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If you’re thinking about studying to get an MCSE, you’re probably in 1 of 2 situations. You could be about to get into the IT environment, and your research tells you this commercial sector has many opportunities for men and women who are commercially qualified. On the other hand you may be someone with a certain amount of knowledge ready to formalise your skill set with a qualification such as MCSE.

When looking into training providers, make it a policy to stay away from those who cut costs by not providing the current Microsoft version. This is a false economy for the trainee due to the fact that they’ll have learned an out-of-date syllabus which doesn’t fall in with the present exams, so they’ll probably fail. Providers ought to be devoted to discovering the ultimate program for prospective students. Mentoring education is as much concerned with guiding people on establishing which way to go, as much as giving them help to get there.

It only makes sense to consider learning programs that’ll grow into commercially acknowledged qualifications. There are far too many small companies offering ‘in-house’ certificates which aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on in today’s commercial market. From the perspective of an employer, only the major heavyweights like Microsoft, CompTIA, Cisco or Adobe (for instance) will get you into the interview seat. Anything less won’t make the grade.

Many companies only concern themselves with gaining a certificate, and forget the reasons for getting there – which will always be getting the job or career you want. Always start with the final destination in mind – too many people focus on the journey. It’s quite usual, for instance, to find immense satisfaction in a year of study but end up spending 10 or 20 years in a job you hate, entirely because you stumbled into it without the correct level of soul-searching at the outset.

Be honest with yourself about what you want to earn and what level of ambition fits you. Usually, this will point the way to which particular accreditations will be expected and what you can expect to give industry in return. We’d recommend you seek advice from an experienced industry professional before settling on a study path, so there’s no doubt that the chosen route will give you the skills necessary.

So, why ought we to be looking at qualifications from the commercial sector as opposed to more traditional academic qualifications obtained from tech’ colleges and universities? As demand increases for knowledge about more and more complex technology, industry has moved to the specialised core-skills learning that can only be obtained from the actual vendors – in other words companies like CISCO, Adobe, Microsoft and CompTIA. This frequently provides reductions in both cost and time. The training is effectively done through concentrating on the skills that are really needed (together with a relevant amount of background knowledge,) instead of covering masses of the background detail and ‘fluff’ that degrees in computing often do (to fill up a syllabus or course).

When it comes down to the nitty-gritty: Commercial IT certifications give employers exactly what they’re looking for – it says what you do in the title: as an example – I am a ‘Microsoft Certified Professional’ in ‘Planning and Maintaining a Windows 2003 Infrastructure’. Consequently an employer can look at their needs and what certifications will be suitable to deal with those needs.

Training support for students is an absolute must – look for a package offering 24×7 direct access to instructors, as anything less will not satisfy and will also hamper your progress. Many only provide email support (too slow), and phone support is usually just a call-centre who will chat nicely with you for 5 minutes to ask what the issue is and then simply send an email to an instructor – who will attempt to call you within 24-48 hrs, when it’s convenient to them. This is no good if you’re lost and confused and only have certain times available in which to do your studies.

As long as you look hard, you will find the top providers who recommend and use online support 24×7 – at any time of day or night. Don’t ever make the mistake of taking second best with the quality of your support. The vast majority of would-be IT professionals who drop-out or fail, would have had a different experience if they’d got the right support package in the first place.

Those that are drawn to this type of work are often very practical, and won’t enjoy sitting at a desk in class, and struggling through thick study-volumes. If this is putting you off studying, try the newer style of interactive study, where you can learn everything on-screen. If we can get all of our senses involved in our learning, then we normally see dramatically better results.

The latest home-based training features interactive CD and DVD ROM’s. By watching and listening to instructors on video tutorials you’ll find things easier to remember by way of their teaching and demonstrations. You can then test yourself by interacting with the software and practicing yourself. You’ll definitely want a training material demonstration from the training company. The package should contain slide-shows, instructor-led videos and lab’s for you to practice your skills in.

You’ll find that many companies will only provide just online versions of their training packages; and while this is acceptable much of the time, think what will happen if you lose your internet access or you get intermittent problems and speed issues. It is usually safer to have CD and DVD ROM materials that don’t suffer from these broadband issues.

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