Consider only retraining courses that'll lead to commercially accepted qualifications. There's a plethora of small companies proposing unknown 'in-house' certificates which will prove unusable in today's commercial market. You'll discover that only industry recognised examinations from the major players like Microsoft, CompTIA, Adobe and Cisco will have any meaning to employers.

Commercial certification is now, most definitely, already replacing the older academic routes into the IT sector - why then is this happening? With a growing demand for specific technological expertise, industry has had to move to specialist courses only available through the vendors themselves - in other words companies such as CISCO, Adobe, Microsoft and CompTIA. This usually turns out to involve less time and financial outlay. Obviously, a reasonable portion of associated knowledge has to be learned, but essential specifics in the particular job function gives a vendor trained person a real head start.

As long as an employer is aware what work they need doing, then all it takes is an advert for the particular skill-set required. Vendor-based syllabuses all have to conform to the same requirements and do not vary between trainers (as academic syllabuses often do).

The classroom style of learning we remember from school, utilising reference manuals and books, is often a huge slog for most of us. If this sounds like you, dig around for more practical courses which have a majority of interactive, multimedia parts. Where we can involve all our senses in the learning process, then the results are usually dramatically better.

The latest audio-visual interactive programs involving demonstration and virtual lab's will turn you off book-based study for ever more. And you'll actually enjoy doing them. Always insist on a demonstration of the study materials from any training college. The package should contain slide-shows, instructor-led videos and lab's for you to practice your skills in.

Purely on-line training should be avoided. Always choose CD or DVD based study materials where available, enabling them to be used at your convenience - and not be totally reliant on your internet connection always being 'up' and available.

Look at the following points carefully if you believe the sales ploy of an 'Exam Guarantee' sounds great value:

You're paying for it one way or another. It's definitely not free - they've simply charged more for the whole training package. It's everybody's ambition to qualify on the first attempt. Going for exams in order and funding them one at a time puts you in a much stronger position to qualify at the first attempt - you put the effort in and are conscious of what you've spent.

Does it really add up to pay the training company early for exams? Find the best deal you can when you're ready, instead of paying any mark-up - and do it in a local testing centre - rather than in some remote place. Considerable numbers of so-called credible training providers make huge profits by getting in the money for exam fees early then hoping either that you won't take them, or it will be a long time before you do. Re-takes of previously unsuccessful exams with companies with an 'Exam Guarantee' inevitably are heavily regulated. You'll be required to sit pre-tests so you can prove to them you have a good chance of passing.

The cost of exams was 112 pounds or thereabouts in the last 12 months via Prometric or VUE centres around the United Kingdom. So don't be talked into shelling out hundreds or thousands of pounds more to get 'an Exam Guarantee', when it's obvious that the best guarantee is consistent and systematic learning, coupled with quality exam simulation software.

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