Congratulations! As you’re looking at this it’s likely you’re thinking about retraining for a new career – so you’ve already done more than most. Only one in ten of us are content with our jobs, but most complain but just stay there. So, why not be one of the few who actually do something about it.
When considering retraining, it’s vital to first define your requirements from the position you’d like to train for. You need to know that things would be a lot better before much time and effort is spent re-directing your life. It’s good sense to regard the big picture first, to make an informed decision:
* Is having company at work important to you? Are you better with new people or those you know well? Or you may prefer task-orientated work that you can complete alone?
* What do you require from the market sector you work in? (Things do change – look at the building trade, or banks for example.)
* Is this the last time you imagine you’ll re-train, and if so, do you suppose your new career will allow you to do that?
* Are you concerned with regard to the chance of getting new work, and keeping a job until you plan to retire?
We would advise you to consider the computer industry – there are a larger number of roles than staff to fill them, plus it’s one of the few choices of career where the market sector is still growing. In contrast to the opinions of certain people, it isn’t just geeks looking at screens every day (some jobs are like that of course.) The vast majority of roles are occupied by ordinary men and women who enjoy better than average salaries.
The perhaps intimidating chore of securing your first job is often made easier by training colleges, through a Job Placement Assistance service. Often, too much is made of this feature, as it’s relatively easy for well qualified and focused men and women to get a job in this industry – because there’s a great need for skilled employees.
However, avoid waiting until you have completed your exams before bringing your CV up to date. As soon as you start a course, enter details of your study programme and place it on jobsites!
It’s not uncommon to find that junior support roles are offered to people who are in the process of training and haven’t even passed a single exam yet. This will at least get you into the ‘maybe’ pile of CV’s – rather than the ‘No’ pile.
The top companies to help get you placed are generally local IT focused employment agencies. Because they get paid commission to place you, they have more incentive to get on with it.
A big frustration for a number of training providers is how much people are focused on studying to get top marks in their exams, but how un-prepared they are to work on getting the role they’ve acquired skills for. Get out there and hustle – you might find it’s fun.
A ridiculously large number of organisations only concern themselves with gaining a certificate, and forget what it’s all actually about – which is a commercial career or job. You should always begin with the final destination in mind – don’t get hung-up on the training vehicle.
Don’t let yourself become one of the unfortunate masses who select a program that seems ‘fun’ or ‘interesting’ – and end up with a plaque on the wall for a career they’ll never really get any satisfaction from.
Spend some time thinking about earning potential and what level of ambition fits you. This will influence what precise certifications will be expected and how much effort you’ll have to give in return.
It’s good advice for all students to speak with an industry professional before following a particular study program. This gives some measure of assurance that it contains the commercially required skills for the chosen career path.
In most cases, your normal person has no idea in what direction to head in a computing career, let alone which market they should be considering getting trained in.
As having no previous experience in the IT industry, in what way could we understand what someone in a particular job does?
Generally, the way to deal with this question appropriately flows from a deep discussion of a number of areas:
* Personality plays an important role – what things get your juices flowing, and what are the areas that really turn you off.
* Are you aiming to achieve a closely held dream – like working for yourself someday?
* Does salary have a higher place on your priority-scale than some other areas.
* Often, trainees don’t consider the work involved to gain all the necessary accreditation.
* It’s wise to spend some time thinking about the level of commitment you’ll put into your training.
In all honesty, it’s obvious that the only real way to research these issues will be via a meeting with someone that understands Information Technology (as well as it’s commercial needs and requirements.)
Watch out that all accreditations you’re considering doing will be commercially viable and are up-to-date. The ‘in-house’ certifications provided by many companies are not normally useful in gaining employment.
Unless your qualification is issued by a company like Microsoft, CompTIA, Cisco or Adobe, then it’s likely it will be commercially useless – because it won’t give an employer any directly-useable skills.
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