Sunday, January 17, 2010

Cisco Training In Your Own Home Compared

By Jason Kendall

If Cisco training is your aspiration, and you've not yet worked with routers or network switches, you should first attempt CCNA certification. This will provide you with knowledge and skills to work with routers. The internet is made up of hundreds of thousands of routers, and large commercial ventures with many locations also need routers to allow their networks to keep in touch.

The kind of jobs requiring this knowledge mean the chances are you'll work for national or international companies that are spread out geographically but need their computer networks to talk to each other. Or, you may move on to joining an internet service provider. Both types of jobs command good salaries.

You should get a bespoke training program that will take you through a specific training path to make sure you have the correct skill set and knowledge prior to getting going with Cisco.

One thing you must always insist on is 24x7 round-the-clock support with trained professional instructors and mentors. Too many companies only seem to want to help while they're in the office (9am till 6pm, Monday till Friday usually) and nothing at the weekends.

Beware of institutions who use call-centres 'out-of-hours' - with the call-back coming in during office hours. It's no use when you're stuck on a problem and could do with an answer during your scheduled study period.

We recommend that you search for training programs that have multiple support offices across multiple time-zones. Each one should be integrated to give a single entry point together with access round-the-clock, when you want it, with no fuss.

Never make the mistake of compromise when it comes to your support. The majority of would-be IT professionals that can't get going properly, would have had a different experience if they'd got the right support package in the first place.

Considering the amount of options that are available, there's no surprise that nearly all newcomers to the industry get stuck choosing the job they will follow.

Because without any solid background in computing, how should we possibly understand what someone in a particular job does?

Consideration of several areas is vital if you want to expose the right answers:

* Personalities play an important part - what things get your juices flowing, and what are the areas that put a frown on your face.

* Do you want to get certified due to a specific motive - for instance, is it your goal to work at home (maybe self-employment?)?

* Is salary further up on your list of priorities than anything else.

* Because there are so many different sectors to gain certifications for in the IT industry - you will have to gain a basic understanding of what separates them.

* The level of commitment and effort you'll commit getting qualified.

For the average person, getting to the bottom of these areas requires a good chat with someone that knows what they're talking about. And we don't just mean the certifications - you also need to understand the commercial needs and expectations besides.

A lot of students presume that the traditional school, college or university path is the way they should go. Why then are commercially accredited qualifications beginning to overtake it?

Corporate based study (to use industry-speak) is far more specialised and product-specific. Industry has realised that this level of specialised understanding is essential to meet the requirements of an increasingly more technical marketplace. Adobe, Microsoft, CISCO and CompTIA are the dominant players.

Many degrees, for example, become confusing because of a lot of background study - with much too broad a syllabus. Students are then prevented from getting enough core and in-depth understanding on a specific area.

In simple terms: Authorised IT qualifications give employers exactly what they're looking for - the title is a complete giveaway: i.e. I am a 'Microsoft Certified Professional' in 'Designing Security for a Windows 2003 Network'. Therefore employers can identify just what their needs are and what certifications are required to perform the job.

Be alert that all exams you're studying for are recognised by industry and are up-to-date. Training companies own certificates are not normally useful in gaining employment.

Only nationally recognised certification from the likes of Microsoft, Cisco, CompTIA and Adobe will be useful to a future employer.

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