Good for you! By landing here we guess you must be considering re-training to work in a different industry - that puts you way ahead of the crowd. Only one in ten of us are content with our jobs, but most complain but just stay there. Why not be one of a small number who make a difference in their lives.

We’d strongly advise that prior to beginning a course of training, you chat with an expert who can see the bigger picture and can make recommendations. They can assess your personality and help you sort out a role to fit you:

* Is working with other people your thing? Do you like to deal with the public? Or are you better with things that you can get on with on your own?

* Building and Banking are a little shaky today, so which sector would suit you best?

* Is this the last time you envisage re-training, and based on that, will your chosen career path allow you to do that?

* Are you concerned about the chance of finding new employment, and being gainfully employed to the end of your working life?

It would be an idea for you to really explore the computer industry - there are greater numbers of positions than workers to do them, and it’s a rare career choice where the market sector is on the grow. In contrast to what some people would have you think, it isn’t just geeks looking at screens all day long (if you like the sound of that though, they do exist.) The majority of jobs are taken by ordinary men and women who enjoy better than average salaries.

Massive developments are coming via technology as we approach the second decade of the 21st century - and the industry becomes more ground-breaking every year. There are people who believe that the technological revolution that’s been a familiar part of our recent lives is easing off. This couldn’t be more wrong. Terrific advances are ahead of us, and the internet particularly is going to dominate how we conduct our lives.

Should lifestyle be high on your scale of wants, you will be pleasantly surprised to hear that the income on average for a typical IT worker is noticeably greater than with much of the rest of industry. The good news is there is no easing up for IT industry increases in Great Britain as a whole. The market continues to develop enormously, and as we have a skills gap that means we only typically have three IT workers for every four jobs it’s not likely that there’ll be any kind of easing off for years to come.

For the most part, the typical student has no idea what way to go about starting in the IT industry, let alone what market to focus their retraining program on. How can we possibly grasp the day-to-day realities of any IT job if we’ve never been there? Maybe we haven’t met someone who performs the role either. Deliberation over these different factors is required when you want to reveal the right answers:

* Personalities play a starring part - what gives you a ‘kick’, and what are the activities that you really dislike.

* Do you want to get certified for a certain motive - e.g. are you pushing to work based at home (self-employment?)?

* Does salary have a higher place on your list of priorities than other factors.

* Some students don’t fully understand the amount of work needed to achieve their goals.

* You need to understand what differentiates each individual training area.

In actuality, it’s obvious that the only real way to investigate these areas will be via a meeting with an experienced advisor who understands IT (and chiefly it’s commercial needs and requirements.)

The somewhat scary thought of landing your first IT job is often eased because some trainers offer a Job Placement Assistance service. The need for this feature can be bigged up out of proportion though - it’s quite easy for training companies to overplay it. At the end of the day, the massive skills shortage in the United Kingdom is why employers will be interested in you.

Ideally you should have advice and support about your CV and interviews though; and we’d encourage everybody to bring their CV up to date the day they start training - don’t delay until you’ve graduated or passed any exams. You might not even have taken your exams when you will get your initial junior support role; however this won’t be the case unless your CV is with employers. The top companies to get you a new position are most often specialised and independent recruitment consultants. Because they get paid commission to place you, they have the necessary incentive to try that bit harder.

Just make sure you don’t invest a great deal of time on your training course, only to stop and leave it up to everyone else to secure your first position. Take responsibility for yourself and start looking for yourself. Channel the same time and energy into landing the right position as it took to pass the exams.

It’s quite a normal occurrence for students not to check on a vitally important element - how their training provider actually breaks down and delivers the training materials, and into how many parts. Many think it logical (when study may take one to three years for a full commercial certification,) for your typical trainer to courier one module at a time, as you pass each element. However: What would their reaction be if you find it difficult to do all the exams at the speed they required? Sometimes their preference of study order won’t be as easy as another different route may.

To be straight, the best solution is to obtain their recommendation on the best possible order of study, but make sure you have all of your learning modules right from the beginning. Meaning you’ve got it all in the event you don’t complete everything within their ideal time-table.

Ask almost any capable consultant and they can normally tell you many awful tales of students who’ve been sold completely the wrong course for them. Ensure you only ever work with a skilled professional who asks lots of questions to discover the most appropriate thing for you - not for their retirement-fund! You must establish a starting-point that will suit you. If you’ve got any real-world experience or certification, it may be that your starting point of study is very different to someone completely new. Always consider starting with some basic Microsoft package and Windows skills first. This can set the scene for your on-going studies and make the transition to higher-level learning a a little easier.

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