The most important point to be aware of when you are thinking about any sort of computer training is what you want to accomplish out of it. Do you have a job in mind that requires a number of PC literacy skills, or do you merely wish to know the way to use the internet more extensively? Alternatively, you may be targeting a full change of career into the I.T. industry.

Where you wish to wind up should be your 1st thing to consider. If you are sure about why you need to get trained, you can make an educated evaluation about most suitable kind for you personally. Beginning with the end in mind may furthermore keep you from making costly errors.

Generally there are several different employment sectors for IT workers: The first is Networking and Support, the second is Programming (& Software Development), the third is Databases (Administration & Development) and the fourth is Web-Design. Each different area of expertise calls for it's own particular skill-sets and certifications, with numerous accreditations from entry level to extremely advanced. Programming satisfies a different type of person to web-design, which satisfies yet another type of person to networking & support. As soon as you've had an opportunity to get guidance on all of the IT career options, you will be a lot more confident that you have chosen the best career route for you.

You'll get the opportunity to find out more about the different IT careers and training routes from dedicated web-pages on this web site. On the other hand, you could ask for our free information pack and then ring to speak with one of our expert advisors.

Going a stage further again, you could consider the 1st stage of Professional certification: User & Systems-support. Typically, if you are going to offer software support to users in a corporate environment, then the MCDST (Microsoft Certified Desktop Support Technician) could be relevant. You'd generally be looking at around 100 hours of studying for this level.

Next, we enter the area of full Professional IT certification. 'CompTIA' offer probably the most commonly recognised entry to industry examinations (namely A+ & 'Network+') for hardware support, networking and security. These exams will take care of the fundamentals of hard-ware & network installation, security, administration, trouble shooting & support. The majority of blended 'A+' and N+ training courses take the average person approx . 200-250 hours to complete, so can successfully be studied alongside regular job.

Those who purely want to have a good idea of how to use a laptop or computer for simple operations, the ECDL is the course for you. It will deal with how to work the basic elements of 'Windows' (which is the system that runs most home PC's.) Also it goes through how to get onto the net, so you can use email to send & receive communications, and browse the whole of the web. You'll also cover the basics of word processing and a bit about what databases & spreadsheets are generally used for.

The next level is to get some more formal instruction to boost your Resume or prepare you for extra roles in the office. A wide understanding of 'Microsoft Office' is definitely the skill-set most require at this level. Two industry accepted qualification programs are MOS (Microsoft 'Office Specialist') & MCAS (Microsoft Certified Application Specialist). The MOS is based around the 'Microsoft Office' 2003 environment under Windows 'XP' (which is still probably the most popular in business), whereas the MCAS is based around Windows Vista & Office 2007, so might be better placed for the long run. You will find different exams for both which cover Excel for 'spreadsheets', "Access" for 'databases', 'Powerpoint' for presentations and "Word" for word-processing. Each of them are well respected certifications & help make it effortless for employers to appreciate your in depth expertise with the applications.

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