Log in to become a member of Jason Kendall's Fan Club!
It's quite some achievement that you're on the right track! Just ten
percent of people claim contentment with their job, but a huge number
just go off on one from time to time and nothing happens. As you've
reached this page it's probable that you're at least considering
retraining, so well done to you. The next step is to research and
follow-through.
It's advisable to get some help before you
start - talk to someone who's familiar with your chosen field; an
advisor who can discover your ideal job, and then show you the career
tracks that will suit you:
* Do you hope for interaction with
others? If you say yes, are you a team player or are you more
comfortable dealing with strangers? Alternatively, do you like to deal
with your responsibilities alone?
* What do you need from your chosen industry? (Things do change - look at the building trade, or banks for example.)
*
After re-training, how long a career do you hope for, and can the
industry you choose give you the confidence that will happen?
* Are you worried about the chance of finding new employment, and being gainfully employed to the end of your working life?
A predominant industry in Great Britain that can satisfy a trainee's
demands is the IT sector. There's a need for more skilled people in IT,
just search any job site and you'll see for yourself. Don't
misunderstand and think it's all nerdy people looking at their
computerscreens all the time - it's much more diverse than that. Large
numbers of staff in the computer industry are people of average
intelligence, but they enjoy their work and get well paid.
Some
trainers only provide support available from 9-6 (office hours) and
sometimes later on specific days; not many go late into the evening
(after 8-9pm) or cover weekends properly. Try and find training where
you can receive help at any time of day or night (even 1am on Sunday
morning!) You'll need direct-access to qualified mentors and tutors,
and not access to a call-in service which takes messages - so you're
parked in a queue of others waiting to be called back when it's
convenient for them.
As long as you look hard, you will find
professional companies which give students online support 24x7 - no
matter what time of day it is. Never ever take second best when it
comes to your support. Most would-be IT professionals that give up,
would have had a different experience if they'd got the right support
package in the first place.
When did you last consider the
security of your job? For most people, we only think of this after
something dramatic happens to shake us. But really, The cold truth is
that job security has gone the way of the dodo, for all but the most
lucky of us. We're able though to locate security at market-level, by
probing for areas of high demand, coupled with shortages of trained
staff.
Using the computing industry for instance, a recent
e-Skills investigation brought to light a skills deficit around Great
Britain around the 26 percent mark. Put directly, we can only fill 3
out of each 4 job positions in the computer industry. Well skilled and
commercially certified new staff are therefore at a resounding premium,
and it looks like they will be for many years longer. In reality,
gaining new qualifications in IT throughout the next year or two is
likely the greatest career move you'll ever make.
In most
cases, your typical person doesn't know how they should get into IT, or
even what market they should be considering getting trained in. As in
the absence of any solid background in computing, how can most of us be
expected to understand what a particular job actually consists of? To
work through this, a discussion is necessary, covering a number of
definitive areas:
* Your hobbies and interests - these can point towards what things will give you the most reward.
* What time-frame are you looking at for the training process?
* Have you thought about job satisfaction vs salary?
* Because there are so many different sectors to gain certifications
for in IT - you'll need to achieve a solid grounding on what
differentiates them.
* Taking a serious look into the effort, commitment and time that you can put aside.
To completely side-step all the jargon and confusion, and discover the
best route for you, have an informal meeting with an industry expert
and advisor; a person who appreciates and can explain the commercial
realities and of course each qualification.
Those that are
drawn to this type of work are usually quite practically-minded, and
won't enjoy sitting at a desk in class, and slogging through piles of
books. If this could be you, 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, our results will often be quite
spectacular.
Top of the range study programs now offer
interactive discs. Instructor-led tutorials will mean you'll find
things easier to remember by way of the expert demonstrations. Then you
test your knowledge by utilising the practice lab's and modules. It
makes sense to see examples of the courseware provided before you sign
on the dotted line. The minimum you should expect would be video
tutorials, instructor demo's and a variety of audio-visual and
interactive sections.
Select physical media such as CD or DVD
ROM's if possible. Thus avoiding all the issues associated with the
variability of broadband quality and service.(C) Jason Kendall. Pop over to LearningLolly.com for smart advice on
Computer Training
Courses and Computer
Programming Training Courses.
Disclaimer: All information on this site is provided for informational purposes only! By no means is any
information presented herein intended to substitute for the advice provided to you by any health care or other professional
or organization.
tweet this!