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Just ten percent of adults in Great Britain are happy with what they do for a living. Of course, most will take no action. The fact that you’re reading this surely suggests that you’ve realised change must come.

When considering retraining, it’s important that you first make a list of what you want and don’t want from the position you would like to get. Ensure that a new career would suit you better before you put a lot of energy into changing the direction of your life. We recommend looking at the big picture first, to avoid disappointment:

* Do you hope for interaction with others? If so, do you like working with the same people or are you more comfortable dealing with strangers? Alternatively, do you like to deal with your responsibilities alone?

* Building and Banking are not coping well at the moment, so think carefully about the sector that would suit you best?

* Is this the last time you imagine you’ll re-train, and if it is, will this new career give you scope to do that?

* Would you like your training course to be in an area where you believe you’ll remain employable until your pension kicks in?

It’s important that one of your key sectors is Information Technology – it’s common knowledge that it’s developing all the time. It’s not all nerdy people looking at computer screens constantly – it’s true some IT jobs demand that, but the majority of roles are filled with Joe averages who do very well out of it.

If you’re considering a training academy that still provides ‘in-centre’ days as a feature of their programme, then take note of these problems experienced by almost all students:

* The amount of travel required – multiple visits and quite often 100’s of miles each time.

* For those of us that work, then Mon-Fri events represent a difficulty in getting time off. You’re usually having to deal with 2-3 days at a time as well.

* If we get 20 days holiday per year, sacrificing half of them for training events means we’ll be hard-pushed to get a holiday with our families.

* Because of the cost involved, a lot of schools really push the size of the class – certainly not ideal (and much less personal).

* Some trainees lean towards a pace that is different to the other class members. Often this can bring about tension in the class.

* Add up the cost of all the fares or petrol, parking, accommodation and food and you’ll be in for a big surprise. Trainees talk of increased costs mounting to several hundred and sometimes thousands of pounds. Take some time to add it all up – and see for yourself.

* You should never risk the chance of letting yourself be overlooked for a lift up the ladder or pay-rises because you’re getting trained in a different area.

* We all find that, at times, it’s uncomfortable to raise questions when surrounded by other students – who wants to look like they’re the only one who doesn’t get it?

* If you on occasion work elsewhere in the country for several days at a time, imagine the increased difficulty in reaching the necessary events, when time is at a premium.

Many students discover a more flexible approach is to make use of ready-made, videoed lessons at home, in comfort – taking them when it’s convenient to you – not someone else.

Training can take place wherever it suits you. If your PC is a laptop, take in some sun outside while you learn. If you have any problems then make use of the 24×7 support.

It really doesn’t matter how often you would like to re-take a quiz or test, on-screen teachers can never get frustrated with you! And don’t forget, with this method, note-taking is gone forever. Everything is already there for you.

Essentially: You save money, avoid hassle, don’t waste time and avoid polluting the environment.

Potential Students hoping to begin an IT career often have no idea of which route is best, or what area to build their qualifications around.

Flicking through a list of odd-sounding and meaningless job titles is next to useless. Most of us don’t really appreciate what our next-door neighbours do at work each day – so what chance do we have in understanding the intricacies of a specific IT job.

Arriving at the right conclusion will only come from a meticulous analysis of several varying key points:

* Your personality type plus what interests you – the sort of working tasks you love or hate.

* Do you want to obtain training for a specific reason – e.g. do you aim to work based at home (working for yourself?)?

* Does salary have a higher place on your priority-list than some other areas.

* Learning what the main job areas and sectors are – and what differentiates them.

* Having a serious look at the level of commitment, time and effort that you’re going to put into it.

For the average person, getting to the bottom of each of these concepts tends to require the help of a professional who can explain things properly. And we don’t just mean the qualifications – but also the commercial requirements and expectations also.

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With an abundance of IT courses to be had, it can be difficult to find the right one. Find one that’s on a par with your character and abilities, and that’s in demand in the working environment.

Why not try user skills courses, or take a career track and specialise. Plain speaking courses will set you on the right track to achieve your goals.

Today, there are many user-friendly and accessibly priced options available that will give you everything you need.

Does job security really exist anywhere now? Here in the UK, with industry changing its mind on a day-to-day basis, there doesn’t seem much chance.

Wherever we find growing skills deficits mixed with increasing demand however, we can discover a newer brand of market-security; as fuelled by a continual growth, companies just can’t get the number of people required.

The most recent United Kingdom e-Skills analysis showed that over 26 percent of all available IT positions cannot be filled due to a huge deficit of trained staff. Quite simply, we can’t properly place more than 3 out of every 4 jobs in the computer industry.

This one idea alone shows why the United Kingdom urgently requires a lot more workers to get trained and enter the Information Technology market.

Without a doubt, this really is a fabulous time to join Information Technology (IT).

You’ll come across courses which guarantee examination passes – this always means you have to pay for the exams at the very beginning of your studies. But before you get taken in by guaranteed exams, be aware of the facts:

Everyone knows they’re still paying for it – it’s not so hard to see that it’s been inserted into the gross price invoiced by the training company. It’s definitely not free – and it’s insulting that we’re supposed to think it is!

The honest truth is that if students pay for each examination, at the time of taking them, they’ll be in a better position to pass every time – because they’re aware of their payment and therefore will put more effort into their preparation.

Do the examinations as locally as possible and hold on to your money and pay for the exam when you take it.

A lot of questionable training course providers secure huge profits by charging for examinations upfront and hoping that you won’t take them all.

Remember, with most ‘Exam Guarantees’ – you are not in control of when you are allowed to have another go. You will have to demonstrate an excellent pass-rate before they’ll approve a re-take.

With average Prometric and VUE exams coming in at approximately 112 pounds in Great Britain, by far the best option is to pay for them as you take them. Not to fork out thousands extra in up-front costs. Study, commitment and preparing with good quality mock and practice exams is what will really guarantee success.

Don’t accept anything less than an accredited exam preparation programme included in your course.

Often students can find themselves confused by trying to prepare themselves with questions that aren’t recognised by the authorised examining boards. Often, the question formats and phraseology is unfamiliar and you should be prepared for this.

Be sure to have some simulated exam questions that will allow you to check your comprehension at all times. Simulations of exams add to your knowledge bank – then you won’t be quite so nervous at the actual exam.

So, why should we consider qualifications from the commercial sector instead of more traditional academic qualifications taught at tech’ colleges and universities?

Industry is now aware that to cover the necessary commercial skill-sets, certified accreditation from such organisations as Microsoft, CISCO, Adobe and CompTIA is far more effective and specialised – saving time and money.

Higher education courses, for instance, often get bogged down in too much loosely associated study – and a syllabus that’s too generalised. This prevents a student from getting enough specific knowledge about the core essentials.

Just like the advert used to say: ‘It does what it says on the label’. The company just needs to know where they have gaps, and then advertise for someone with the specific certification. Then they’re assured that a potential employee can do exactly what’s required.

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We all know people who appear to breeze through life, happily moving from one triumph to the next. On the other hand, we know others who never quite make it, and always have an answer why life has dealt them a hard blow. Society is made up of victors and victims, and the difference can very often be boiled down to one key factor – attitude.

It’s essential when moving into a new career direction to adopt the habits of the victor to achieve the right outcome. Victims attempt actions over-cautiously, hoping for good things, but never really feeling they’re worthy of great things. The victors mentally commit to a successful outcome, and support their actions with emotion.

Take a couple of tennis players about to play a championship game. One says “It’s my last chance – I’ll give it my best efforts,” but the other one says “Winning is my destiny – it’s everything to me.” No prizes for guessing who’ll win the championship. They might both put in the same amount of time, but the victor spends more of it on his mental training to win.

The victim is defined by the word BED – one who stays in bed and gives up. The victor is defined by the word OAR – a figure paddling towards success. BED = Blame, Excuses and Denial. OAR = Ownership, Accountability and Responsibility.

The victor doesn’t expect someone else to lead the way – and takes ownership of his or her tasks. He’s liable for his actions, and so takes them seriously (seeing things through by tackling problems not creating them). He takes responsibility for the results of his actions, and doesn’t allow excuses from himself.

The victim can always come up with a reason for not achieving, and it’s rarely to do with himself. Everything is always somebody else’s fault – he doesn’t feel in control so puts the blame at someone else’s door. He gives excuses for his lack of performance, and doesn’t realise the only person he’s convincing is himself. After repeating this pattern of blame and excuses for a while, the victim is in denial, absolutely convinced that there’s nothing he can do about this situation.

Students about to embark on a life-changing training course should give themselves a mental work-out, to prepare for success. Anybody who relates to the victim mentality will have to look at these issues before they start, to take full advantage of the potential in front of them.

The two sets of attitudes are both just habits. With constant repetition over time, habits can be changed. Listen to the little voice in your head – if it’s obviously a victim, then consciously stop it and verbalise why you can achieve. Nobody else is any better than you are – some have just conquered their demons and emerged victorious.

“There is no such thing as a hero, only those who rise to the occasion”. Those were the words of Winston Churchill, and they’re just as valid today. We need to have the attitude of a winner in order to become a winner, both in learning and in life.

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I’m not professing that IT training and careers within IT are the be-all and end-all of futures on this planet. God forbid where we would be without the highly paid football stars to entertain us so well on a week by week basis. Yet there has to be a reason why more and more people are studying for careers within the IT industry.

The increase in IT training for those people who are seeking a career change or an enhancement to their existing skill sets has been an interesting development. In reviewing this, I’m curious to find out if this option really is viable, and why IT continues to offer the attraction?

When looking at relationships, we all accept that people and key elements can change. A girlfriend or boyfriend at the age of 10 is often thought a cute thing, but it’s not expected to last. Relationships at the age of 18-20 can be less transient, but again have a greater rate of short-term life span than those formed later in life.

We ask young people to make decisions and plan their working career fairly early on in life. Yet historically there seems to be an inherent resistance to change as times passes. So if we accept that life changes, and we accept that circumstances also change, isn’t it prudent for us to accept that career paths can and indeed ought to change?

Modern society continually relies on IT, and IT related factors. Based on simple economics of supply and demand, this leads many people to assume that a career in this field would be reliable and well paid. Many people see a direct transfer of how they use IT systems socially (such as social interaction on the internet e.g. facebook and playing games etc.) into a career. What factors would actually lead towards a successful career, and is this a genuine realism of a career within IT?

I believe that a key element in answering this is an understanding that a career in IT is as dependent on factors such as an employer (or client base if self-employed,) and economic issues, as any other career path. However, there is considerable evidence to suggest that professional people within the IT industry can move between employers and industry sectors more freely, due to the wide dependence on IT services across both geographic and industry models.

The term ‘Professional IT People’ is one of the key elements here – as in any other industry, employers have consistently sought staff where the skills can be proven by both experience and a recognised, approved benchmark. This is the same whether that’s a degree, or recognised apprenticeship culminating in an industry standard qualification, like an electrician or plumber.

The IT industry is just the same. Many people have access to a computer at home, and can experience several factors of the IT industry in a refined environment. Yet this is in many cases vastly different from the skills and resources required in the commercial sector. We’d all agree, I’m sure, that spending four hours a night surfing the internet or playing games doesn’t make us a qualified webmaster or a qualified games designer.

Within the IT field, professional qualifications such as MCSE or MCSA are immediately recognisable as an industry standard. Employers know they can rely upon the skills offered, and as such there’s a reduced risk of breach of commercial insurance policies for work and services provided by such people. This applies whether they are self-employed or directly employed.

If you’re seriously considering a future within the IT industry, you must look at how best to position yourself to become attractive to an employer. Holding a professional qualification goes a long way towards this. We should at least be aware of what the employer or client is looking for in recruitment or engagement, as they are the ones paying the salary.

We have plenty of data in existence to support the view that the IT sector growth is faster and more resilient than many other industry sectors. We’re seeing a transitional shift in industry sectors, from the first world over to the third world. Many growing or ‘tiger’ economies are adapting to (and embracing) long standing IT systems at a very fast rate indeed.

Up to now in this article we’ve looked at the trends, which with the slow down and in some cases demise of traditional industry (and therefore traditional job-for-life expectancies), there will be an increasing propensity towards several jobs and career paths over our lifetime.

What’s more, we’ve noted that the IT industry remains attractive consistently as it continues to provide both supply and demand across geographical boundaries and across industry sectors. Todays forecasts also predict the increasing long-term dependence on IT systems overall. This includes the professional individuals who develop, utilise and maintain those systems, as they remain integral to many organisations long-term requirements.

Expectations for salaries continue to be high within this field, and plenty of evidence suggests that this is achievable. However, it is worth noting that the top-people get paid the top-money in many other industries. It’s not good enough to simply ‘be there’ and does not guarantee the top-money.

We have also put forward the case that employers review recruitment for IT skills as no different to any other facet of their business, and they expect the individuals to formally demonstrate their skills and qualifications, in exactly the same way as they expect their electricians and accountants to be professionally qualified to do the work they’re employed to do.

It’s my belief that there is considerable evidence to view a career in IT as a strong and viable option for many people in today’s economic and social climate. Significant salaries are definitely achievable. And yet, it’s equally clear and only common sense to expect to have to gain a recognisable professional IT qualification. This not only clearly demonstrate one’s own ability, but at the very least it displays the attitude that your prospective employer can rely on you in the commercial field and that you are serious about this career path.

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Long term studies recently indicated that the average cost of bringing up a child in the UK amounted to 193,000 pounds in total – equating to approximately 26-28 pounds per day. The news was greeted with a swathe of cynical retorts from long suffering parents almost unified in their total lack of surprise.

Many people are now weighing up the current recession and its effect on traditional education systems. Consistent reference is being made to the strategies to survive adopted by parents, educators and students in the recession of the 1990’s.

Analysis suggests that on average up to 40 percent of the entire household disposable income is spent on education and schooling overall. With the hardening attitude towards bank lending and mortgage allocation this figure could rise as our young people stay with their parents for longer before leaving the nest and lengthen their education programs – almost as a by product of something to do whilst we wait for things to get better.

The cost of living is increasingly monopolising the family focus. Additionally, many companies are cutting back on training and development programs. So people feel it’s pointless spending money on training when they do not know for certain that they will not be made redundant – it is little wonder that many are now re-accessing their method of personal development and the subject matter that they study in.

Historically, public services, banking and the like have all been thought of as stable long term employers and attracted people accordingly. Over the last decade or so this has largely been superseded by the perception of employment offered within the IT industry.

Unlike training in the motor industry or engineering, where key skills often have to be gained in a practical environment, IT training can be predominantly home based. Whilst it is difficult to transport a complete car production line into the home, computer based training is easily at hand. Developments in the intellectual property field such as IT have grown exponentially as a result of this and the continued enhancements in the way the skills are taught and learnt.

New training methods using round the clock remote access to highly skilled lecturers adds weight to the strategy and results in certification in a field that is widely sought after all over the world. Along with visably quantified salary and career structures it is not surprising that IT training is so attractive.

With many people unsure of their future, whether early on in their career or mid way through life, home based training in subjects such as IT can often be seen as a superb, low cost, easy paced development program; gaining skills that are easily accepted anywhere in the world and highly resilient in a changeable economic environment.

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Dividing the different stages of learning into sections can be really helpful when we’re trying to work out where we are and how far we can go. Looking at the big goal can be quite scary – (let’s say professional web designer with a big portfolio of customers who are dependent on our expertise), when it’s as much as we can do to recall the names of the software we’ll be learning from!

There are four levels of understanding. Anytime we take on something new, we all go through these levels, and realising that helps us to measure ourselves and our progress.

Unconscious Incompetent, Conscious Incompetent, Conscious Competent and Unconscious Competent.

Unconscious Incompetent – This is stage one where career changers often start. At this stage we know we want to change, but we don’t yet know what we don’t know, what we need to know, how to learn it or where it might take us! Sounds a bit desperate, but the main thing is knowing we want to change – everything else can be taught.

Getting advice is the essential thing for the stage one person. By talking things through with an experienced advisor, they can find out what’s involved in the process; discover where they want to go and what they need to learn.

Conscious Incompetent – this is stage two. Now we’re probably at the start of our training course. Having been taught the various options, we’ve chosen our career path, and we know what we have to learn – or to put it another way, we’re conscious of what we don’t yet know, or what incompetences we currently have.

Understanding this is important, to have the wisdom of knowing where we are. Grasping conscious incompetence means that we don’t get quite so frustrated in the early stages of our learning – it’s possible we’re not very good at it (especially if it’s been a while since we were at school…) but we know we’ll get better. Modern interactive learning accelerates this process, so we won’t be at this stage for long.

Then we reach stage three, which is Conscious Competent. Now we’re in the zone of the learning environment, and pick things up much faster. We still have to think consciously about what we’re doing all the time, but we can learn competently. Whilst in this learning stage we’ll probably complete our studies and successfully pass our exams. It’s likely to also extend into our working life too.

Think about when we learned to drive a car. We’d reached conscious competency at the time of our exam – still very conscious of every manoeuvre, but good enough to pass the test. We could only move into stage four when we gained more experience along with the knowledge.

In the computer world, before we become Unconsciously Competent we’ll most likely be several years into our working experience. At that stage, we know what we need to know, and no longer have to consciously think about why we do something. Although school’s never out for the pro, (and the joy in IT is there’s always more to learn) getting to this lofty height of understanding makes all the hard work worth it.

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