In these days of super efficiency, support workers who can mend PC's and networks, along with giving ongoing solutions to users, are vital in every sector of the business environment. Because of the multifaceted levels of technological advances, many more qualified workers are required to look after the smooth operation of functions we rely on.

Most trainers typically provide a bunch of books and manuals. This isn't very interesting and not ideal for taking things in. Memory is vastly improved when we use multiple senses - educational experts have expounded on this for as long as we can remember.

Interactive audio-visual materials featuring instructor demo's and practice lab's will turn you off book-based study for ever more. And you'll find them fun and interesting. It's imperative to see examples of the study materials provided by any company that you may want to train through. It's essential they incorporate full motion videos of instructors demonstrating the topic with lab's to practice the skills in.

Plump for disc based courseware (On CD or DVD) in all circumstances. This then avoids all the potential pitfalls with the variability of broadband quality and service.

One interesting way that colleges make a big mark-up is by charging for exams up-front and presenting it as a guarantee for your exams. It looks impressive, but let's just examine it more closely:

Of course it isn't free - you're still being charged for it - it's just been included in your package price. We all want to pass first time. Entering examinations one at a time and paying as you go has a marked effect on pass-rates - you put the effort in and are aware of the costs involved.

Do the examinations as locally as possible and find the best exam deal or offer available then. Many so-called credible training providers make huge amounts of money because they're asking for all the exam fees up-front and cashing in if they're not all taken. The majority of organisations will require you to do mock exams and with-hold subsequent exam entries from you until you've completely proven that you're likely to pass - which makes an 'Exam Guarantee' frankly useless.

Splashing out often many hundreds of pounds extra on 'Exam Guarantees' is foolish - when study, commitment and preparing with good quality mock and practice exams is what will really guarantee success.

Many students come unstuck over a single courseware aspect very rarely considered: The method used to 'segment' the courseware before being packaged off through the post. Normally, you will join a program staged over 2 or 3 years and receive one element at a time until graduation. It seems to make sense on one level, but consider these issues: Often, the staged breakdown pushed by the company's salespeople doesn't suit all of us. And what if you don't finish all the sections inside their defined time-scales?

Ideally, you'd ask for every single material to be delivered immediately - so you'll have them all for the future to come back to - irrespective of any schedule. Variations can then be made to the order that you complete each objective as and when something more intuitive seems right for you.

We're regularly asked to explain why qualifications from colleges and universities are less in demand than the more commercial qualifications? With an ever-increasing technical demand on resources, 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 usually turns out to involve less time and financial outlay. This is done through honing in on the particular skills that are needed (together with a relevant amount of background knowledge,) instead of covering masses of the background detail and 'fluff' that academic courses often do (because the syllabus is so wide).

When it comes down to the nitty-gritty: Commercial IT certifications give employers exactly what they're looking for - it says what you do in the title: for example, I am a 'Microsoft Certified Professional' in 'Designing Security for a Windows 2003 Network'. So companies can look at the particular needs they have and what certifications will be suitable to deal with those needs.

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