Microsoft MCSA Study Training Examined

Written by Jason Kendall

Sunday, 07 February 2010 09:14

by JasonKendall

For those ready to get certified at the MCSA level of study, the latest courses on sale are based on CD and DVD ROM's using interactive training. So if you have a certain amount of knowledge but are looking to formalise your skill set, or you're a beginner, you'll come across hands-on MCSA courses to cater for you.

Each of these options will need a different type of course, so pay attention to check you're being offered the best one prior to making a start. Identify a training company that takes the time to understand what you're trying to achieve, and will work with you to sort out how it will all work, long before they start talking about courses.

What is the reason why traditional degrees are being replaced by more qualifications from the commercial sector?

Key company training (to use industry-speak) is far more specialised and product-specific. The IT sector has acknowledged that specialisation is essential to cope with a technologically complex world. CISCO, Adobe, Microsoft and CompTIA are the dominant players.

Of course, a necessary amount of background detail needs to be learned, but essential specialisation in the particular job function gives a commercially educated person a huge edge.

Put yourself in the employer's position - and you wanted someone who could provide a specific set of skills. What should you do: Wade your way through reams of different degrees and college qualifications from hopeful applicants, struggling to grasp what they've learned and which commercial skills have been attained, or choose a specific set of accreditations that exactly fulfil your criteria, and draw up from that who you want to speak to. Your interviews are then about personal suitability - instead of long discussions on technical suitability.

Frequently, the everyday IT hopeful doesn't have a clue in what direction to head in a computing career, or even what sector they should look at getting trained in.

How likely is it for us to understand the day-to-day realities of any IT job when we haven't done that before? Maybe we don't know someone who performs the role either.

To come through this, we need to discuss a variety of definitive areas:

* Personality factors and interests - what work-centred jobs you love or hate.

* What length of time can you allocate for your training?

* What are your thoughts on salary vs job satisfaction?

* There are many ways to train in Information Technology - you'll need to get a solid grounding on what separates them.

* Our advice is to think deeply about what kind of effort and commitment that you will set aside for gaining your certifications.

When all is said and done, your only chance of covering these is through an in-depth discussion with an advisor who knows the industry well enough to lead you to the correct decision.

Of all the important things to consider, one of the most essential is always full 24x7 support through trained professional instructors and mentors. It's an all too common story to find providers that will only offer a basic 9am till 6pm support period (maybe later on certain days) with very little availability over the weekend.

Avoid, like the plague, any organisations who use 'out-of-hours' call-centres - where an advisor will call back during normal office hours. It's no use when you're stuck on a problem and need an answer now.

The very best programs offer an internet-based 24x7 facility pulling in several support offices throughout multiple time-zones. You're offered an easy to use interface that accesses the most appropriate office at any time of day or night: Support when you need it.

Find a training company that cares. As only true live 24x7 round-the-clock support delivers what is required.

It's essential to have an accredited exam preparation programme included in your course.

Confirm that the mock exams are not only asking questions from the right areas, but also asking them in the way the real exams will structure them. This throws students if the questions are phrased in unfamiliar formats.

Ensure that you analyse whether you're learning enough by doing tests and practice exams prior to taking the real thing.

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