Beginning from the viewpoint that it's necessary to locate the employment that excites us first, before we're able to consider which training program would meet that requirement, how can we choose the correct route? How can we possibly grasp the day-to-day realities of any IT job when we've never done it? Often we don't know someone who works in that sector anyway. Reflection on several areas is important when you want to discover the right answers:

- Your personality can play a significant part - what things get your juices flowing, and what are the activities that get you down.

- Are you driven to get qualified due to a certain reason - i.e. are you looking at working based from home (being your own boss?)?

- Is your income higher on your priority-scale than other requirements.

- There are many areas to train for in IT - there's a need to pick up a basic understanding of what sets them apart.

- Taking a good look at how much time and effort that you can put aside.

When all is said and done, your only chance of covering these is through a meeting with an experienced advisor that through years of experience will give you the information required.

What is the reason why academic qualifications are less in demand than the more commercial qualifications? Vendor-based training (to use industry-speak) is far more effective and specialised. Industry has acknowledged that specialisation is what's needed to handle a technically advancing marketplace. Microsoft, CISCO, Adobe and CompTIA are the big boys in this field. This is done by focusing on the particular skills that are needed (along with a proportionate degree of associated knowledge,) instead of covering masses of the background non-specific minutiae that degree courses often do (because the syllabus is so wide).

As long as an employer is aware what work they need doing, then all they have to do is advertise for the exact skill-set required to meet that need. The syllabuses all have to conform to the same requirements and can't change from one establishment to the next (like academia frequently can and does).

If you're planning to develop a professional career in IT, begin by picking up some networking know-how. Absolutely nothing else will make any sense until you have an understanding of how computers run and communicate with each other. As long as you have got effective user skills, you'll find packages such as CompTIA's A+ and Network+ gives you an ideal grounding to start out on your career path. We include details about these training programs on the web pages focused on 'CompTIA'.

What comes next depends mainly upon whether you wish to work in hardware or software. For hardware, you're looking at Cisco ('CCNA'/'CCNP'), & for software you need Microsoft (MCSA or MCSE). Even so, it has to be mentioned that a thorough knowledge of MS networks is virtually a necessity for the majority of network environments, mainly because of MS's dominance in this field. You'll find additional certification information on this web site in the specific Microsoft and Cisco pages.

A further possibility is to carry on with 'CompTIA' accreditations such as Linux+, Server+ or Security+ and continue being 'vendor-neutral', or look at the CWNA or CWNP and become a specialist in wire-less technologies.

One of the most important things to insist on has to be 24x7 round-the-clock support from expert mentors and instructors. Too many companies only provide office hours (or extended office hours) support. Never purchase training that only supports trainees via a message system outside of normal office hours. Training schools will always try to hide the importance of this issue. The bottom line is - support is needed when it's needed - not as-and-when it's suitable for their staff.

The best trainers utilise several support facilities across multiple time-zones. They use an online interactive interface to seamlessly link them all together, irrespective of the time you login, there is always help at hand, avoiding all the delays and problems. Don't ever make the mistake of taking second best where support is concerned. Most would-be IT professionals that throw in the towel, would have had a different experience if they'd got the right support package in the first place.

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