Looking at the myriad of choice out there, there's no surprise that the majority of newcomers to the industry don't really understand the best career path they could be successful with. Because in the absence of any commercial background in the IT industry, how could any of us understand what anyone doing a particular job actually does? Achieving a well-informed conclusion only comes via a methodical investigation of many altering criteria:

- Your personality type plus what interests you - the sort of work-oriented areas please or frustrate you.

- Are you looking to reach a closely held aim - for example, being your own boss sometime soon?

- How highly do you rate salary - is it very important, or is enjoying your job higher up on your priority-list?

- Considering all that computing covers, you really need to be able to understand what is different.

- Our advice is to think deeply about any sacrifices you'll need to make, as well as what commitment and time you'll put into your training.

At the end of the day, the most intelligent way of checking this all out is via a meeting with a professional who knows the industry well enough to be able to guide you.

Just like with every other 'technical' accreditation, an exact picture must be achieved on where it is you'd like to get to, in order that the best route to that place can be calculated. Signing up for a training program in some sort of ad hoc manner might easily bring about you arriving at a totally different position to the one you imagined you had been working hard towards. Software certification isn't the simplest thing to comprehend, & the IT industry can be quite a mine-field unless you choose effectively, so we advise you should speak with an experienced industry expert before signing your name to any programs or expenditure. A forty five minute discussion could well save you 000's and many years of inappropriate training!

A number of men and women assume that the tech college or university track is the way they should go. So why then are commercially accredited qualifications becoming more in demand? As demand increases for knowledge about more and more complex technology, the IT sector has moved to the specialised core-skills learning that can only come from the vendors - that is companies such as Adobe, Microsoft, CISCO and CompTIA. This frequently provides reductions in both cost and time. Typically, only required knowledge is taught. It's not quite as straightforward as that, but the principle remains that students need to master the precisely demanded skill-sets (alongside some required background) - without going into too much detail in every other area (as degree courses are known to do).

The bottom line is: Commercial IT certifications provide exactly what an employer needs - everything they need to know is in the title: i.e. I am a 'Microsoft Certified Professional' in 'Managing and Maintaining Windows Server 2003'. Therefore companies can look at their needs and what certifications are required to perform the job.

Some training providers will provide a useful Job Placement Assistance program, to help you get your first job. Ultimately it's not as difficult as you may be led to believe to get a job - once you're trained and certified; employers in this country need your skills.

Having said that, it's important to have advice and support about your CV and interviews though; also we would encourage any student to work on polishing up their CV right at the beginning of their training - don't procrastinate and leave it till you've finished your exams. You may not have got to the stage where you've qualified when you will be offered your first junior support job; however this is not possible if interviewers don't get sight of your CV. The most efficient companies to help you land that job are normally specialist locally based employment services. Because they only get paid when they place you, they'll work that much harder to get a result.

Please make sure you don't invest a great deal of time on your training course, and then just stop and leave it in the hands of the gods to find you a job. Take responsibility for yourself and get on with the job. Invest the same energy and enthusiasm into getting a good job as you did to gain the skills.

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