If an advisor doesn't ask you a lot of questions - it's more than likely they're just trying to sell you something. If they're pushing towards a particular product before looking at your personality and whether you have any commercial experience, then it's very likely to be the case. With a bit of commercial experience or base qualifications, it may be that your starting point of study is now at a different level to a new student. If this is going to be your opening effort at IT study then you should consider whether to cut your teeth on user-skills and software training first.

Frequently, the everyday trainee has no idea what way to go about starting in a computing career, let alone which sector is worth considering for retraining. I mean, without any experience in the IT sector, how are you equipped to know what someone in a particular field does each day? Let alone decide on which training route is the most likely for you to get there. Getting to a well-informed decision only comes from a meticulous analysis across many altering areas:

- Your personality can play an important part - what things get your juices flowing, and what are the things that really turn you off.

- Are you looking to accomplish a specific goal - like being your own boss as quickly as possible?

- What scale of importance is the salary - is it of prime importance, or does job satisfaction rate a little higher on the priority-scale?

- When taking into account all that IT encapsulates, it's important to be able to take in what is different.

- You should also think long and hard about any sacrifices you'll need to make, as well as what commitment and time you're going to give to gaining your certifications.

For most people, sifting through so much data needs a long talk with an experienced pro that can explain things properly. And we're not only talking about the accreditations - you also need to understand the commercial requirements also.

A major candidate for the biggest single let-down in IT training is often the 'in-centre' workshop requirement. Many certification companies harp on about the 'benefits' of going in to their classes, however, they quickly become a major problem because of:

- Loads of driving back and forth from the workshop centre - sometimes quite a distance away.

- Taking time out of work - a lot of schools will only provide Mon-Fri class availability and group several days in a chunk. This can be hard for a lot of working people, and it's made more problematic if travelling time is added into the mix.

- And let's not forget the lost holiday days. Most of us have twenty days annual leave. If half of that is used up on workshops, then it doesn't leave much for us and our families.

- Because of the cost involved, a lot of companies make the classes quite large - which is not ideal (and with less one-on-one time).

- The pace of the workshop - workshops invariably have trainees of different skill, so tension can be created between the quicker-learners and the ones who need a little longer.

- Take into account all of all the fares or petrol, food, parking and accommodation and you may be surprised (and not pleasantly). Trainees report costs of hundreds to thousands of pounds over time. Sit down and add it up - and you'll see how.

- Is it worth the possibility of letting yourself be side-stepped for a possible promotion or income boosts while you're training.

- Posing questions around our class-mates will often make us feel awkward. Have you ever left a question un-asked because you were worried it might make you look silly?

- If you occasionally work away from home, you now have to deal with the fact that days in-centre sometimes become difficult to get to - and yet, they've already been paid for.

It would be better to watch on-screen and study with instructors one-to-one in videoed classes, working on them at your convenience - not somebody else's. Think... If you have a notebook PC then you could learn wherever you happen to be at that time. And live 24x7 support is only a web-browser click away in case you get challenged. You don't have to worry about any note-taking - every lesson is laid out for you already. And if you want to repeat anything, it's all right there. Whilst it's impossible to remove every little difficulty, it definitely makes things easier, simpler and less stressful. You've also got less costs, hassle and travel.

People attracted to this sort of work are often very practical, and don't always take well to classrooms, and poring through books and manuals. If you identify with this, go for more modern interactive training, with on-screen demonstrations and labs. Memory is vastly improved when all our senses are brought into the mix - learning experts have been saying this for as long as we can remember.

Programs are now found in the form of CD and DVD ROM's, so everything is learned directly from your own PC. Video streaming means you are able to see your instructors showing you how to do something, followed by your chance to practice - with interactive lab sessions. Make sure to obtain a training material demonstration from the training company. The materials should incorporate expert-led demonstrations, slideshows and virtual practice lab's for your new skills.

Pick disc based courseware (On CD or DVD) wherever available. This then avoids all the potential pitfalls with broadband outages, failure and signal quality issues etc.

One interesting way that training providers make a big mark-up is by adding exam fees upfront to the cost of a course and offering an exam guarantee. It looks impressive, but is it really:

Certainly it's not free - you're still paying for it - the price has simply been included in the whole thing. Trainees who take exams one at a time, paying as they go are far more likely to pass first time. They are conscious of their investment and prepare more appropriately to be up to the task.

Do your exams somewhere close to home and find the best deal for you at the time. Why borrow the money or pay in advance (plus interest of course) on exams when there's absolutely nothing that says you have to? Huge profits are made because training colleges are getting money in early for exam fees - and hoping either that you won't take them, or it will be a long time before you do. Pay heed to the fact that, with the majority of Exam Guarantees - the company controls how often and when you are allowed to have another go. They'll only allow a re-take once completely satisfied.

Splashing out often many hundreds of pounds extra on 'Exam Guarantees' is remiss - when study, commitment and preparing with good quality mock and practice exams is what will really guarantee success.

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