Cisco Career Retraining Online – Get It Right First Time 2009
March 30, 2009 by Jason Kendall
Filed under Online Colleges
If Cisco training is your aspiration, but you’ve no practical experience with network switches or routers, the chances are your first course should be the CCNA training. This educates you in the necessary skills to set up and maintain routers. Vast numbers of routers make up the internet, and national or international corporations with multiple departments and sites also utilise routers to allow their networks to talk to each other.
As routers are connected to networks, it’s essential to know how networks operate, or you’ll struggle with the qualification and be unable to do the work. Find a training programme that teaches the basics (for example CompTIA) before you start the CCNA.
Should this be your first introduction to routers, then working up to and including the CCNA is definitely sufficient – don’t be pushed into attempting your CCNP. Once you’ve worked for a few years, you will have a feel for if CCNP is something you want to do.
When was the last time you considered your job security? Normally, we only think of this after we get some bad news. But in today’s marketplace, The cold truth is that job security simply doesn’t exist anymore, for most of us. Security can now only exist via a swiftly escalating market, driven forward by work-skills shortages. These circumstances create the right setting for a higher level of market-security – a far better situation.
Recently, a United Kingdom e-Skills investigation demonstrated that more than 26 percent of computing and IT jobs haven’t been filled due to an appallingly low number of trained staff. Essentially, we only have the national capacity to fill 3 out of every 4 jobs in IT. Highly skilled and commercially educated new workers are thus at an absolute premium, and in all likelihood it will stay that way for a long time. Actually, seeking in-depth commercial IT training over the coming years is probably the best career choice you could ever make.
So, which questions do we need to ask so as to gain the understanding we want? Because it seems there are many rather great prospects for everyone to investigate.
We can see a plethora of professional positions up for grabs in the IT industry. Picking the right one for yourself is generally problematic. What chances do most of us have of understanding the day-to-day realities of any IT job when it’s an alien environment to us? Often we don’t know someone who is in that area at all. Generally, the way to deal with this problem properly flows from an in-depth discussion of a number of areas:
* The kind of person you reckon you are – which things you find interesting, plus of course – what you definitely don’t enjoy.
* Why you want to consider starting in Information Technology – it could be you’re looking to achieve a long-held goal such as firing your boss and working for yourself for example.
* Any personal or home needs you may have?
* Because there are so many ways to train in the IT industry – you will have to get a basic understanding of what sets them apart.
* Taking a cold, hard look into the effort, commitment and time you can give.
To cut through all the jargon and confusion, and reveal the best path to success, have a good talk with an industry expert and advisor; an individual who appreciates and can explain the commercial realities as well as each qualification.
We’d hazard a guess that you’re a practical sort of person – a ‘hands-on’ personality type. Typically, the world of book-reading and classrooms is something you’ll make yourself do if you have to, but it’s not really your thing. So look for on-screen interactive learning packages if books just don’t do it for you. Memory is vastly improved when we use multiple senses – educational experts have expounded on this for as long as we can remember.
Interactive audio-visual materials utilising video demo’s and practice lab’s will beat books every time. And they’re far more fun. You really need to look at examples of the study materials provided by the company you’re considering. Be sure that they contain full motion videos of instructors demonstrating the topic with lab’s to practice the skills in.
Some companies only have access to training that is purely available online; while you can get away with this much of the time, imagine the problems when you don’t have access to the internet or you only get very a very slow connection sometimes. It’s much safer to rely on CD and DVD ROM materials that will solve that problem.
Considering how a program is ‘delivered’ to you is often missed by many students. How many stages do they break the program into? And in what sequence and do you have a say in when you’ll get each part? You may think it logical (with training often lasting 2 or 3 years for a full commercial certification,) for a training company to release one module at a time, as you complete each part. Although: Maybe the order of study prescribed by the provider doesn’t suit you. You may find it a stretch to finalise all the modules inside their defined time-scales?
The ideal circumstances are to get all your study materials delivered to you immediately; every single thing! This way, nothing can happen down the line which could affect your capability of finishing.
Proper support is incredibly important – locate a good company that provides 24×7 direct access, as anything less will frustrate you and could hold up your pace and restrict your intake. Try and find training with proper support available at any time you choose (no matter if it’s in the middle of the night on a weekend!) You want direct access to tutors, and not a message system as this will slow you down – waiting for tutors to call you back when it’s convenient for them.
As long as you look hard, you will find the top providers who give students direct-access online support 24×7 – including evenings, nights and weekends. Never ever take second best where support is concerned. The majority of would-be IT professionals who throw in the towel, are in that situation because of support (or the lack of).
You should look for accredited simulation materials and an exam preparation system included in the package you choose. Students regularly can get thrown by practicing questions for their exams that aren’t recognised by authorised sources. It’s not uncommon that the phraseology can be completely unlike un-authorised versions and it’s important to prepare yourself for this. Ensure that you ask for exam preparation tools so you can check your knowledge at any point. Simulated or practice exams prepare you properly – so you won’t be quite so nervous at the actual exam.
The somewhat scary thought of securing your first role in IT can be relieved by some companies, via a Job Placement Assistance facility. Often, there is more emphasis than is necessary on this service, because it’s relatively easy for a well trained and motivated person to get work in the IT industry – as employers are keen to find appropriately trained staff.
Get your CV updated straight-away though (advice and support for this should come from your course provider). Don’t delay till the exams have actually been passed. You may not have got to the stage where you’ve got to the exam time when you land your first junior support job; although this isn’t going to happen unless you’ve posted your CV on job sites. If it’s important to you to find work near your home, then it’s quite likely that an independent and specialised local employment service may work much better for you than some national concern, as they’re far more likely to be familiar with the local job scene.
Various people, it seems, conscientiously work through their course materials (for years sometimes), and then just stop instead of trying to get a good job. Promote yourself… Do everything you can to get yourself known. Don’t think a job’s just going to jump out in front of you.