Several companies have a handy Job Placement Assistance facility, to help you into your first commercial role. With the great skills shortage in the UK at the moment, there isn't a great need to get too caught up in this feature though. It's not as difficult as you may be led to believe to secure employment once you're properly qualified.

Get your CV updated straight-away though - look to your training company for advice on how to do this. Don't delay till the exams have actually been passed. Many junior support roles are offered to students who're still on their course and haven't even passed a single exam yet. At the very least this will get you into the 'maybe' pile of CV's - rather than the 'No' pile. If you'd like to keep travelling time and costs to a minimum, then you'll probably find that a specialist independent regional recruitment consultant or service can generally serve you better than a centralised service, due to the fact that they are much more inclined to know what's available near you.

Many men and women, apparently, are prepared to study their hearts out (sometimes for years), and just give up when it comes to trying to get a good job. Promote yourself... Work hard to get yourself known. Good jobs don't just knock on your door.

Being a part of the information technology industry is one of the most exciting and ground-breaking industries to be involved in today. Being a member of a team working on breakthroughs in technology is to be a part of the massive changes affecting everyone who lives in the 21st century. Technology, computers and connections via the web will dramatically shape the direction of our lives in the future; to a vast degree.

Should lifestyle be way up on your list of priorities, then you'll be happy to know that the usual remuneration of the majority of IT staff is considerably better than with the rest of the economy. Experts agree that there's a considerable UK-wide requirement for trained and qualified IT technicians. It follows that as growth in the industry shows little sign of contracting, it is likely this will be the case for a good while yet.

We can guess that you're quite practically minded - a 'hands-on' individual. If you're like us, the world of book-reading and classrooms is something you'll make yourself do if you have to, but you really wouldn't enjoy it. So look for on-screen interactive learning packages if books just don't do it for you. Long-term memory is enhanced when all our senses are brought into the mix - experts have been clear on this for as long as we can remember.

Find a course where you'll receive a selection of CD and DVD based materials - you'll begin by watching videos of instructors demonstrating the skills, followed by the chance to hone your abilities through virtual lab's. Any company that you're considering should be able to show you samples of the materials provided for study. Expect video tutorials, instructor led classes and a variety of interactive modules.

You'll find that many companies will only provide training that is purely available online; sometimes you can get away with this - but, consider what happens when you don't have access to the internet or you get slow speeds and down-time etc. It is usually safer to have DVD or CD discs that removes the issue entirely.

If you're considering a training provider who still provides 'in-centre workshop days' as a feature of their programme, then listen to these hassles reported by almost all students:

- Frequent round journeys - often hundreds of miles at a time.

- Accessibility to workshops; typically weekdays only and two or three days in a row. This can be difficult to get the time off work.

- I think you'd agree that we usually find 4 weeks off each year is barely enough. Sacrifice at least half of this for study events and watch how much harder things become.

- Training workshops can 'sell out' fast and can be very crammed in.

- The pace of the workshop - workshops usually have students of varied skill, so tension develops between those that want to go quickly as opposed to those who prefer a more relaxed pace.

- Never ignore the extra expense of driving and bed and breakfast either. This can run to 00's or even 000's extra. Take some time to add it all up - it'll shock and surprise you.

- Privacy is important to us all. We shouldn't risk giving up any potential advancement at our current place of work because of our studies.

- Who amongst us hasn't avoided posing that question we were dying to ask, just because we wanted to look smarter?

- Working and living away - a minority of attendees have to work or live somewhere else for certain parts of the program. Workshops are very difficult then, yet the money has already changed hands in your initial payment.

Surely it makes much more sense to study at your convenience - not your training provider's - and use videos of instructors with interactive virtual-lab's. Think... If you have a notebook PC you can work wherever you happen to be at that time. And 24 hr-a-day support is only a web-click away at times of difficulty. It's never going to matter how many times you have to re-cover a topic, video instructors aren't ever likely to rush you! Plus, as a consequence, you'll never have to write notes again. Everything is there for you when you need it. Could it be more straightforward: No travelling, wasted time or money; and you get a more comfortable learning atmosphere.

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