Looking around, we find a glut of professional positions up for grabs in Information Technology. Finding the particular one in this uncertainty often proves challenging. What are the chances of us grasping what is involved in a particular job when we've never done it? Maybe we have never met anyone who works in that sector anyway. Reflection on these different points is important when you want to get to a solution that suits you:

- The type of personality you have and interests - what kind of work-centred jobs you enjoy or dislike.

- What time-frame are you looking at for the retraining?

- What are your thoughts on salary vs job satisfaction?

- Looking at the many markets that IT covers, you really need to be able to see the differences.

- It's wise to spend some time thinking about the level of commitment you're going to invest in your training.

The best way to avoid the industry jargon, and reveal what'll really work for you, have an informal meeting with an industry expert and advisor; someone that understands the commercial reality and of course each certification.

We can't make a big enough deal out of this point: You absolutely must have proper 24x7 support from professional instructors. We can tell you that you'll strongly regret it if you let this one slide. Never buy training courses that only support you through a message system after 6-9pm in the evening and during weekends. Training schools will give you every excuse in the book why you don't need this. But, no matter how they put it - you need support when you need support - not as-and-when it's suitable for their staff.

Keep your eyes open for training programs that have multiple support offices active in different time-zones. All of them should be combined to enable simple one-stop access together with access round-the-clock, when you need it, without any problems. If you fail to get yourself direct-access 24x7 support, you'll very quickly realise that you've made a mistake. It may be that you don't use it late in the night, but you're bound to use weekends, evenings and early mornings at some point.

Getting your first commercial position can feel more straightforward with a Job Placement Assistance facility. It can happen though that there is more emphasis than is necessary on this service, for it's really not that difficult for any motivated and trained individual to secure work in this industry - as there is such a shortage of qualified personnel.

However, what is relevant is to have advice and support about your CV and interviews though; and we'd recommend everybody to work on polishing up their CV as soon as training commences - don't procrastinate and leave it till you've finished your exams. Quite frequently, you will be offered your initial job while still studying (even in the early stages). If your CV doesn't say what you're learning (and it isn't in the hands of someone with jobs to offer) then you're not even going to be known about! Most often, a specialist independent regional employment service (who will, of course, be keen to place you to receive their commission) should get better results than any recruitment division from a training organisation. They should, of course, also know the local area and commercial needs.

Certainly ensure you don't put hundreds of hours of effort into your studies, then call a halt and leave it in the hands of the gods to find you a job. Get off your backside and start looking for yourself. Invest as much energy and enthusiasm into securing the right position as you did to get trained.

Qualifications from the commercial sector are now, most definitely, already replacing the more academic tracks into the IT industry - so why should this be? As demand increases for knowledge about more and more complex technology, the IT sector has of necessity moved to specific, honed-in training only available through the vendors themselves - that is companies like Microsoft, CompTIA, CISCO and Adobe. This often comes in at a fraction of the cost and time. This is done through honing in on the particular skills that are needed (alongside an appropriate level of related knowledge,) as opposed to going into the heightened depths of background non-specific minutiae that degrees in computing can get bogged down in - to pad out the syllabus.

The crux of the matter is this: Accredited IT qualifications give employers exactly what they're looking for - everything they need to know is in the title: for example, I am a 'Microsoft Certified Professional' in 'Planning and Maintaining a Windows 2003 Infrastructure'. Consequently an employer can look at the particular needs they have and which qualifications are required to fulfil that.

The vendor neutral world-wide institution CompTIA now provides possibly the most recognised and highly-regarded independent I.T. certifications. Additional establishments also provide deserving accreditations, for example CWNP ('Certified Wireless Network Professional') & ISC2 (International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium). Most conspicuously not surprisingly are Cisco and Microsoft themselves, each offering their own certification tracks. As there are so many training and career possibilities in this sector, it's a good idea to take more personalised advice from an experienced expert before choosing your particular course. This will stop you from making a costly mistake, both in terms of money and time-spent.

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