Should you be aspiring to become Cisco accredited, but you've no practical experience with switches and routers, we'd recommend taking the Cisco CCNA qualification. This will provide you with the knowledge you need to understand routers. Vast numbers of routers make up the internet, and national or international corporations with several locations also utilise routers to connect their computer networks.
The sort of jobs available with this kind of skill mean you'll be more likely to work for national or international corporations that have various different locations but still need contact. On the other hand, you might end up working for an internet service provider. Either way, you'll be in demand and can expect a high salary.
Qualifying up to the CCNA level is where you should be aiming; don't let some salesperson talk you into starting with the CCNP. With experience, you will have a feel for if it's relevant for you to have this next level up. Should that be the case, your experience will serve as the background you need for the CCNP – because it's far from a walk in the park – and shouldn't be taken lightly.
There is no way of over emphasising this: Always get full 24×7 support from professional instructors. We can tell you that you'll strongly regret it if you don't heed this.
Find a good quality service with proper support available at any time of the day or night (irrespective of whether it's the wee hours on Sunday morning!) You want access directly to professional tutors, and not access to a call-in service which takes messages – so you're parked in a queue of others waiting to be called back during office hours.
Be on the lookout for providers that utilise many support facilities from around the world. Each one should be integrated to offer a simple interface and round-the-clock access, when you need it, with no fuss.
Don't ever make the mistake of taking second best when it comes to your support. Most IT hopefuls who fall by the wayside, are in that situation because of support (or the lack of).
An all too common mistake that we encounter all too often is to choose a career based on a course, rather than starting with the desired end-result. Colleges are brimming over with direction-less students who chose a course based on what sounded good – in place of something that could gain them an enjoyable career or job.
It's a sad fact, but a large percentage of students begin programs that seem amazing in the sales literature, but which gets us a career that doesn't satisfy. Just ask several college graduates for a real eye-opener.
Stay focused on where you want to get to, and then build your training requirements around that – avoid getting them back-to-front. Stay on target – making sure you're training for an end-result that will keep you happy for many years.
Before setting out on a training course, you'd be well advised to chat over individual market requirements with an experienced advisor, to ensure the training course covers all the bases.
The old fashioned style of teaching, using textbooks and whiteboards, is an up-hill struggle for the majority of us. If all this is ringing some familiar bells, find training programs which feature interactive and multimedia modules.
Our ability to remember is increased when we use multiple senses – learning experts have been saying this for decades now.
Study programs now come in disc format, where everything is taught on your PC. Using video-streaming, you can watch instructors demonstrating how to perform the required skill, and then practice yourself – via the interactive virtual lab's.
You'll definitely want a study material demo' from any training college. You should ask for slide-shows, instructor-led videos and interactive labs where you get to practice.
Avoid training that is purely online. Physical CD or DVD ROM materials are preferable where available, as you need to be able to use them whenever it's convenient for you – and not be totally reliant on your internet connection always being 'up' and available.
Most of us would love to think that our careers are secure and our work prospects are protected, but the growing reality for the majority of jobs in the United Kingdom currently appears to be that there is no security anymore.
In actuality, security now only emerges in a rapidly growing marketplace, driven by work-skills shortages. It's this alone that creates the appropriate setting for a secure marketplace – a far better situation.
The 2006 UK e-Skills survey highlighted that twenty six percent of IT jobs are unfilled mainly due to a chronic shortage of properly qualified workers. Quite simply, we can't properly place more than 3 out of each four job positions in the computing industry.
Attaining full commercial computing qualification is as a result an effective route to achieve a long-lasting and enjoyable livelihood.
In actuality, acquiring professional IT skills during the next few years is likely the best career move you'll ever make.
