focus of a training company should primarily be on the best thing for their clients, and everyone involved should have a passion for their results. Working towards an MCSE isn't just about the certification - it should initially look at assisting you in working on the most valid way forward for you.
We can all agree: There really is no such thing as individual job security anymore; there's only industry and sector security - any company is likely to fire a solitary member of staff whenever it suits the company's commercial needs.
In times of rising skills deficits mixed with increasing demand though, we can locate a fresh type of security in the marketplace; driven forward by the constant growth conditions, organisations are struggling to hire the staff required.
Taking the computing sector as an example, the last e-Skills analysis demonstrated a national skills shortage across the UK of around 26 percent. To explain it in a different way, this highlights that Great Britain can only find three qualified staff for every 4 jobs that are available at the moment.
Fully taught and commercially accredited new staff are thus at an absolute premium, and in all likelihood it will stay that way for much longer.
In reality, gaining new qualifications in IT throughout the coming years is most likely the best career move you'll ever make.
A proficient and professional advisor (vs a salesman) will talk through your current situation. This is useful for calculating the starting point for your education.
With a strong background, or maybe some live experience (possibly even some previous certification?) then obviously the level you'll need to start at will be quite dissimilar from someone with no background whatsoever.
If this is your opening crack at studying to take an IT exam then you may want to practice with some basic PC skills training first.
Students hopeful to start an IT career generally aren't sure what path to consider, or even what area to achieve their certification in.
What is our likelihood of grasping the day-to-day realities of any IT job if we've never been there? Most likely we don't even know anybody who is in that area at all.
To attack this, there should be a discussion of several core topics:
* Our personalities play a significant part - what kind of areas spark your interest, and what tasks put a frown on your face.
* What sort of time-frame do you want for the retraining?
* Is the money you make further up on your wish list than some other areas.
* When taking into account all that IT encompasses, it's a requirement that you can take in what is different.
* Having a serious look at the level of commitment, time and effort that you're going to put into it.
The best way to avoid the confusing industry jargon, and uncover the best route for you, have a good talk with an industry-experienced advisor; someone who understands the commercial reality whilst covering all the qualifications.
We're regularly asked to explain why qualifications from colleges and universities are being overtaken by more commercially accredited qualifications?
With fees and living expenses for university students climbing ever higher, plus the industry's increasing awareness that accreditation-based training most often has much more commercial relevance, we've seen a dramatic increase in Adobe, Microsoft, CISCO and CompTIA based training programmes that educate students at a much reduced cost in terms of money and time.
Clearly, a necessary degree of associated information has to be learned, but precise specifics in the required areas gives a commercially trained student a distinct advantage.
The crux of the matter is this: Authorised IT qualifications provide exactly what an employer needs - the title says it all: for example, I am a 'Microsoft Certified Professional' in 'Planning and Maintaining a Windows 2003 Infrastructure'. Therefore companies can identify exactly what they need and which qualifications are required to fulfil that.
You should only consider study paths that lead to industry acknowledged certifications. There's an endless list of trainers pushing minor 'in-house' certificates which will prove unusable in today's commercial market.
Unless the accreditation comes from a big-hitter like Microsoft, Cisco, CompTIA or Adobe, then it's likely it could have been a waste of time and effort - because it won't give an employer any directly-useable skills.
About the Author:
(C) Jason Kendall. Browse LearningLolly.com for smart ideas on MCSE 2008 Course and MCSE 2003 Training.
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