Be the Best You Can Be

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Network and computer support staff are more and more in demand in Great Britain, as companies rely heavily on their technical advice and ability to fix and repair. Our hunger for such skilled and qualified individuals is constantly growing, as industry becomes significantly more reliant on computers.

At times individuals don’t comprehend what information technology is about. It’s thrilling, changing, and means you’re working on technology that will change our world over the next few decades. We are really only just beginning to get to grips with what this change will mean to us. The way we interrelate with the rest of the world will be profoundly affected by technology and the internet.

The money in IT isn’t to be sniffed at either - the usual income throughout Britain for the usual IT professional is a lot more than in the rest of the economy. It’s likely that you’ll receive a whole lot more than you would in most other jobs. Because the IT market sector is still growing at an unprecedented rate, it’s likely that the need for well trained and qualified IT technicians will continue to boom for quite some time to come.

Being aware of all this debate about Information Technology (IT) right now, how are we supposed to appreciate what precisely to look for?

A ridiculously large number of organisations only concern themselves with gaining a certificate, and avoid focusing on why you’re doing this - which is of course employment. Always start with where you want to get to - don’t make the journey more important than where you want to get to. You could be training for only a year and end up doing a job for a lifetime. Don’t make the error of choosing what sounds like an ‘interesting’ training program and then put 10-20 years into an unrewarding career!

It’s a good idea to understand what expectations industry may have of you. What precise certifications they will want you to have and in what way you can gain some industry experience. It’s definitely worth spending time thinking about how far you’d like to go as it may affect your choice of certifications. Talk to someone who knows about the sector you’re looking at, and is able to give you a detailed description of what you actually do in that role. Getting all these things right before beginning a learning programme has obvious benefits.

Many training companies will only offer support available from 9-6 (office hours) and sometimes later on specific days; very few go late in the evening or at weekends. Never buy training courses that only support trainees with an out-sourced call-centre message system outside of normal office hours. Trainers will always try to hide the importance of this issue. Essentially - you want to be supported when you need the help - not when it’s convenient for them.

It’s possible to find the very best companies which offer online support 24×7 - including evenings, nights and weekends. Seek out an educator that is worth purchasing from. As only true 24×7 round-the-clock live support provides the necessary backup.

We’d hazard a guess that you’ve always enjoyed practical work - the ‘hands-on’ individual. If you’re like us, the painful task of reading endless manuals would be considered as a last resort, but it doesn’t suit your way of doing things. Consider interactive, multimedia study if books just don’t do it for you. Studies in learning psychology have shown that much more of what we learn in remembered when we use all our senses, and we take action to use what we’ve learned.

Locate a program where you’ll get a host of CD and DVD based materials - you’ll start with videos of instructor demonstrations, and be able to fine-tune your skills in fully interactive practice sessions. It would be silly not to view some of the typical study materials provided before you sign on the dotted line. The minimum you should expect would be instructor demonstrations, video tutorials and interactive modules with audio-visual elements.

Purely on-line training should be avoided. Physical CD or DVD ROM materials are preferable where available, so that you have access at all times - you don’t want to be reliant on a good broadband connection all the time.

How the program is actually delivered to you can often be overlooked. How many parts is the training broken down into? What is the order and how fast does each element come? Many companies enrol you into a 2 or 3 year study programme, and send out each piece as you pass each exam. On the surface this seems reasonable - until you consider the following: Maybe the order of study prescribed by the provider doesn’t suit you. And what if you don’t finish all the modules inside their defined time-scales?

To avoid any potential future issues, many trainees now want to insist that all study materials are delivered immediately, and not in stages. You can then decide at what speed and in which order you want to finish things.

Always expect authorised exam simulation and preparation programs included in your course. Be sure that the simulated exams haven’t just got questions on the right subjects, but are also posing them in the way the real exams will pose them. It can really throw some trainees if the questions are phrased in unfamiliar formats. Practice exams will prove very useful in helping you build your confidence - so that when you come to take the proper exam, you will be much more relaxed.

A useful feature provided by many trainers is job placement assistance. This is designed to help you get your first commercial position. Ultimately it isn’t a complex operation to land a job - once you’re trained and certified; employers in this country need your skills.

Work on polishing up your CV right away however (advice and support for this should come from your course provider). Don’t wait until you’ve qualified. Being considered a ‘maybe’ is far better than not even being known about. A decent number of junior support roles are bagged by people (sometimes when they’ve only just got going.) Generally, you’ll receive better performance from a specialist locally based employment agency than you will through a training provider’s national service, as they’ll know local industry and the area better.

In a nutshell, if you put the same amount of effort into getting a job as into training, you won’t have any problems. Some men and women strangely spend hundreds of hours on their training course and do nothing more once qualified and seem to expect employers to find them.