It's quite some achievement that you're on the right track! A small number of workers claim contentment with their job, but most of us complain to each other and do nothing. Because you've done research it's likely that you're at least considering retraining, so well done to you. Now you just need to discover where you want to go and get going.

We'd strongly advise that before you start a training course, you discuss your plans with a person who is familiar with the working environment and can give you advice. They can look at aspects of your personality and assist in finding the right role for you:

* Is working with other people your thing? Perhaps you like being a team player? Or are you better with things that you can complete alone?

* What do you require from the market sector you work in? (If it's stability you're after, you might think twice about banks or the building industry right now.)

* And how many years do you want to get out of your retraining, and can your chosen industry provide you with that possibility?

* Will this new qualification make it easier to find new work easily, and keep working until you choose to stop?

We request you to have a good look at Information Technology - there are greater numbers of jobs than staff to fill them, because it's a rare career choice where the industry is still growing. Contrary to the beliefs of some, IT is not full of nerdy individuals staring at their computers the whole time (some jobs are like that of course.) Most positions are done by people like you and me who enjoy a very nice lifestyle due to better than average wages.

Watch out that all accreditations you're studying for will be commercially viable and are bang up to date. The 'in-house' certifications provided by many companies are generally useless. From an employer's perspective, only the major heavyweights such as Microsoft, CompTIA, Adobe or Cisco (to give some examples) will make the right impression. Anything less won't make the grade.

OK, why is it better to gain qualifications from the commercial sector and not familiar academic qualifications gained through schools and Further Education colleges? With fees and living expenses for university students spiralling out of control, and the industry's growing opinion that accreditation-based training is often far more commercially relevant, we've seen a dramatic increase in Adobe, Microsoft, CISCO and CompTIA accredited training paths that supply key solutions to a student for considerably less. Vendor training works through concentrating on the skills that are really needed (along with a proportionate degree of associated knowledge,) instead of going into the heightened depths of background non-specific minutiae that academic courses can get bogged down in (because the syllabus is so wide).

As long as an employer understands what work they need doing, then they just need to look for a person with the appropriate exam numbers. The syllabuses are set to exacting standards and can't change from one establishment to the next (like academia frequently can and does).

There are colossal changes washing over technology as we approach the second decade of the 21st century - and it becomes more and more thrilling each day. We're at the dawn of starting to get a handle on how all this change will affect us. The way we interact with the world will be massively affected by technology and the internet.

If making decent money is up there on your scale of wants, then you'll be pleasantly surprised to hear that the usual remuneration of a typical IT worker is significantly higher than salaries in most other jobs or industries. It would appear there's no end in sight for IT development throughout this country. The sector is continuing to expand enormously, and as we have a skills gap that means we only typically have three IT workers for every four jobs it's not showing any signs that things will be any different for decades to come.

Several companies supply a practical Job Placement Assistance program, designed to steer you into your first job. It can happen though that people are too impressed with this facility, for it is actually not that hard for any focused and well taught person to get work in IT - because there's a great need for well trained people.

Help with your CV and interview techniques might be provided (if not, see one of our sites for help). Ensure you work on your old CV straight away - don't wait until you've finished your exams! It's possible that you won't have even got to the exam time when you will get your initial junior support role; but this can't and won't happen unless you've posted your CV on job sites. In many cases, a specialist locally based recruitment consultant or service (who will get paid by the employer when they've placed you) should get better results than any division of a training company. Also of course they should know the area and local employers better.

A common aggravation of a number of training course providers is how hard men and women are prepared to study to get top marks in their exams, but how little effort that student will then put into getting the job they're qualified for. Don't falter at the last fence.

IT Security & Forensics Commercial PC Interactive Self-Paced Certification Training Courses >>