Should I Be Thinking About IT Training In A Recession?

It’s no surprise that many people are frightened of doing anything right now. Almost every piece of information we get from the media seems to be another dash to our hopes and dreams - and our input of daily doom and gloom keeps the vicious circle spinning. Small wonder that confusion reigns, and we’re not sure whether we should risk doing something new, or just hang in tight until 2012!

Why it’s exactly the right time for IT Training…

Recessions come and go. However, whilst inevitably a lot of people take a hit during a downturn, many others thrive by doing the right thing at the right time. But how do we identify what the right thing is, and when the right time is to start it? Hindsight is a great thing, but not there at the time we wish to benefit from it!

What we can say is look at the facts, steer clear of the obvious losers, and pro-actively prepare for the up-turn, for it will surely arrive, just as spring bursts forth after winter. You then will be hailed as one of those ‘lucky ones’ who successfully weathered the storm.

Doing nothing won’t put off the inevitable. Many industries are already suffering badly (take the car industry for example), and we live in a very inter-dependent society. What affects one sector of the economy today, has bounced over to another tomorrow.

Even before the recession started to bite, we were aware that many traditional industries were threatened in this country, as manufacturing can be done so much more cheaply overseas. But the one area that ALL of our private and public sectors are crying out for is more IT professionals who are skilled and commercially qualified .

A Relevant Point: People with professional IT qualifications can work in ANY industry.

A limited number of industries need electricians, plumbers, or driving instructors, but every industry needs network administrators, PC support and web designers etc. Demand is industry wide - the latest figures show over one million core IT jobs in the UK as a whole, out of which around a quarter are not filled. Even with the inevitable temporary cut-backs that some sectors are making, there are still a massive number of jobs available for trained professionals.

IT jobs have enjoyed a 4.5% - 5.5% average growth since 1998, that’s approximately 55,000 new potential jobs every year. As companies become even more dependent on computer systems, the government predicts that by 2012, vacancies in IT positions will increase to around 500,000.

Recession or no recession, there isn’t a way forward for the country’s economy without massive numbers of people training to fill those vacancies. Will you be thought one of the ‘lucky ones’?

Should I Be Considering IT Training In A Recession?

It’s not surprising that many people are running scared of doing anything at the moment. Just about every piece of information we receive from the media seems to knock another nail in the coffin of our hopes and dreams - and our daily doom and gloom input keeps the vicious circle spinning. Little wonder that confusion reigns, and we don’t know whether we should risk doing something new, or just bury our heads in the sand until 2012!

Why now is exactly the right time for IT Training…

Recessions come and go. However, whilst inevitably a lot of people take a hit during a downturn, many others thrive by doing the right thing at the right time. But how do we identify what the right thing is, and when the right time is to start it? Hindsight is a great thing, but not there at the time we wish to benefit from it!

Nevertheless, we can look at the facts. Steer clear of the obvious no-hopers, and pro-actively prepare for the good times ahead, for they will surely come, just as spring always comes after winter. You’ll then be regarded as one of those ‘lucky ones’ who weathered the storm successfully.

The inevitable won’t be put off by doing nothing. Many industries are already suffering badly (for example the car industry), and today’s society is very inter-dependent. What hits one economic sector today, rolls over to another sector tomorrow.

Even before the recession started to bite, we were aware that many traditional industries were threatened in this country, as manufacturing can be done so much more cheaply overseas. But the one area that ALL of our private and public sectors are crying out for is more IT professionals who are skilled and commercially qualified .

A Point Of Interest: Men and women with professional IT qualifications can work in ANY market sector.

Very few areas of industry need plumbers, electricians or driving instructors, yet every industry needs PC support, network administrators and web designers etc. Demand is industry wide - there are currently over one million core IT jobs in the country as a whole, and around a quarter of those are not filled. Even with the inevitable cut-backs that some sectors are temporarily making, that still leaves massive numbers of jobs available for trained professionals.

Since 1998, IT jobs have enjoyed an average growth rate of 4.5% - 5.5% - that’s approximately 55,000 new potential jobs every year. UK companies are becoming ever more dependent on computer systems, and the government predicts that by 2012, vacancies in IT positions will rise to around 500,000.

With or without a recession, there’s no moving on for the economy of the UK unless very substantial numbers of people train to fill those positions. Are you going to be one of the ‘lucky ones’?

Computer Training for Microsoft Systems

What are the sort of things you’d expect the finest training companies certified by Microsoft to give a student in the UK today? Obviously, the ultimate in Microsoft accredited programs, presenting a range of options to lead you into a selection of professions with IT. You might like to talk through what you’re looking to do with an industry expert - and if you’re uncertain, then have some guidance on what kind of IT job would suit you most, based on your likes and dislikes and your character. Having selected the career track for you, you must find an applicable training course tailored to your ability level and skill set. Your study program should be second to none.

Many folks don’t catch on to what information technology can do for us. It’s thrilling, changing, and puts you at the fore-front of developments in technology that will change our world over the next few decades. Computer technology and communication via the internet is going to dramatically affect the direction of our lives in the future; to a vast degree.

Incomes in IT are not a problem also - the average salary throughout Britain for a typical person working in IT is considerably higher than the national average. Odds are that you’ll receive quite a bit more than you’d expect to earn doing other work. Due to the technological sector increasing year on year, one can predict that demand for certified IT professionals will flourish for the significant future.

So, what are the questions we need to raise so as to get the understanding we need? Because there seems to be a good many pretty outstanding opportunities for everyone to consider.

Ask almost any capable advisor and you’ll be surprised by their many awful tales of salespeople ripping-off unsuspecting students. Make sure you deal with someone who quizzes you to find out what’s appropriate to you - not for their wallet! You need to find the right starting point of study for you. Of course, if in the past you’ve acquired any work-experience or certification, then you can sometimes expect to pick-up at a different starting-point to someone who is new to the field. Working through a user skills program first can be the best way to get into your computer program, but really depends on your level of familiarity with computers.

If you’re like many of the students we talk to then you’re a practical sort of person - a ‘hands-on’ type. If you’re anything like us, the world of book-reading and classrooms is something you’ll make yourself do if you have to, but it’s not ideal. Consider interactive, multimedia study if learning from books is not your thing. Learning psychology studies show that memory is aided when we receive multi-sensorial input, and we take action to use what we’ve learned.

Modern training can now be done at home via self-contained CD or DVD materials. Instructor-led tutorials will mean you’ll take everything in by way of the demonstrations and explanations. Knowledge can then be tested by practicing and interacting with the software. You really need to look at the type of training provided by any company that you may want to train through. You’ll want to see that they include video, demonstrations and various interactive elements.

Plump for physical media such as CD or DVD ROM’s every time. You can then avoid all the difficulties of broadband ‘downtime’ or slow-speeds.

Student support is absolutely essential - locate a good company offering 24×7 direct access to instructors, as anything less will not satisfy and will also impede your ability to learn. Try and find training where you can access help at any time you choose (no matter if it’s in the middle of the night on a weekend!) Ensure you get direct-access to qualified mentors and tutors, and not a call-centre that will take messages so you’re waiting for tutors to call you back - probably during office hours.

As long as you look hard, you will find professional companies which offer online support at all times - no matter what time of day it is. Unless you insist on online 24×7 support, you’ll regret it. You may avoid using the support in the middle of the night, but what about weekends, late evenings or early mornings

Always expect the most up to date Microsoft (or relevant organisation’s) authorised exam preparation packages. As most IT examining boards are American, you need to become familiar with their phraseology. It isn’t good enough simply answering any old technical questions - they must be in an exam format that exactly replicates the real thing. As you can imagine, it is really important to be confident that you’re completely ready for your actual certification exam before taking it. Rehearsing ‘mock’ exams adds to your knowledge bank and will avoid you getting frustrated with unsuccessful attempts at exams.

Commercial certification is now, very visibly, starting to replace the older academic routes into IT - why then is this the case? With 3 and 4 year academic degree costs climbing ever higher, together with the IT sector’s growing opinion that vendor-based training most often has much more commercial relevance, we have seen a great increase in Adobe, Microsoft, CISCO and CompTIA based training programmes that create knowledgeable employees at a fraction of the cost and time involved. The training is effectively done by concentrating on the skills that are really needed (alongside a proportionate degree of related knowledge,) as opposed to trawling through all the background ‘extras’ that degrees in computing can get bogged down in - to pad out the syllabus.

It’s a bit like the TV advert: ‘It does what it says on the tin’. Companies need only to know where they have gaps, and then match up the appropriate exam numbers as a requirement. That way they can be sure they’re interviewing applicants who can do the job.

You should only consider learning programmes which grow into commercially acknowledged qualifications. There are far too many trainers pushing ‘in-house’ certificates which will prove unusable in today’s commercial market. If your certification doesn’t come from a conglomerate such as Microsoft, CompTIA, Adobe or Cisco, then chances are it will be commercially useless - as no-one will have heard of it.