Monday, January 11, 2010

Home CS4 Design Training Insights

By Jason Kendall

Anybody thinking about training for the IT industry will soon realise that there are a huge amount of choices available to them. Before starting a training program, look for a training provider that has advisors, so you can be fully informed on the type of work your new knowledge will help you to get. You could uncover job roles you hadn't considered before.

If you're thinking about improving your computer skills, perhaps with a Microsoft Office Package, or possibly becoming professionally qualified, you have lots of courses to choose from.

State-of-the-art training techniques now allow students to be educated on a different type of course, that is much cheaper than more outdated courses. The economies of scale of these courses allows everybody access to them.

Charging for examinations up-front and presenting it as a guarantee for your exams is common for a number of training colleges. However, let's consider what's really going on:

In this day and age, we're a bit more aware of hype - and the majority of us ought to grasp that it is something we're paying for (it's not a freebie because they like us so much!)

It's everybody's ambition to qualify on the first attempt. Entering examinations when it's appropriate and paying as you go makes it far more likely you'll pass first time - you prepare appropriately and think carefully about the costs.

Sit the exam somewhere close to home and go for the best offer you can find when you're ready.

Paying in advance for examination fees (plus interest - if you're financing your study) is insane. Resist being talked into filling the training company's account with additional funds only to please their Bank Manager! Many will hope you don't even take them all - so they get to keep the extra funds.

In addition to this, 'Exam Guarantees' often aren't worth the paper they're written on. Many training companies will not pay for re-takes until you can prove to them you're ready to pass.

With average Prometric and VUE exams coming in at approximately 112 pounds in Great Britain, it's common sense to fund them one by one. It's not in the student's interests to fork out hundreds or thousands of pounds for exams when enrolling on a course. Consistent and systematic learning, coupled with quality exam simulation software is what will really see you through.

Commercial qualifications are now, most definitely, starting to replace the more academic tracks into the IT industry - so why is this the case?

As we require increasingly more effective technological know-how, the IT sector has had to move to the specialised core-skills learning that can only be obtained from the actual vendors - namely companies like Adobe, Microsoft, CISCO and CompTIA. This often comes in at a fraction of the cost and time.

Essentially, students are simply taught the necessary specifics in depth. It's slightly more broad than that, but the most important function is always to cover the precise skills needed (including a degree of required background) - without going into too much detail in all sorts of other things (as degree courses are known to do).

When an employer is aware what they're looking for, then all they have to do is advertise for the particular skill-set required. Commercial syllabuses are all based on the same criteria and don't change between schools (in the way that degree courses can).

People attracted to this sort of work are often very practical, and aren't really suited to the classroom environment, and poring through books and manuals. If you identify with this, try the newer style of interactive study, with on-screen demonstrations and labs.

Research into the way we learn shows that we remember much more when we use all our senses, and we get practically involved in what we're studying.

Interactive audio-visual materials involving demonstration and virtual lab's will turn you off book-based study for ever more. And you'll find them fun and interesting.

Always insist on a demonstration of the study materials from your training provider. You should ask for demo's from instructors, slideshows and virtual practice lab's for your new skills.

Select CD and DVD ROM based physical training media whenever you can. Thus avoiding all the issues associated with broadband 'downtime' or slow-speeds.

Authorised simulation materials and exam preparation packages are crucial - and must be supplied by your training company.

Students regularly can get confused by trying to prepare themselves with questions that aren't from official sources. It's not uncommon that the question formats and phraseology is unfamiliar and it's important to prepare yourself for this.

Simulated exams can be enormously valuable for confidence building - so that when you come to take your actual exams, you will be much more relaxed.

About the Author:

0 comments: