In this day and age, industry would struggle without the help of support workers solving problems with PC's and networks, while giving advice to users each and every day. Whilst our society becomes more and more reliant on computers and networks, we in turn find ourselves increasingly more reliant upon the skilled and qualified IT professionals, who ensure the systems function properly.

We're often asked why academic qualifications are now falling behind more commercially accredited qualifications? With 3 and 4 year academic degree costs increasing year on year, along with the IT sector's growing opinion that corporate based study most often has much more commercial relevance, there's been a dramatic increase in CISCO, Adobe, Microsoft and CompTIA based training courses that educate students at a fraction of the cost and time involved. Obviously, a necessary portion of closely linked knowledge must be taught, but essential specialisation in the areas needed gives a commercially educated student a distinct advantage.

It's a bit like the TV advert: 'It does what it says on the tin'. Employers simply need to know what areas need to be serviced, and then advertise for someone with the specific certification. That way they can be sure they're interviewing applicants who can do the job.

You should only consider training courses that lead to commercially recognised exams. There's an endless list of small companies promoting unknown 'in-house' certificates which aren't worth the paper they're printed on in today's commercial market. From an employer's perspective, only top businesses such as Microsoft, CompTIA, Cisco or Adobe (as an example) provide enough commercial weight. Nothing else will cut the mustard.

A skilled and practiced consultant (vs a salesman) will want to thoroughly discuss your current experience level and abilities. This is useful for establishing your study start-point. It's worth remembering, if in the past you've acquired any accreditation or direct-experience, then you may be able to pick-up at a different starting-point to a student who's starting from scratch. Working through a foundation module first will sometimes be the most effective way to commence your computer studies, but really depends on your level of familiarity with computers.

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