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Cisco Career Training Online - How Do You Choose (060509)

May 23rd, 2009

The CCNA certification is your entry level for Cisco training. This will enable you to handle maintaining and installing switches and routers. Fundamentally, the internet is based upon huge numbers of routers, and big organisations who have a number of branches utilise them to connect their computer networks.

Successfully achieving this certification means you’ll most probably find yourself working for national or international corporations that are spread out geographically, but still need contact. Alternatively, you may find yourself employed by an internet service provider. This specialised skill set is highly paid.

Find a tailored route that will systematically go through everything to ensure that you’ve mastered the necessary skills and knowledge before starting your training in Cisco skills.

How can we arrive at a good choice then? With such prospects, it’s important to know where to dig - and what to be searching for.

Far too many companies are all about the certification, and forget what it’s all actually about - which is of course employment. Your focus should start with the end in mind - don’t make the vehicle more important than the destination. It’s common, in many cases, to obtain tremendous satisfaction from a year of studying but end up spending 10 or 20 years in a career that does nothing for you, simply because you did it without the correct research at the beginning.

Prioritise understanding the exact expectations industry will have. Which precise qualifications they’ll want you to gain and in what way you can gain some industry experience. Spend some time thinking about how far you reckon you’re going to want to build your skill-set as it may present a very specific set of certifications. As a precursor to beginning a particular study programme, it’s good advice to talk through the exact job needs with an industry professional, to make sure the retraining path covers everything needed.

Full support is of the utmost importance - look for a package providing 24×7 full access, as not obtaining this level of support will severely impede your ability to learn. Beware of institutions who use messaging services ‘out-of-hours’ - with the call-back coming in during the next ‘working’ day. It’s not a lot of help when you’ve got study issues and need an answer now.

The best trainers use multiple support centres active in different time-zones. An online system provides an interactive interface to provide a seamless experience, no matter what time you login, there is always help at hand, without any contact issues or hassle. Never settle for a lower level of service. 24×7 support is the only viable option with IT training. It’s possible you don’t intend to study late evenings; usually though, we’re at work while the support is live.

Traditional teaching in classrooms, with books and manuals, is an up-hill struggle for the majority of us. If this sounds like you, look for learning programmes that are multimedia based. Where possible, if we can study while utilising as many senses as possible, then we often see hugely increased memory retention as a result.

Courses are now available on CD and DVD discs, where everything is taught on your PC. Using video-streaming, you will be able to see the instructor presenting exactly how something is done, and then have a go at it yourself - in a virtual lab environment. You’ll definitely want a training material demonstration from any training college. The materials should incorporate expert-led demonstrations, slideshows and virtual practice lab’s for your new skills.

Pick CD and DVD ROM based physical training media if possible. You’re then protected from broadband ‘downtime’ or slow-speeds.

If you may be starting with a certification company that is still using ‘in-centre workshop days’ as part of their program, then listen to these hassles encountered by many IT hopefuls:

* Constant driving back and forth from the centre - sometimes hundreds of miles.

* If you’re working, then Monday to Friday classes are difficult to make. More than likely you will be facing several days in a row too.

* Holiday days lost - many workers are given only twenty days of leave annually. If you use up half of that with study classes, vacation time is going to be quite short for most student’s families.

* Training workshops can ’sell out’ fast and can sometimes be too big - so they’re not personal enough.

* Tension can be created in mixed classes because different students want to work at different paces.

* Tot up the cost of all the fares or petrol, accommodation, food and parking and you’ll be in for a big surprise. Trainees report costs of hundreds to thousands of pounds over time. Sit down and add it up - and understand where they’re coming from.

* Most trainees want study privacy and therefore avoiding all come-back from their current employer.

* It’s quite usual for trainees to not ask questions they want answered - purely because they’re in front of other people.

* If you occasionally live or work away from home, consider the added problems of getting to the requisite days in-centre, as time becomes even more scarce.

It would be better to watch on-screen and be trained by tutors one-on-one through pre-made modules, taking them when it suits you - not somebody else. Study can happen anywhere that suits. If your PC is a laptop, why not take in a little sunshine in your garden as you study. If you have any problems then use the provided 24×7 live support. Lessons and modules can be repeated at any time you need to brush up - repetition aids memory. And you’ll never have to write notes again - everything is prepared ready. Whilst this doesn’t suddenly stop every little difficulty, it unquestionably vastly reduces stress and simplifies things. You also have reduced hassle, travel and costs.

Wouldn’t it be great to know for sure that our jobs will always be safe and our work prospects are protected, however, the truth for most sectors in the United Kingdom currently appears to be that the marketplace is far from secure. Of course, a sector experiencing fast growth, with huge staffing demands (as there is a massive shortfall of properly qualified workers), creates the conditions for proper job security.

Taking the IT industry for instance, a recent e-Skills survey highlighted a skills deficit around Great Britain of over 26 percent. Or, to put it differently, this reveals that the United Kingdom only has three qualified staff for every 4 jobs existing now. This single concept alone underpins why the country urgently requires a lot more people to enter the Information Technology market. It would be hard to imagine if a better time or market circumstances is ever likely to exist for obtaining certification in this rapidly growing and evolving business.

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