You should feel pleased that you’re on the right track! Only one in ten folks claim contentment with their job, but vast numbers just bitch about it and nothing happens. Because you’ve done research we can guess that you’re at least considering retraining, so even now you’re ahead of the game. The next step is to get busy to find your direction.
Before we even think about specific training programs, look for an advisor who can help you sort out the right type of training for you. An advisor who will take time to get to know your personality, and find out what types of work suit you:
* Do you want to interact with other people? If so, do you like working with the same people or are you hoping to meet new people? Or are you better working in isolation?
* The building trade and the banking industry are none too stable right now, so which industry will answer your needs?
* Having completed your retraining, would you like your skills to see you to retirement age?
* Do you think being qualified will give you the chance to find the work you’re looking for, and remain in employment until your retirement plans kick in?
The largest sector in this country that fulfils the above criteria is Information Technology. There’s a demand for more skilled people in IT, – take a look at any job site and there’ll be a long list. However, it’s not full of techie geeks staring at theirscreens every day – it’s much more diverse than that. Large numbers of employees in the computer industry are just like the rest of us, with jobs they enjoy and better than average salaries.
‘In-Centre workshop days’ get pushed as a major benefit by many training companies. After chatting with the majority of computer industry hopefuls that have tried them out, you’ll likely realise that they’ve now become a waste of time mainly due to the following:
* Many round journeys – quite often hundreds of miles each and every time.
* Weekday accessibility to events can be usual, and with 2-3 days to book off work, this is usually problematic for most working students.
* And let’s not forget lost vacation time. Usually we’re lucky to have four weeks vacation allowance. If half of that is used up on workshops, then it doesn’t leave much for us and our families.
* Classes usually get fully subscribed quite quickly, meaning we have to accept a slot that doesn’t really suit.
* The pace of the class – centre-days usually have trainees of varied aptitude, so tension can be created between those that want to go quickly as opposed to those who prefer a more relaxed pace.
* You shouldn’t ignore the added financial outlay of travelling or accommodation either. This can run to a lot of money – from hundreds to thousands. Do the maths yourself – you’ll be (unpleasantly) surprised.
* It’s important to maintain privacy. We don’t want to risk losing any advancement that we’re owed while we retrain.
* Most of us find that, at times, it’s uncomfortable to raise questions in a class full of other trainees – who wants to look like they’re the only one who doesn’t get it?
* Being away from home with your work during the week – a fair few students find they’re living or working away for sections of the programme. Workshops are very difficult then, unfortunately you’ve already paid for them with your initial fees.
Many students discover a more flexible approach is to utilise videoed workshops wherever you want to take them – studying at your own pace, when it suits you – not anyone else.
Do them at home on your desktop computer or out in the garden on your laptop. Any questions that pop up, just make use of the 24×7 support (that we hope you’ll insist on with any technical courses.)
It doesn’t matter how regularly you want to re-do a section, filmed instructors can never get frustrated with you! And remember, because of this, note-taking becomes a thing of the past. Everything’s laid out there for you.
Even though this doesn’t suddenly take away all study problems, it surely removes stress and makes things simpler. And you’ve reduced travel, hassle and costs.
Have a conversation with any expert advisor and they can normally tell you many terrible tales of students who’ve been sold completely the wrong course for them. Ensure you only ever work with an industry professional that asks some in-depth questions to find out what’s right for you – not for their paycheque! It’s very important to locate the right starting point of study for you.
Often, the training start-point for a student with a little experience is massively different to the student with no experience.
If this is going to be your opening crack at an IT exam then you may want to begin with user-skills and software training first.