| Should you fancy being a web designer, find a course | | | | Adobe all have nationally renowned skills programmes. |
| in Adobe Dreamweaver. For commercial applications | | | | Huge conglomerates such as these will make sure |
| you should have an in-depth understanding of the | | | | you're employable. |
| whole Adobe Web Creative Suite. This will include (but | | | | So, why might we choose commercially accredited |
| is by no means restricted to) Action Script and Flash. If | | | | qualifications rather than the usual academic |
| you wish to become an ACP (Adobe Certified | | | | qualifications taught at tech' colleges and universities? |
| Professional) or an ACE (Adobe Certified Expert) then | | | | Vendor-based training (as it's known in the industry) is |
| such knowledge is non-negotiable. | | | | far more effective and specialised. The IT sector has |
| The building of the website is only the beginning of the | | | | acknowledged that this level of specialised |
| skill set required though - in order to maintain content, | | | | understanding is vital to cope with a technically |
| create traffic, and work on dynamic sites that are | | | | advancing commercial environment. Microsoft, |
| database driven, you'll need to bolt on more | | | | CompTIA, CISCO and Adobe are the key players in |
| programming skills, such as PHP, HTML, and MySQL. In | | | | this arena. In a nutshell, only required knowledge is |
| addition, you should have an excellent grasp of | | | | taught. It's slightly more broad than that, but principally |
| E-Commerce and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). | | | | the objective has to be to master the precisely |
| Students often end up having issues because of one | | | | demanded skill-sets (with some necessary |
| area of their training which doesn't even occur to them: | | | | background) - without attempting to cover a bit about |
| The way the training is divided into chunks and | | | | every other area (as universities often do). |
| packaged off through the post. Many think it logical | | | | The bottom line is: Accredited IT qualifications tell an |
| (with most training taking 1-3 years to achieve full | | | | employer precisely what skills you have - the title is a |
| certification,) that a training provider will issue one | | | | complete giveaway: as an example - I am a 'Microsoft |
| section at a time, as you achieve each exam pass. | | | | Certified Professional' in 'Planning and Maintaining a |
| Although: What if for some reason you don't get to | | | | Windows 2003 Infrastructure'. Therefore employers |
| the end of every single section? What if you don't find | | | | can look at the particular needs they have and what |
| their order of learning is ideal for you? Without any | | | | certifications are needed for the job. |
| fault on your part, you may not meet the required | | | | Massive developments are flooding technology in the |
| timescales and not receive all the modules you've paid | | | | near future - and it becomes more and more thrilling |
| for. | | | | each day. We're barely starting to understand how all |
| To provide the maximum security and flexibility, it's not | | | | this change will affect us. The way we correlate with |
| unusual for students to make sure that every element | | | | the world as a whole will be profoundly affected by |
| of their training is sent immediately, and not in a | | | | computers and the internet. |
| piecemeal fashion. You can then decide how fast or | | | | If making decent money is way up on your scale of |
| slow and in what order you want to finish things. | | | | wants, then you will appreciate the fact that the |
| Consider only learning programmes that move onto | | | | income on average of IT employees in general is |
| commercially accepted certifications. There's an | | | | significantly higher than with other market sectors. As |
| endless list of small companies promoting unknown | | | | the IT industry keeps increasing with no sign of a |
| 'in-house' certificates which aren't worth the paper | | | | slow-down, the chances are that demand for certified |
| they're printed on in the real world. All the major | | | | IT professionals will flourish for the significant future. |
| commercial players like Microsoft, CompTIA, Cisco or | | | | |