All of us are short of time, and most often should we have cause to learn a new profession, studying outside of working hours is what we have to do. Certified training from Microsoft can be the way to do it. Perhaps you'd like to have a chat about jobs with a person who's got industry experience - and if you're not sure, then take counsel on what kind of IT job would be right for you, based on your personality and ability level. Insist that your course is designed to your current level of knowledge and ability. The best companies will always guarantee that the training is appropriate for the career you want to get into.

The way a programme is physically sent to you is often missed by many students. How many parts is the training broken down into? What is the specific order and at what speed is it delivered? You may think it logical (with training often lasting 2 or 3 years to gain full certified status,) for your typical trainer to courier one module at a time, until you've passed all the exams. Although: What if you find the order pushed by the company's salespeople doesn't suit all of us. It may be difficult to get through all the sections inside of their particular timetable?

Ideally, you want everything at the start - giving you them all for the future to come back to - at any time you choose. You can also vary the order in which you attack each section if you find another route more intuitive.

Be alert that all accreditations that you're considering are recognised by industry and are bang up to date. 'In-house' exams and the certificates they come with are often meaningless. If the accreditation doesn't feature a company like Microsoft, Cisco, CompTIA or Adobe, then you'll probably find it will have been a waste of time - because no-one will recognise it.

Commercially accredited qualifications are now, most definitely, starting to replace the more academic tracks into the industry - why then is this the case? Industry is now aware that to cover the necessary commercial skill-sets, official accreditation from the likes of Microsoft, CompTIA, CISCO and Adobe most often has much more specialised relevance - at a far reduced cost both money and time wise. Vendor training works by focusing on the skill-sets required (together with a proportionate degree of background knowledge,) rather than covering masses of the background non-specific minutiae that degree courses often do (because the syllabus is so wide).

Just like the advert used to say: 'It does what it says on the label'. The company just needs to know what areas need to be serviced, and then match up the appropriate exam numbers as a requirement. Then they're assured that a potential employee can do exactly what's required.

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