Now, why ought we to be looking at commercially accredited qualifications instead of the usual academic qualifications gained through the state educational establishments? With the costs of academic degree's increasing year on year, plus the industry's growing opinion that key company training is closer to the mark commercially, there has been a dramatic increase in Microsoft, CISCO, Adobe and CompTIA authorised training paths that supply key solutions to a student for much less time and money. Higher education courses, for instance, can often get caught up in a great deal of loosely associated study - with much too broad a syllabus. This holds a student back from getting enough core and in-depth understanding on a specific area.

The bottom line is: Recognised IT certifications give employers exactly what they're looking for - it says what you do in the title: as an example - I am a 'Microsoft Certified Professional' in 'Managing and Maintaining Windows Server 2003'. Therefore an employer can look at their needs and which qualifications are required to fulfil that.

'In-Centre workshop days' are often touted as a great feature by a lot of trainers. If you talk to most computer industry students who have partaken in a couple, you'll find they generally end up being seen as a difficulty to be 'got round' because of many things:

- Constant driving back and forth from the centre - usually 100's of miles.

- If you're working, then Monday to Friday classes cause problems at work. Often you're looking at at least 2, if not 3 days in a row.

- The majority of us discover 4 weeks annual leave isn't enough by far. Spend a big chunk of this for study events and see how much more difficult it makes things.

- Training events normally get over full.

- Tension can run high in the classroom where most students want to move at a pace comfortable for them.

- Many students tell us of the considerable cost of travelling back and forth to the facility while covering the cost of accommodation and food gets very high.

- Privacy is important to us all. We should never risk giving up any lift up the ladder due to us because of our studies.

- Don't think it's unusual for students to keep a question to themselves - purely down to the fact that they're with their peers.

- For students working away from home occasionally, you have the added problem that classes can often become impossible to get to - but unfortunately, they've already been paid for.

Why don't you watch a video and learn with tutors one-to-one in videoed classes, working on them at a time that's convenient for you and you alone. You can study at home on your desktop computer or if you have laptop, why not get outside if the weather's nice. Any questions; then get onto the live 24x7 support (that you should have insisted on for any technical study.) Lessons and modules can be repeated whenever you like - doing something over will help you remember it. And no worrying about keeping up with note-taking either - everything is already provided. Could it be simpler: No wasted time or money, travelling is avoided; plus you get a much more stress-free study setting.

A useful feature offered by some training providers is a programme of Job Placement assistance. It's intention is to help you get your first commercial position. Ultimately it isn't so complicated as you might think to secure your first job - once you're trained and certified; employers in this country need your skills.

Help with your CV and interview techniques is sometimes offered (alternatively, check out one of our sites for help). Ensure you bring your CV right up to date immediately - don't leave it till you pass the exams! You may not have got to the stage where you've taken your exams when you will be offered your first junior support position; although this isn't going to happen unless your CV is with employers. Generally, you'll receive better performance from a specialised and independent local recruitment service than you'll get from a training company's national service, because they'll know local industry and the area better.

Fundamentally, if you put as much hard work into getting a position as into studying, you're not going to hit many challenges. Some men and women bizarrely invest a great deal of time on their learning program and then call a halt once certified and would appear to think that businesses will just discover them.

Systems-programmers work in low level languages like C, although modern-day 'C' is a long way away from the original C - and it's definitely much more user-friendly now. Programmers engaged on 'applications' use higher-level 'languages', of which you can find a good deal. Every one has its own specific set of commands & rules, and some are suited to particular tasks more than others. Company database-software, for instance, is usually written in 'languages' suited to that environment, whereas games are likely to be written in low-level languages like 'C' - because they must be able to run as quickly as possible. It doesn't really make any difference if screen changes take a couple of milli-seconds longer with database applications, however it matters a tremendous amount with video games applications. As a result, a database oriented language gives you functions designed to help make your job easier - rather than strip things away to make it run faster. You could contrast it to the big difference between a racing car and a family estate. The five plus seater family estate is more comfortable and practical, but it's certainly not created for speed. For the purpose of getting the children from A to B though, it ticks all the right boxes.

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