Make sure that all your certifications are current and commercially required - don't even consider programmes that lead to in-house certificates. Only nationally recognised certification from companies such as Microsoft, CompTIA, Adobe and Cisco will open the doors to employers.

A question; why should we consider commercial qualifications and not more traditional academic qualifications obtained from tech' colleges and universities? With 3 and 4 year academic degree costs increasing year on year, plus the IT sector's growing opinion that key company training most often has much more commercial relevance, there has been a great increase in CISCO, Adobe, Microsoft and CompTIA accredited training routes that supply key solutions to a student for considerably less. Vendor training works through concentrating on the actual skills required (together with a proportionate degree of related knowledge,) rather than going into the heightened depths of background 'extras' that computer Science Degrees are prone to get tied up in - to fill a three or four year course.

It's a bit like the TV advert: 'It does what it says on the label'. All an employer has to do is know what they need doing, and then match up the appropriate exam numbers as a requirement. Then they're assured that a potential employee can do exactly what's required.

Many training companies are still maintaining the slightly musty old method of classroom attendance. Usually touted as a major benefit, if you track down someone who's been through a few, you'll most likely hear about many or most of these issues:

- The amount of travel required - frequent trips and often 100's of miles at a go.

- Weekday only accessibility to classes is typically the case, and getting two to three days out of work can be difficult for a lot of trainees who are working.

- And don't forget lost vacation time. Usually we're lucky to have twenty days annual leave. If at least half is sacrificed to learning, then we aren't going to be doing much vacationing.

- Classes fill up fast and often end up larger than is ideal.

- A lot of students hope to push through at quite a pace, while others are looking to take a more 'steady' pace and want to set their own pace that fits. This generates tension and bad atmosphere on many workshops.

- Calculate the increasing cost of all the petrol, fares, parking, accommodation and food and you could find yourself astounded. Students have reported extra costs of between several hundred and a couple of thousand pounds. Take some time to add it all up - and you'll see how.

- You should never risk the possibility of letting yourself be ignored for a lift up the ladder or income boosts because you're getting trained in a different area.

- How many of us have avoided posing that question we were dying to ask, just because we wanted to maintain the illusion that we did, in fact, understand?

- It should be remembered that events become basically undoable, when you live away for part of your week or month.

Surely it makes much more sense to be taught at a time that's convenient for you - not the school - and employ interactive videos of instructors teaching a class. Think... Using a notebook PC then you're free to study absolutely anywhere you want (within reason!) And live 24x7 support is only a web-click away if you hit challenges. You have the ability to go back and re-cover all the study units at any time you feel you need to. There's also no need to take notes as you'll have direct access to the instruction whenever you want to go back to it. The final outcome: Reduced stress, more money in the bank, and you've got no travelling to do.

Should you wish to look at the 1st stages of Professional IT accreditation, then User & Systems-Support would be a reasonable move. Typically, if you're going to offer Software Support to users in the business environment, the 'MCDST' (Microsoft Certified Desktop Support Technician) is probably appropriate. Allow approximately 100 hours of study time for you to obtain this type of accreditation.

We move in to full IT career training at the next level. A common starting place for hardware-support, networking & security roles would be the 'CompTIA A+' and Network+ certifications. Training will teach you about hard-ware & networking installation at a fundamental level, plus aspects of security, support & administration. A training course teaching both of them ought to take around 200 - 250 hrs to complete. This suggests that someone learning part time around a full time job could feasibly be at the accreditation stage in 6 months time.

Always expect an accredited exam preparation programme as part of your training package. Sometimes people can get thrown by trying to prepare themselves with questions that don't come from the authorised examining boards. Sometimes, the terminology in the real exams can be quite different and you should be prepared for this. A way to build self-confidence is if you check how much you know through quizzes and practice in simulated exam environments to prepare you for taking the real thing.

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