Of course: the course itself or an accreditation is not what you're looking for; the career you're training for is. Many trainers unfortunately completely prioritise the course or the qualification. You could be training for only a year and end up doing the job for 20 years. Avoid the mistake of finding what seems like a very 'interesting' program only to waste your life away with an unrewarding career!

Be honest with yourself about what you want to earn and how ambitious you are. This can often control what particular qualifications will be required and what you can expect to give industry in return. It's good advice for all students to speak to an experienced industry professional before they embark on a training programme. This gives some measure of assurance that it features what is required for the career that is sought.

Many trainers will provide a useful Job Placement Assistance service, to help you get your first job. In reality it's not as difficult as you may be led to believe to land the right work - assuming you're well trained and qualified; the shortage of IT personnel in Britain looks after that.

Bring your CV up to date as soon as possible however (advice and support for this should come from your course provider). Don't put it off for when you're ready to start work. It's not unusual to find that you'll land your initial role while you're still a student (even in the early stages). If your CV doesn't say what you're learning (and it's not being looked at by employers) then you're not even going to be known about! The best services to help you land that job are generally specialist locally based employment services. Because they make their money when they've found you a job, they have more incentive to get on with it.

Do be sure that you don't conscientiously work through your course materials, and then do nothing more and leave it up to everyone else to sort out your employment. Stop procrastinating and get on with the job. Invest the same time and energy into getting the right position as you did to get trained.

Trainees looking at this market are usually quite practically-minded, and don't always take well to classrooms, and struggling through thick study-volumes. If you're thinking this sounds like you, use multimedia, interactive learning, where you can learn everything on-screen. Research has always demonstrated that becoming involved with our studies, to utilise all our senses, is proven to produce longer-lasting and deeper memory retention.

Courses are now available via DVD-ROM discs, so everything is learned directly from your own PC. Using video-streaming, you can watch instructors demonstrating how to perform the required skill, with some practice time to follow - in a virtual lab environment. Any company that you're considering should willingly take you through some examples of the materials provided for study. Expect video tutorials, instructor led classes and interactive areas to practice in.

It's unwise to opt for on-line only training. With highly variable reliability and quality from your average broadband company, ensure that you have access to actual CD or DVD ROM's.

Workshops are often sold as a great facet by some training schools. If you talk to most computer industry hopefuls that have tried them out, you'll likely realise that they've now become a major problem as they hadn't properly considered the following:

- Masses of journeys to the training centre - usually 100's of miles.

- Workshop accessibility; usually Mon-Fri and usually 2-3 days at a time. This can be difficult to get the work-leave.

- Lost annual leave - many students are given only twenty days of leave annually. If half or more of that is used up by educational workshops, that doesn't leave much holiday time left for students and their families.

- Classes invariably get overly large as well.

- Class pace - classes usually contain trainees of varying abilities, therefore there is often tension between students with more background knowledge and those who want to go a little slower.

- Don't forget the increased expense of driving and over-night bed and breakfast either. This may well run to hundreds and even thousands of pounds extra. Work it out - you'll get a shock.

- Keeping your training private from your employer will be of paramount importance to a lot of trainees. Why sacrifice any possible promotions, salary hikes or accomplishment at work because of your studies. When your boss discovers you've committed to accreditation in a different industry, what do you think they'll do?

- It's not unusual to find it difficult to ask questions in a room full of our fellow students - as we don't want to look silly.

- If your work takes you away from home, it's apparent that days in-centre can become impossible to get to - but unfortunately, they've been paid for in advance.

Infinitely more flexible is to utilise ready-made, videoed workshops at home, in comfort - and do it when it's convenient to you - not anybody else. You can study from home on your desktop computer or if you have laptop, why not get outside if the weather's nice. If you've got questions, then use the provided 24x7 live support (that should come with any technical program.) It really doesn't matter how regularly you feel you need to repeat something, on-screen tutors won't ever lose patience! Also, in this situation, there's no need to take notes. Everything is already there for you when you need it. What could be more straightforward: Time and money is saved and travelling is avoided altogether; and you get a much more comfortable training environment.

Look at the points below in detail if you've been persuaded that that old marketing ploy of examination guarantees seems like a good idea:

Thankfully, today we're a little more 'marketing-savvy' - and most of us grasp that we are actually being charged for it - they're not just being charitable and doling out freebies! People who take exams one at a time, paying for them just before taking them are in a much stronger position to qualify at the first attempt. They are mindful of what they've paid and so are more inclined to be up to the task.

Do your exams somewhere local and go for the best offer you can find when you're ready. Why tie up your cash (or borrow more than you need) for exam fees when there was no need to? A great deal of money is netted by organisations charging upfront for all their exams - and hoping either that you won't take them, or it will be a long time before you do. In addition to this, 'Exam Guarantees' often aren't worth the paper they're written on. Many training companies won't pay for you to re-take until you can prove to them you're ready to pass.

Paying maybe a thousand pounds extra on 'Exam Guarantees' is naive - when study, commitment and preparing with good quality mock and practice exams is what will really see you through.

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