Just ten percent of adults in Great Britain are happy with what they do for a living. Of course, most will take no action. The fact that you’re reading this surely suggests that you’ve realised change must come.

When considering retraining, it’s important that you first make a list of what you want and don’t want from the position you would like to get. Ensure that a new career would suit you better before you put a lot of energy into changing the direction of your life. We recommend looking at the big picture first, to avoid disappointment:

* Is having company at work important to you? Is it meeting new people or being part of a team? Maybe you like to deal with tasks that only you know how to deal with?

* Have you given much thought to which area you choose to work in? (In this economy, it’s even more crucial to get it right.)

* Is this the last time you imagine you’ll re-train, and if it is, will this new career give you scope to do that?

* Do you feel uncomfortable with regard to your chances of getting another job, and keeping a job to the end of your working life?

It’s important that one of your key sectors is Information Technology – it’s common knowledge that it’s developing all the time. It’s not all nerdy people looking at computer screens constantly – it’s true some IT jobs demand that, but the majority of roles are filled with Joe averages who do very well out of it.

If you’re considering a training academy that still provides ‘in-centre’ days as a feature of their programme, then take note of these problems experienced by almost all students:

* Loads of driving back and forth from the training centre – normally 100’s of miles.

* For those of us that work, then Mon-Fri events represent a difficulty in getting time off. You’re usually having to deal with 2-3 days at a time as well.

* Lost annual leave – most IT hopefuls are given only twenty days of leave annually. If over half of it is swallowed up by study workshops, vacation time is going to be quite short for students and their families.

* ‘In-Centre’ workshop days can get way too big.

* There is often tension in classes as most students want to move at a pace comfortable for them.

* Most attendees talk of the high costs involved with all the travelling back and forth to the training school whilst paying for accommodation and food gets very high.

* We all enjoy our privacy. We don’t want to risk throwing away any potential advancement that we’re owed while we retrain.

* It’s really not that uncommon for students to hide the fact that they want to raise a question – purely because they’re with their peers.

* If you on occasion work elsewhere in the country for several days at a time, imagine the increased difficulty in reaching the necessary events, when time is at a premium.

Doesn’t it make a lot more sense to learn when it’s convenient for you – not the company – and exploit videos of instructors with interactive virtual-lab’s.

Think… If you’ve got a notebook PC you have the ability to learn in any location you choose. And 24×7 support is an online click away if you hit challenges.

All the lessons can be repeated at any time you need to brush up – memory is aided by repetition. And note-taking is a thing of the past – it’s already laid on for you.

Even though this can’t completely stop every single problem, it definitely makes things easier, simpler and less stressful. Plus you’ve got less hassle, costs and travel.

Commencing from the viewpoint that we need to locate the area of most interest first, before we can even consider which training program would meet that requirement, how can we choose the correct route?

Because in the absence of any previous experience in the IT industry, in what way could we understand what someone in a particular job does?

Arriving at the right conclusion will only come from a meticulous analysis of several varying key points:

* Your personality type plus what interests you – the sort of working tasks you love or hate.

* Why it seems right stepping into Information Technology – is it to overcome some personal goal such as being your own boss for instance.

* Your earning needs you may have?

* There are many markets to choose from in IT – it’s wise to get some key facts on what separates them.

* It’s wise to spend some time thinking about what kind of effort and commitment you’ll put into your training.

The best way to avoid all the jargon and confusion, and uncover the best route for you, have an informal chat with an industry expert and advisor; an individual who understands the commercial reality as well as each accreditation.

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With an abundance of IT and computer courses to choose from, it’s best to take advice from a training company who can help you settle on one you’ll be happy with. Reputable organisations will familiarise you with the types of jobs that could be right for you, in advance of recommending a training path that can take you where you want to go.

Whether it’s office skills you’re looking to polish up on, or dream of getting professional IT certifications, there are technically advanced courses and assistance to turn your goals into reality.

Today, there are many user-friendly and accessibly priced options available that will give you everything you need.

Discovering job security nowadays is problematic. Companies can drop us from the workforce at a moment’s notice – as and when it suits them.

Wherever we find growing skills deficits mixed with increasing demand however, we can discover a newer brand of market-security; as fuelled by a continual growth, companies just can’t get the number of people required.

The most recent United Kingdom e-Skills analysis showed that over 26 percent of all available IT positions cannot be filled due to a huge deficit of trained staff. Quite simply, we can’t properly place more than 3 out of every 4 jobs in the computer industry.

This one idea alone shows why the United Kingdom urgently requires a lot more workers to get trained and enter the Information Technology market.

With the market evolving at such a quick pace, it’s unlikely there’s any better area of industry worth looking at for retraining.

Incorporating exams upfront and offering an ‘Exam Guarantee’ is a popular marketing tool with a number of training colleges. However, let’s consider what’s really going on:

Obviously it’s not free – you are paying for it – it’s just been wrapped up in the price of the package.

Students who take exams one at a time, funding them as they go are much better placed to get through first time. They’re thoughtful of what they’ve paid and prepare more appropriately to be ready for the task.

Find the best exam deal or offer available at the appropriate time, and hang on to your cash. You’ll then be able to select where you do your exams – which means you can stay local.

Buying a course that includes payments for examinations (and if you’re financing your study there’ll be interest on that) is madness. Resist being talked into filling the training company’s account with your money just to give them more interest! Some will be pinning their hopes on the fact that you won’t get to do them all – but they won’t refund the cash.

Also, you should consider what an ‘exam guarantee’ really means. The majority of organisations won’t pay again for an exam until you can prove to them you’re ready to pass.

With average Prometric and VUE exams coming in at approximately 112 pounds in Great Britain, by far the best option is to pay for them as you take them. Not to fork out thousands extra in up-front costs. Study, commitment and preparing with good quality mock and practice exams is what will really guarantee success.

Always expect the very latest Microsoft (or Cisco, CompTIA etc.) authorised exam preparation and simulation materials.

Often students can find themselves confused by trying to prepare themselves with questions that aren’t recognised by the authorised examining boards. Often, the question formats and phraseology is unfamiliar and you should be prepared for this.

Be sure to have some simulated exam questions that will allow you to check your comprehension at all times. Simulations of exams add to your knowledge bank – then you won’t be quite so nervous at the actual exam.

Sometimes students presume that the state educational track is the right way even now. So why then are commercial certificates becoming more in demand?

Industry is now aware that to cover the necessary commercial skill-sets, certified accreditation from such organisations as Microsoft, CISCO, Adobe and CompTIA is far more effective and specialised – saving time and money.

Vendor training works through concentrating on the particular skills that are needed (together with an appropriate level of related knowledge,) rather than spending months and years on the background detail and ‘fluff’ that academic courses can get bogged down in – to pad out the syllabus.

Just like the advert used to say: ‘It does what it says on the label’. The company just needs to know where they have gaps, and then advertise for someone with the specific certification. Then they’re assured that a potential employee can do exactly what’s required.

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Some people just seem to find life easy, and bounce from one triumph to the next. Conversely,others struggle with everything they do, and can always give you a reason why life has dealt them a hard blow. The world is made up of victors and victims, and attitude is very often the one key factor that makes the difference.

When you move in a new career direction, it’s vital to learn the habits of victors to gain a successful outcome. The victims pursue their actions in a timid manner, hoping for great things, but never really believing they’re worthy of them. Victors commit mentally to a successful result, and use emotion to back their actions.

Take a couple of tennis players about to play a championship game. One says “It’s my last chance – I’ll give it my best efforts,” but the other one says “Winning is my destiny – it’s everything to me.” No prizes for guessing who’ll win the championship. They might both put in the same amount of time, but the victor spends more of it on his mental training to win.

The victim is defined by the word BED – one who stays in bed and gives up. The victor is defined by the word OAR – a figure paddling towards success. BED = Blame, Excuses and Denial. OAR = Ownership, Accountability and Responsibility.

The victor doesn’t expect someone else to lead the way – and takes ownership of his or her tasks. He’s liable for his actions, and so takes them seriously (seeing things through by tackling problems not creating them). He takes responsibility for the results of his actions, and doesn’t allow excuses from himself.

In the victim’s eyes, there’s always a reason why he’s not achieving, and it’s rarely to do with himself. It’s always someone else’s fault – he feels out of control so justifies it by blaming someone else. He makes excuses for his lack of performance, but the only person he’s convincing is himself. With this continual pattern of blame and excuses, the victim lives a life of complete denial, convinced that there’s absolutely nothing he can do about his situation.

Students approaching a life-changing training program need to give themselves a mental work-out, to stack the odds in their favour. Anyone who’s a fully paid up member of the victim society will have to address their issues before they start, to truly embrace the potential in front of them.

Attitudes (both good and bad) are just habits, and with constant repetition, habits can be altered. Pay attention to the voice inside your head – if it sounds like a victim, then stop it dead! Instead, mentally verbalise why you can be successful. No one is any better than you – it’s just that some people have fought their demons and emerged victorious.

“There is no such thing as a hero, only those who rise to the occasion”. Those were the words of Winston Churchill, and they’re just as valid today. We need to have the attitude of a winner in order to become a winner, both in learning and in life.

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I’m not suggesting that IT training and IT careers are the be-all and end-all of life on this planet. Can you imagine, for example, where we would be without the football superstars who entertain us so well on a weekly basis? Yet there’s got to be a reason why more and more people are training for careers within the IT industry.

A development I find interesting has been the increase in IT training amongst people who are seeking a career change or an enhancement to their existing skill sets. Reviewing this, I’m intrigued as to why IT continues to offer the attraction, and is this really a viable option?

Whilst we all accept that in relationships, people and key elements can change. A boyfriend or girlfriend at the age of 10 is often considered a cute thing, but not expected to last. Relationships at the age of 18-20 are often less transient, but again have a higher rate of short-term lifespan than others later in life.

We ask young people to make decisions and plan their working career fairly early on in life. Yet historically there seems to be an inherent resistance to change as times passes. So if we accept that life changes, and we accept that circumstances also change, isn’t it prudent for us to accept that career paths can and indeed ought to change?

Modern society continually relies on IT, and IT related factors. Based on simple economics of supply and demand, this leads many people to assume that a career in this field would be reliable and well paid. Many people see a direct transfer of how they use IT systems socially (such as social interaction on the internet e.g. facebook and playing games etc.) into a career. What factors would actually lead towards a successful career, and is this a genuine realism of a career within IT?

I believe that a key element in answering this is an understanding that a career in IT is as dependent on factors such as an employer (or client base if self-employed,) and economic issues, as any other career path. However, there is considerable evidence to suggest that professional people within the IT industry can move between employers and industry sectors more freely, due to the wide dependence on IT services across both geographic and industry models.

One of the key elements is the term ‘Professional IT People’ – just as in any other industry, employers have consistently sought human resources where the skills can be proven by both experience and an approved benchmark. This applies whether that is a degree, or recognised apprenticeship culminating in an industry standard qualification, such as electrician and plumber.

The IT industry is no different. Just because many people have access to a computer at home, and can experience many factors of the IT industry in a refined environment, this is in many cases vastly different from the skills and resources required in the commercial sector. I’m sure we’d all agree that spending four hours a night playing games or surfing the internet doesn’t make us a qualified games designer, or a qualified webmaster.

Professional qualifications within the IT field such as MCSE or MCSA are immediately recognisable as an industry standard. Employers can rely upon the skills offered, and as such there is a reduced risk of breach of commercial insurance policies for work and services provided by such people, whether they are self-employed or directly employed.

Anyone seriously considering a future within this field must look at how best to position themselves to become attractive to an employer – and surely holding a professional qualification goes a long way towards this. As it’s the employer or client who pays the salary, we should at least be aware of what they’re looking for in recruitment or engagement.

We have plenty of data in existence to support the view that the IT sector growth is faster and more resilient than many other industry sectors. We’re seeing a transitional shift in industry sectors, from the first world over to the third world. Many growing or ‘tiger’ economies are adapting to (and embracing) long standing IT systems at a very fast rate indeed.

Up to now in this article we’ve looked at the trends, which with the slow down and in some cases demise of traditional industry (and therefore traditional job-for-life expectancies), there will be an increasing propensity towards several jobs and career paths over our lifetime.

In addition, we’ve observed that as the IT industry provides both consistencies in supply and demand across industry sectors and across geographical boundaries, it remains consistently attractive. Current forecasts also predict the increasing reliance on both IT systems overall, and the professional people who develop, use and maintain those systems, as they remain integral to many organisations requirements long-term.

Salary forecasts remain high within this industry, with plenty of evidence to suggest that this is achievable. It’s worth noting however,that in many other sectors the top-people get paid the top-money, and just ‘being there’ isn’t good enough and doesn’t guarantee the top-money.

The case has also been put forward that employers review recruitment for IT skills in exactly the same way as any other facet of their business. Applicants are expected to formally demonstrate their qualifications and skills, no different to the way employers might expect their electricians and accountants to be professionally qualified to do the work they’re employed to do.

I concur that there is substantial evidence to promote a career within the IT industry as a robust and viable option to many individuals within today’s economic and social climate. High renumeration is definitely achievable. However, it’s equally clear and, in fairness, common sense, to expect to have to achieve a recognisable professional IT certification to be able to demonstrate clearly one’s own ability; at the very least it demonstrates the attitude that you are serious about this career path and that any prospective employer can rely on you commercially.

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Long term studies recently indicated that the average cost of bringing up a child in the UK amounted to 193,000 pounds in total – equating to approximately 26-28 pounds per day. The news was greeted with a swathe of cynical retorts from long suffering parents almost unified in their total lack of surprise.

Many people are now weighing up the current recession and its effect on traditional education systems. Consistent reference is being made to the strategies to survive adopted by parents, educators and students in the recession of the 1990’s.

Analysis suggests that the money spent on education and schooling overall could on average be up to 40 percent of the entire household disposable income. With the hardening attitude towards mortgage allocation and bank lending, this figure could increase as young people stay with their parents for longer and extend their education programs – almost as a by product of something to do until things start to get better.

With families focusing increasingly on the cost of living, along with many companies cutting back on training and development programs – it’s pointless spending money on training when you don’t know for certain that the person won’t be made redundant – it’s small wonder that many people are now reviewing their method of personal development and the subject matter in which they study.

Banking, public services and the like have historically been considered long term stable employers and attracted people in accordance with that. Over the last ten or so years this has been largely superseded by the perception of positions on offer within the IT industry.

Training in the motor industry or engineering demands that key skills often have to be gained in a practical environment. By contrast, IT training can be predominantly home-based. It would be impossible to transport a complete car production line into the home, yet computer based training is easily at hand. Enhancements in the intellectual property field such as IT have grown exponentially as a result of this and the continued progression in the way the skills are learnt and taught.

Remote access 24/7 to highly skilled lecturers is available due to the utilisation of new training methodologies. This adds weight to the strategy and the final results are qualifications in a field that’s widely sought after on an international level. Add to that easily quantified salary and career structures, and it’s little wonder that IT training is attracting so much attention.

Many people are unsure of their future, whether early on in their career or mid way through life. Home based training, for example in IT, can often be viewed as a highly effective, low cost, easy-paced development program; gaining skills that are sought after all over the world and very resilient in a volatile economic environment.

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Dividing the different stages of learning into sections can be really helpful when we’re trying to work out where we are and how far we can go. Looking at the big goal can be quite scary – (let’s say professional web designer with a big portfolio of customers who are dependent on our expertise), when it’s as much as we can do to recall the names of the software we’ll be learning from!

Let’s look at four different levels of understanding. Whenever we take on anything new, we all experience these stages, and recognising them helps us to evaluate ourselves and our progress.

Unconscious Incompetent, Conscious Incompetent, Conscious Competent, Unconscious Competent.

Career changers often start at stage one – Unconscious Incompetent. This is when we know we want to change, but we don’t yet know what we don’t know, what we need to know, how to learn it or where it might lead us! Sounds pretty desperate, but the important thing is knowing we want to change – everything else can be taught.

The main thing is to take advice. The stage one person can discover what’s involved in the process by talking things through with an experienced advisor; then they can find out where they want to go and what they need to learn.

Next comes stage two – Conscious Incompetent. We’re now probably at the start of our training course. Having been explained the different options, we’ve decided on our career path. So we now know what we have to learn – in other words we’re conscious of what we don’t know yet, or what we’re currently incompetent at.

It’s important to comprehend this, and have the wisdom of knowing where we are. If we understand conscious incompetence, we won’t get so frustrated in our early stages of learning – we’re maybe not very good at it (particularly if it’s been a while since school…) but we do know we’ll get better. This process is accelerated with modern interactive training, so we don’t have to stay at this stage for very long.

Then we reach stage three, which is Conscious Competent. Now we’re in the zone of the learning environment, and pick things up much faster. We still have to think consciously about what we’re doing all the time, but we can learn competently. Whilst in this learning stage we’ll probably complete our studies and successfully pass our exams. It’s likely to also extend into our working life too.

Think about when we learned to drive a car. We’d reached conscious competency at the time of our exam – still very conscious of every manoeuvre, but good enough to pass the test. We could only move into stage four when we gained more experience along with the knowledge.

In the computer world, before we become Unconsciously Competent we’ll most likely be several years into our working experience. At that stage, we know what we need to know, and no longer have to consciously think about why we do something. Although school’s never out for the pro, (and the joy in IT is there’s always more to learn) getting to this lofty height of understanding makes all the hard work worth it.

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