Students looking to kick off an Information Technology career usually haven't a clue which path is best, or what sector to obtain accreditation for. Since with no previous experience in computing, how can most of us know what any job actually involves? Contemplation on these points is important if you want to dig down a solution that suits you:

- The sort of individual you reckon you are - what kind of jobs you find interesting, and conversely - what you hate to do.

- What is the time-frame for the training process?

- Have you thought about job satisfaction vs salary?

- Learning what typical Information technology types and sectors are - and what makes them different.

- The level of commitment and effort you will put into getting qualified.

The best way to avoid the industry jargon, and reveal what'll really work for you, have an in-depth discussion with an advisor with years of experience; someone that appreciates and can explain the commercial realities as well as all the qualifications.

Of all the important things to consider, one of the most essential is always proper direct-access 24x7 support via expert mentors and instructors. It's an all too common story to find providers that only provide support to you inside of office hours (typically 9am-6pm) and sometimes a little earlier or later (but not weekends usually). Email support is too slow, and telephone support is usually to a call-centre that will just take down the issue and email it over to their technical team - who will attempt to call you within 24-48 hrs, when it suits them. This is no use if you're sitting there confused over an issue and only have certain times available in which to do your studies.

We recommend that you search for colleges that utilise many support facilities active in different time-zones. Each one should be integrated to enable simple one-stop access and also access round-the-clock, when it suits you, with no fuss. Never compromise with the quality of your support. The majority of would-be IT professionals that fall by the wayside, are in that situation because of support (or the lack of).

Small wonder then that a considerable number of accreditation paths have been developed by Cisco to handle the assortment of patents and technologies it produces. Trainees are generally encouraged to start with the same certification program, & then move into specialist areas as they progress. The 'Cisco' 'CCNA' ('Cisco Certified Network Associate') training program consists of two examinations, that will equip the right entrant applicant with the necessary expertise in the installing, configuring, operating, & trouble-shooting of medium-sized enterprise-level router & data-switched networks.

Many trainers provide piles of reference manuals and workbooks. This isn't very interesting and isn't the best way to go about achieving retention. If we can utilise all of our senses into our learning, then we normally see dramatically better results.

Courses are now available via DVD-ROM discs, where everything is taught on your PC. Through video streaming, you can watch instructors demonstrating how to do something, with some practice time to follow - in a virtual lab environment. You really need to look at courseware examples from each company you're contemplating. It's essential they incorporate instructor-led video demonstrations with virtual practice-lab's.

Often, companies will only use online training only; sometimes you can get away with this - but, consider what happens if you lose your internet access or you only get very a very slow connection sometimes. It's much safer to rely on DVD or CD discs which removes the issue entirely.

There is a tidal wave of change washing over technology as we approach the second decade of the 21st century - and it only gets more exciting every day. Computing technology and interaction through the internet will dramatically alter our lives over the coming years; profoundly so.

And it's worth remembering that on average, the income of a person in the IT industry throughout this country is a lot better than the national average salary, so in general you'll probably gain a lot more as an IT specialist, than you would in most typical jobs. There is a substantial UK-wide need for trained and qualified IT technicians. It follows that with the marketplace continuing to expand, it looks like this will be the case for a good while yet.

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