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Should you be wanting to study a course to qualify for an MCSE, it’s likely you’ll come into one of two categories. You may want to enter the world of IT, and you’ve found this commercial sector has many opportunities for those with appropriate certifications. Instead you may be already a professional ready to formalise your skills with the MCSE qualification.

When looking into training companies, don’t use any that cut costs by failing to up-grade to the current Microsoft version. Over time, this will end up costing the student much more because they’ve been learning from an old version of MCSE which will require an up-date very quickly. Be aware of training colleges who’re just trying to sell you something. Realise that buying an MCSE course is similar to buying a car. They vary hugely; some are reliable and will get you there in comfort, whilst others will constantly let you down. A valid provider will offer you plenty of help to make sure a course is right for you. If they’re confident of their product, they’ll show you examples of it before buying anything.

When did you last consider how safe your job is? For most people, this issue only becomes a talking point when something goes wrong. But in today’s marketplace, the painful truth is that job security doesn’t really exist anymore, for all but the most lucky of us. Of course, a fast growing sector, with a constant demand for staff (due to a big shortfall of fully trained staff), opens the possibility of lasting job security.

Looking at the Information Technology (IT) sector, a key e-Skills investigation brought to light an over 26 percent shortfall of skilled workers. Essentially, we can’t properly place more than just 3 out of every 4 jobs in Information Technology (IT). Fully qualified and commercially certified new employees are thus at a complete premium, and it looks like they will be for a long time. We can’t imagine if a better time or market state of affairs could exist for getting certified in this hugely emerging and blossoming market.

Picking up on all this talk on the area of computing technology at present, how is it possible to know what precisely to look for?

A fatal Faux-Pas that potential students often succumb to is to concentrate on the course itself, and take their eye off the desired end-result. Training academies are full of unaware students who chose a course based on what sounded good – instead of what would yield their end-goal of a job they enjoyed. It’s common, in many cases, to find immense satisfaction in a year of study and then spend 20 miserable years in a job you hate, as an upshot of not doing some decent due-diligence at the beginning.

Set targets for what you want to earn and whether you’re an ambitious person or not. This can often control which particular exams you’ll need to attain and what industry will expect from you in return. Sense dictates that you seek advice from an industry professional before embarking on a learning course, so there’s little doubt that the content of a learning package provides the skill-set required for your career choice.

The classroom style of learning we remember from school, utilising reference manuals and books, is an up-hill struggle for the majority of us. If this describes you, find training programs which have a majority of interactive, multimedia parts. Research has consistently verified that connecting physically with our study, will more likely produce memories that are deeper and longer-lasting.

The latest audio-visual interactive programs with demonstrations and practice sessions will forever turn you away from traditional book study. And you’ll actually enjoy doing them. Always insist on a training material demonstration from the training company. You should ask for expert-led demonstrations, slideshows and interactive labs where you get to practice.

Pick disc based courseware (On CD or DVD) if possible. You can then avoid all the difficulties of broadband ‘downtime’ or slow-speeds.

Many students come unstuck over a single courseware aspect which is often not even considered: How the training is broken down and sent out to you. Trainees may consider it sensible (with most training taking 1-3 years for a full commercial certification,) for a training company to release the training stage by stage, as you achieve each exam pass. However: What happens when you don’t complete every section? What if you don’t find their order of learning is ideal for you? Due to no fault of yours, you may not meet the required timescales and consequently not get all your materials.

The ideal circumstances are to get all the learning modules packed off to you right at the start; the entire package! Then, nothing can hinder your progress.

Many trainers only provide office hours or extended office hours support; most won’t answer after 8-9pm at the latest and frequently never at the weekends. You’ll be waiting ages for an answer with email based support, and so-called telephone support is normally just routed to a call-centre who will take the information and email an instructor – who’ll call back sometime over the next 1-3 days, when it suits them. This is not a lot of use if you’re stuck with a particular problem and only have certain times available in which to do your studies.

The very best programs utilise an online access 24×7 package pulling in several support offices over many time-zones. You’ll have an easy to use interface which seamlessly selects the best facility available at any time of day or night: Support on demand. Always choose a training school that gives this level of learning support. As only true live 24×7 support delivers what is required.

Always expect an authorised exam preparation system as part of your course package. Due to the fact that many IT examining boards are American, you need to become familiar with their phraseology. It’s no use simply going through the right questions – it’s essential that you can cope with them in the proper exam format. For many reasons, it is really important to make sure you are completely prepared for your commercial exam prior to doing it. Rehearsing mock-up tests adds to your knowledge bank and helps to avoid unsuccessful attempts at exams.

Some training providers have a handy Job Placement Assistance program, designed to steer you into your first job. Because of the massive need for more IT skills in the UK today, it’s not too important to get too caught up in this feature though. It isn’t such a complex operation to get the right work once you’re properly qualified.

Advice and support about getting interviews and your CV should be offered (if it isn’t, consult one of our sites). Make sure you work on your old CV immediately – not when you’re ready to start work! Quite frequently, you will be offered your first job whilst you’re still studying (occasionally right at the beginning). If your course details aren’t on your CV – or it’s not getting in front of interviewers, then you won’t even be considered! If it’s important to you to find work near your home, then you may well find that an independent and specialised local employment service can generally work much better for you than the trainer’s recruitment division, as they are much more inclined to know the local job scene.

In a nutshell, as long as you put the same commitment into securing your first job as into studying, you’re not likely to experience problems. A number of people strangely put hundreds of hours into their training and studies and then call a halt once certified and would appear to think that businesses will just discover them.

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