If you’re looking for a Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator (MCSA) training course, you should know that there are many different types of training; some are much better than others. You’ll come across a range of courses, whether you’re new to the industry, or an experienced technician ready to formalise your skills with certification.

If you’re considering joining the world of IT and this is your first experience, it’s likely you’ll need to have some coaching prior to tackling the MCP’s (Microsoft Certified Professional exams) needed to get qualified at the MCSA level. Search for a training organisation that will create an ideal program to help you – ask to have a conversation with an industry expert to determine your optimum route.

Many training companies are still using one of the most out-dated training concepts – classroom attendance. Often sold as a benefit, after discussion with someone who has first-hand experience, you’ll find them listing some or most of these:

* Frequent centre visits – often hundreds of miles at a time.

* Weekday accessibility with events is typically the case, and trying to take several days leave in a single chunk is usually problematic for most working students.

* Annual leave lost – the majority of workers only have 20 days holiday. If you use up half of that with educational classes, you haven’t got a great deal of holiday time remaining for the student.

* Training workshops usually reach their maximum intake very quickly, leaving us with a less-than-ideal slot.

* The ‘pace’ – workshops often feature students of different skill, so there is often tension between students that want a quicker pace to those who want to go a little slower.

* Count the cost of all the travelling, food, parking and accommodation and you’ll be in for a big surprise. Attendees talk of increased costs of between several hundred and a couple of thousand pounds. Break it down – and understand where they’re coming from.

* You should never risk the possibility of letting yourself be overlooked for potential advancement or pay-rises because your employer knows you’re retraining.

* Raising questions in a class full of students sometimes makes us a little self-conscious. Surely, at some point, you’ve avoided asking a question just because you didn’t want to look foolish?

* If you occasionally work elsewhere in the country for several days at a time, imagine the increased difficulty in getting to the needed events, as time becomes even more scarce.

It really does make a lot more sense to take classes when it suits you — not the training company – and exploit virtual lab environments with videos of your instructors.

You could study at home on your desktop computer or why not in the garden on a laptop. Any questions that pop up, just utilise the 24×7 Support (that should’ve been packaged with any technical type of training.)

There’s no need to take notes – all the lessons are prepared and laid out for you – ready to go. And if you want to repeat anything, it’s right there.

The final upshot: Reduced hassle and stress, more money in the bank, and no travelling or long journeys.

Beginning from the viewpoint that it’s good to locate the job we want to do first and foremost, before we can even consider what career development program ticks the right boxes, how are we supposed to find the correct route?

Flicking through a list of odd-sounding and meaningless job titles is no use whatsoever. Most of us have no concept what our good friends do at work – so we have no hope of understanding the intricacies of a specific IT job.

To get to the bottom of this, we need to discuss a number of different aspects:

* Your personality type and what you’re interested in – what kind of working tasks please or frustrate you.

* What is the time-frame for retraining?

* What are your thoughts on salary vs the travel required?

* Some students don’t fully understand the energy involved to gain all the necessary accreditation.

* It makes sense to understand the differences across the myriad of training options.

To be honest, your only option to investigate these issues is through a chat with an experienced advisor who understands Information Technology (and more importantly it’s commercial requirements.)

(C) 2009. Look at LearningLolly.com for logical career tips on MCSA 2003 Certification and MCSA Courses.