Golden Lyre

Just ten percent of adults in the United Kingdom are happy with what they do for a living. The vast majority of course will just stay there. The reality of your getting here at a minimum tells us that change is beckoning.

When considering retraining, it’s important that you first make a list of your expectations from the position you would like to get. Be sure that a new career would suit you better before your energies are focused on re-directing your life. It’s good sense to regard the end goal first, to steer clear of regrets:

* Are you hoping to be involved with others in the workplace? Would you prefer to work with a small team or with many new people? Possibly operating on your own in isolation could suit you better?

* What’s important that you get from the industry your job is in? (Building and banking – not so stable as they once were.)

* Once your training has been completed, would you like your new abilities to serve you till you retire?

* Do you think being qualified will allow you to find new work easily, and stay employable until your retirement plans kick in?

We ask you to have a good look at the IT sector – there are greater numbers of positions than staff to fill them, because it’s one of the few choices of career where the market sector is on the grow. In contrast to what some people believe, IT isn’t all techie people gazing at their computer screens the whole time (some jobs are like that of course.) The vast majority of roles are occupied by ordinary men and women who want to earn a very good living.

Usually, your average trainee really has no clue how they should get into a computing career, or even which sector is worth considering for retraining.

Because having no previous experience in Information Technology, in what way could we understand what a particular job actually consists of?

To attack this, we need to discuss a number of definitive areas:

* Your personality type and what you’re interested in – the sort of work-related things please or frustrate you.

* What sort of time-frame do you want for retraining?

* Have you thought about salary vs the travel required?

* Learning what the normal career areas and markets are – including what sets them apart.

* You will need to understand the differences across each area of training.

To cut through the barrage of jargon, and uncover the best route for you, have an informal chat with an experienced professional; someone that appreciates and can explain the commercial realities while explaining each qualification.

If you’re like many of the students we talk to then you’re quite practically minded – a ‘hands-on’ type. Usually, the painful task of reading endless manuals is something you’ll make yourself do if you have to, but you’d hate it. Check out video-based multimedia instruction if books just don’t do it for you.

Learning psychology studies show that much more of what we learn in remembered when we receive multi-sensorial input, and we put into practice what we’ve been studying.

The latest audio-visual interactive programs featuring instructor demo’s and practice lab’s beat books hands-down. And you’ll find them fun and interesting.

It makes sense to see some of the typical study materials provided before you purchase a course. Always insist on video tutorials, instructor demo’s and a variety of audio-visual and interactive sections.

Avoiding training that is delivered purely online is generally a good idea. Ideally, you should opt for CD and DVD ROM courseware where obtainable, as you need to be able to use them whenever it’s convenient for you – it’s not wise to be held hostage to a quality and continuous internet connection.

So many training providers only concern themselves with gaining a certificate, and completely avoid what it’s all actually about – which is a commercial career or job. Your focus should start with the final destination in mind – don’t make the vehicle more important than the destination.

It’s possible, for instance, to get a great deal of enjoyment from a year of study only to end up putting 20 long years into a career that does nothing for you, as a consequence of not performing some decent due-diligence when it was needed – at the start.

You also need to know your feelings on career development, earning potential, and whether you intend to be quite ambitious. You need to know what will be expected of you, what particular exams are required and where you’ll pick-up experience from.

Our recommendation would be to look for advice and guidance from an industry professional before settling on a training course, so there’s little doubt that the specific package will give the skill-set required for your career choice.

Accredited exam preparation and simulation materials are a must – and absolutely ought to be sought from your course provider.

Make sure that the practice exams are not just posing the correct questions from the right areas, but also asking them in the way the real exams will ask them. This completely unsettles trainees if the questions are phrased in unfamiliar formats.

As you can imagine, it’s very important to make sure you’ve thoroughly prepared for the real exam before embarking on it. Rehearsing mock-up exams adds to your knowledge bank and will avoid you getting frustrated with failed exams.

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