Congratulate yourself that you’re on the right track! A fraction of the population enjoy their work and find it stimulating, but vast numbers simply moan about it and take no action. Because you’ve done research we have a hunch that you’re at least considering retraining, so you’ve already stood out from the crowd. Take your time now to research and follow-through.

Before you make decisions on any career courses, discuss your thoughts with an industry expert who can help you sort out which area will be right for you. Someone who can get to know your personality, and find out what types of work suit you:

* Do you like to work collaborating with people? Is that as part of a team or with a lot of new people? Possibly operating on your own on specific tasks would be more your thing?

* What thoughts do you have with regard to the industry you’ll work in?

* Would you like this to be the last time you’ll have to retrain?

* Do you expect your new knowledge base to give you the chance to get a good job, and keep working until sixty five?

We would advise that you consider Information Technology – it’s well known that it is one of the few growth sectors. It’s not all nerdy people looking at computer screens constantly – naturally some IT jobs demand that, but the majority of roles are carried out by people like you and me who get on very well.

Finding your first job in the industry is often made easier with a Job Placement Assistance program. At the end of the day it isn’t so complicated as you might think to land a job – as long as you’re correctly trained and certified; the shortage of IT personnel in Britain looks after that.

CV and Interview advice and support is sometimes offered (alternatively, check out one of our sites for help). Ensure you update that dusty old CV immediately – not after you’ve qualified!

It’s not unusual to find that you’ll secure your first job whilst you’re still studying (occasionally right at the beginning). If your CV doesn’t show your latest training profile (and it’s not being looked at by employers) then you don’t stand a chance!

Most often, a specialist locally based recruitment consultancy (who will, of course, be keen to place you to receive their commission) is going to give you a better service than a centralised training company’s service. They should, of course, also be familiar with the local area and commercial needs.

A big frustration for a number of training providers is how much people are focused on studying to get top marks in their exams, but how un-prepared they are to work on getting the role they’ve acquired skills for. Get out there and hustle – you might find it’s fun.

A ridiculously large number of organisations only concern themselves with gaining a certificate, and forget what it’s all actually about – which is a commercial career or job. You should always begin with the final destination in mind – don’t get hung-up on the training vehicle.

It’s common, in some situations, to thoroughly enjoy one year of training and then spend 20 miserable years in a job you hate, as a consequence of not performing the correct research when you should’ve – at the outset.

Spend some time thinking about earning potential and what level of ambition fits you. This will influence what precise certifications will be expected and how much effort you’ll have to give in return.

Talk to an experienced industry advisor who understands the work you’re contemplating, and who can give you a detailed run-down of what you actually do in that role. Getting all these things right well before beginning a training course makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it?

In most cases, your normal person has no idea in what direction to head in a computing career, let alone which market they should be considering getting trained in.

How can we possibly grasp the tasks faced daily in an IT career if we’ve never been there? Often we have never met anyone who performs the role either.

Getting to the right answer really only appears through a thorough investigation of many unique criteria:

* The sort of individual you reckon you are – what kind of jobs you find interesting, plus of course – what makes you unhappy.

* Why you’re looking at starting in Information Technology – it could be you’re looking to overcome a particular goal such as working for yourself maybe.

* What salary and timescale requirements you may have?

* Often, trainees don’t consider the work involved to gain all the necessary accreditation.

* You need to appreciate the differences between each area of training.

The bottom line is, your only chance of investigating all this is from an in-depth discussion with an advisor or professional that has enough background to lead you to the correct decision.

Watch out that all accreditations you’re considering doing will be commercially viable and are up-to-date. The ‘in-house’ certifications provided by many companies are not normally useful in gaining employment.

All the major IT organisations like Microsoft, Cisco, Adobe or CompTIA have nationally acknowledged proficiency courses. Huge conglomerates such as these can make sure you stand out at interview.

(C) 2009. Pop over to LearningLolly.com for clear career tips on Computer Forsensics Training and The Internet Is 40.