Wednesday, October 14, 2009

How To Choose MCSA Training Described

By Jason Kendall

Should you want a future in supporting networks then the Microsoft MCSA (Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator) course is the ideal one for you. Whether you're about to get going or already have experience but need to formalise your skills, there's a range of courses to suit your requirements.

For a newcomer to the IT industry, it could be appropriate to learn a few things before getting into the first of the four MCP's (Microsoft Certified Professional exams) needed to become qualified at the MCSA level. Search for an organisation that will design a course to help you - with a team of advisors who will assist to make certain that you've selected your options carefully.

Many training providers still use a now out-dated method of training - in-centre classes. Usually touted as a major benefit, if you talk to a student who has had to attend a few, you'll most likely hear about many or most of these:

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

* Asking for time out of work - many trainers only offer Mon-Fri class availability and group several days in a chunk. If you're working then this can be difficult, and this is made worse if travelling time is added into the mix.

* And don't disregard the lost holiday days. Often, we get four weeks vacation allowance. If over 50 percent is used in classes, then we haven't got much left for ourselves.

* Workshop days can get overly large as well.

* The pace of the class - centre-days often consist of trainees of varying talent, therefore tension develops between students with more background knowledge and those who prefer a more relaxed pace.

* A lot of trainees speak about the high (and unexpected) costs associated with travelling back and forth to the centre while forking out for food and accommodation becomes prohibitively expensive.

* A lot of attendees want study privacy so as to avoid any come-back in their work.

* How many of us have avoided asking a question, because we wanted to maintain the illusion that we did, in fact, understand?

* There are those of us who on occasion work or live away part of the time, imagine the increased difficulty in travelling to the required events, as time is now more scarce than ever.

An altogether more elegant solution is based on viewing a pre-filmed class - enabling you to learn any time of the day that suits.

Consider... Utilising a laptop then you could work in the garden, a park, or just outside. And 24x7 support is an online click away if you hit challenges.

Just repeat the learning modules whenever you want to. There's also no need to scribble any notes because the class is available whenever you want it.

Could it be simpler: A lot of money is saved and you avoid all the travelling; and of course you end up with a more relaxed learning environment.

You should only consider training programmes which will progress to commercially acknowledged certifications. There's a plethora of small companies pushing their own 'in-house' certificates which aren't worth the paper they're printed on in the real world.

From an employer's viewpoint, only the top companies such as Microsoft, Cisco, Adobe or CompTIA (as an example) really carry any commercial clout. Nothing else hits the mark.

About the Author:

No comments:

Post a Comment