PC and network support workers are increasingly sought after in the United Kingdom, as companies become progressively more dependent upon their knowledge and skills. Because we're all becoming progressively beholden to our PC's, we simultaneously inevitably become increasingly dependent on the commercially qualified IT professionals, who keep the systems going.

A useful feature that several companies offer is a programme of Job Placement assistance. This is designed to help you find your first job in the industry. It can happen though that this feature is bigged up too much, because it's relatively easy for any motivated and trained individual to find a job in the IT industry - because companies everywhere are seeking skilled employees.

Bring your CV up to date as soon as possible however (advice can be sought on this via your provider). Don't put it off for when you're ready to start work. A good number of junior support roles have been bagged by people who are still studying and have still to get qualified. This will at the very least get you on your way. Normally you'll get better results from a specialised and independent local recruitment service than you will through a course provider's centralised service, as they will understand the local industry and employment needs.

A good number of trainees, it would appear, are prepared to study their hearts out (sometimes for years), and then just stop instead of finding their first job. Market yourself... Do your best to let employers know about you. Don't expect a job to just fall into your lap.

Commercial certification is now, very visibly, already replacing the older academic routes into the industry - why then should this be? With a growing demand for specific technological expertise, industry has of necessity moved to specific, honed-in training that can only be obtained from the actual vendors - that is companies such as Microsoft, CISCO, Adobe and CompTIA. Frequently this is at a far reduced cost both money and time wise. Essentially, only required knowledge is taught. Actually, it's not quite as pared down as that, but the most important function is always to concentrate on the fundamentally important skill-sets (along with a certain amount of crucial background) - without overdoing the detail in every other area - in the way that academic establishments often do.

If an employer knows what areas they need covered, then they just need to look for the exact skill-set required to meet that need. Vendor-based syllabuses all have to conform to the same requirements and don't change between schools (as academic syllabuses often do).

Usually, trainers will provide a big box of books. This can be very boring and not ideal for studying effectively. If we can study while utilising as many senses as possible, then the results are usually dramatically better.

Start a study-program in which you'll receive a selection of CD and DVD based materials - you'll begin by watching videos of instructors demonstrating the skills, with the facility to fine-tune your skills in fully interactive practice sessions. It's wise to view a small selection of training examples before you sign the purchase order. What you want are video tutorials, instructor demo's and audio-visual elements backed up by interactive lab's.

Choose actual CD or DVD ROM's whenever you can. This then avoids all the potential pitfalls with broadband outages, failure and signal quality issues etc.

An all too common mistake that many potential students make is to focus entirely on getting a qualification, rather than starting with where they want to get to. Colleges are brimming over with unaware students that chose a program because it looked interesting - instead of what would yield the career they desired. You may train for one year and then end up doing the actual job for 10-20 years. Ensure you avoid the fatal error of finding what seems like a very 'interesting' program and then spend decades in something you don't even enjoy!

You need to keep your eye on where you want to go, and build your study action-plan from that - not the other way round. Stay focused on the end-goal - making sure you're training for a job that'll reward you for many long and fruitful years. Chat with a professional advisor who has a commercial understanding of the realities faced in the industry, and who can give you a detailed description of what you actually do in that role. Getting to the bottom of all this long before starting out on a study path will prevent a lot of wasted time and effort.

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