The key point to understand whenever you're considering any kind of IT training course is what you are looking to achieve from it. Maybe you have a job in your mind that calls for particular IT literacy skill sets, or do you purely wish to know the way to surf the web more extensively? On the other hand, you could be thinking of a full career in the IT industry.

Identifying what you need to achieve from the training program is always your most important concern. Then, once you realize where you are headed, you can make the best informed decisions about what type of study should suit your needs. Beginning with the destination in your mind may additionally prevent you from making any expensive errors.

Taking things one level further again, you might explore the 1st level of Professional accreditation: User and Systems-support. To support staff who use computers in the office, you're going to have to have a technical accreditation such as the Microsoft Certified Desktop Support Technician. You would normally need around 100 hrs of studying at this level.

More advanced IT qualifications will take you to full professional rank. A common starting place for hardware support, networking and security roles are the CompTIA A+ & 'Network+' accreditations. Training courses will cover hardware and network installation at a basic level, plus aspects of support, security and administration. Many blended 'A+' and 'N+' training programmes are taking the person with average skills something like 200 - 250 hrs to complete, and so can easily be studied alongside a full-time job.

Essentially, the starting point for a complete beginner, who just would like to get a simple idea of how to get the most out of their computer, is the European Computer Driving Licence. Almost all home computer systems carry a system called 'Windows', and your ECDL goes over how you can work it's basic elements. It also goes through how to get onto the web, so you can utilise e-mail to send & receive communications, & surf the world wide web. You'll also cover the basics of word-processing and a bit about what databases & spreadsheets are used for.

If you wish to increase your skill-set for career related reasons, you may choose to have some more formal training. A wide understanding of 'Microsoft Office' stands out as the skill-set most people require at this point. The leading certifications are the 'Microsoft Office Specialist' (MOS) and the Microsoft Certified Application Specialist ('MCAS'.) MOS has been around for several years and emphasises 'Office' 2003 and 'XP', which is still very well used in business. MCAS emphasises Office 2007 & 'Vista', so obviously provides for better life expectancy. You will find separate exams for both that cover "Word", 'Excel', 'Powerpoint' and 'Access' - for word processing, spread-sheets, presentations and 'databases'. The advantage of getting these certifications is they confirm your advanced competency level when using these applications.

Many people come in to IT from very different careers. This may indicate different starting points, depending on past experience and software skill expertise. We'd recommend you explore your ideas on training & I.T. careers with an experienced advisor if you have more complex ambitions. Really anyone considering training to lead to a new career change ought to be prepared to take proper guidance when getting started. Around 30 minutes of your time used in organising and assessing the best way forward will be worth it a year or so down the line.

You will get the opportunity to learn more about the various IT careers and training routes from specialised web-pages on this website. In addition, our Free E-book 'Lollypedia' provides you with in-depth guidance, and information on how to contact our industry experts.

Opportunities in I.T. can be divided in to a few main categories: 1) Networking, (Security and Support), 2) Programming and Software Development, 3) Database Administration & Development and 4) Web-Design, - both creative & technical aspects. Within each field there are particular skills to get to grips with, and qualifications to attain. Each area has a selection of certification levels achieve. Software Development suits a different kind of person to web design, which satisfies yet another sort of individual to networking and security. Once you have had an opportunity to get guidance on all of the I.T. sectors, you will be much more comfortable that you have chosen the best career route for you.

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