Anyone looking to get into the IT industry will notice the number of diverse options there are. Before embarking on a course, look for a training organisation with a team of advisors, so you can be fully informed on the type of work your new knowledge will help you to get. You could uncover career paths you didn't know about. Should you be considering advancing your technological abilities, perhaps with some Microsoft Office skills, or even loftier ambitions, you have lots of courses to choose from.

Currently, there are several easily understood and well priced courses available that can supply you with a great learning experience.

Technology and IT is one of the most thrilling and changing industries that you could be a part of. Being up close and personal with technology means you're a part of the huge progress that will impact the whole world for generations to come. There are people who believe that the increase in technology we've been going through is easing off. Nothing could be further from the truth. There are huge changes to come, and the internet significantly will be the biggest thing to affect the way we live.

And it's worth remembering that the average salary in the world of IT in Great Britain is much higher than average salaries nationally, so in general you will more than likely earn much more once qualified in IT, than you'd expect to earn elsewhere. As the IT industry keeps increasing at an unprecedented rate, the chances are that the requirement for well trained and qualified IT technicians will remain buoyant for decades to come.

One useful service that many training companies provide is a programme of Job Placement assistance. It's intention is to help you get your first commercial position. Having said that, occasionally people are too impressed with this facility, as it's really not that difficult for well qualified and focused men and women to get work in the IT environment - because companies everywhere are seeking well trained people.

However, what is relevant is to have help with your CV and interview techniques though; and we'd encourage everyone to get their CV updated as soon as training commences - don't delay till you've finished your exams. Various junior support roles are offered to people who are still studying and have yet to take their exams. This will at least get you into the 'maybe' pile of CV's - rather than the 'No' pile. You can usually expect better results from a specialised and independent local recruitment service than any training provider's centralised service, because they'll know the local area and commercial needs better.

Essentially, as long as you put the same commitment into getting your first IT position as into studying, you're not going to hit many challenges. Some trainees strangely put hundreds of hours into their training and studies and then call a halt once they've got certified and appear to be under the impression that jobs will come to them.

Starting with the understanding that it's good to home-in on the employment that excites us first and foremost, before we're even able to contemplate which training course ticks the right boxes, how can we choose the correct route? Flicking through a list of IT job-titles is next to useless. The vast majority of us don't even know what our good friends do at work - so we have no hope of understanding the complexities of any specific IT role. Usually, the way to come at this problem correctly lies in a thorough talk over a number of areas:

* Your personality type and what you're interested in - which work-centred jobs you love or hate.

* Is your focus to re-train because of a precise reason - i.e. are you looking at working from home (maybe self-employment?)?

* Is your income higher on your wish list than anything else.

* Considering the huge variation that the IT industry encapsulates, you'll need to be able to see the differences.

* You should also think long and hard about the amount of time and effort you're going to give to gaining your certifications.

Ultimately, the only real way of investigating all this is through a good talk with an experienced advisor that understands the market well enough to be able to guide you.

A number of students assume that the tech college or university track is still the best way into IT. So why then are qualifications from the commercial sector slowly and steadily replacing it? With an ever-increasing technical demand on resources, industry has been required to move to specific, honed-in training only available through the vendors themselves - for example companies like Microsoft, CompTIA, CISCO and Adobe. This often comes in at a fraction of the cost and time. This is done by concentrating on the skill-sets required (alongside a relevant amount of related knowledge,) as opposed to covering masses of the background 'padding' that degree courses often do - to pad out the syllabus.

Think about if you were the employer - and you needed to take on someone with a very particular skill-set. What's the simplest way to find the right person: Pore through a mass of different academic qualifications from graduate applicants, asking for course details and which commercial skills they've mastered, or select a specialised number of commercial certifications that precisely match your needs, and then select who you want to interview from that. You can then focus on how someone will fit into the team at interview - rather than on the depth of their technical knowledge.

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