If Professional I.T. work is your ultimate goal, you might start your instruction in I.T. Support work. Usually, if you are going to offer Software Support to others inside a business environment, the 'MCDST' (Microsoft Certified Desktop Support Technician) is probably appropriate. You'll typically be looking at approximately a hundred hours of studying with this level.

We come in to full I.T. career training programs at the next level. A common starting point for hardware support, networking and security roles are the 'CompTIA A+' & 'Network+' qualifications. As well as covering the fundamentals of hard-ware & networks, you'll learn about support, troubleshooting, administration and security. Training time is normally estimated at approximately 200-250 hrs for both, which can be reasonably carried out within six months on a part time study basis.

If there's any chance you'll be enrolling with a certification company that is still using workshop days as a necessary part of their training, then consider these hassles experienced by many IT hopefuls:

- Loads of travelling - many journeys and sometimes hundreds of miles a time.

- Weekday accessibility for classes is the norm, and with two or three days required at a time, this is usually problematic for most working students.

- Most of us end up feeling 20 days holiday per year doesn't go very far. Knock off over half of it for educational events and see your problems doubled.

- Workshops normally get over full.

- Class pace - classes usually have trainees of different aptitude, therefore there is often tension between those that want to go quickly as opposed to those with less experience.

- Most trainees report that the (not inconsiderable) costs of all the travelling back and forth to the centre and paying for food and accommodation can get very high.

- It's important to maintain privacy. We shouldn't risk throwing away any possible promotion that we're owed just because we're retraining.

- Asking questions in front of other class-mates will sometimes make us a little nervous. Ever avoided asking a question because you didn't want to look foolish?

- Where students have to on occasion work or live away part of the time, imagine the trouble involved in getting to the needed events, when time-off becomes even harder to obtain.

It would be better to simply watch and be taught by instructors one-on-one via ready-made classes, taking them when it's convenient for you, not someone else. Consider... With a notebook PC you're able to study wherever you want. And 24 hr-a-day support is only a web-browser click away in case you get challenged. Any module can be repeated as often as you want - doing something over will help you remember it. And you can say goodbye to note-taking - everything is already ready to go. Although this won't avoid every problem, it surely removes stress and makes things simpler. You also have reduced travel, hassle and costs.

A capable and specialised consultant (vs a salesman) will ask questions and seek to comprehend your current experience level and abilities. There is no other way of working out the point at which you need to start your studies. In some circumstances, the level to start at for a trainee with experience is often massively different to the student with none. Commencing with a foundation course first will sometimes be the most effective way to start into your IT studies, depending on your current skill level.

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