If it weren't for a steady stream of well educated computer and network support workers, industry in the UK (and around the world) would surely be brought to its knees. There is a huge demand for technicians to support systems and users alike. Because of the daunting complexities of technological advances, many more qualified workers are being sought to look after the smooth operation of functions we need to be sure will work effectively.

One fatal mistake that many potential students make is to look for the actual course to take, rather than starting with the end result they want to achieve. Universities are full of direction-less students that chose an 'interesting' course - rather than what would get them an enjoyable career or job. It's quite usual, for example, to find immense satisfaction in a year of study and then spend 20 miserable years in a job you hate, as an upshot of not doing some quality research at the outset.

You'll want to understand what industry will expect from you. Which exams you'll be required to have and how you'll go about getting some commercial experience. You should also spend a little time assessing how far you'd like to progress your career as it will control your selection of exams. Obtain help from an experienced industry professional that has commercial knowledge of your chosen market-place, and who can offer 'A day in the life of' synopsis of what you'll actually be doing on a day-to-day basis. It's good sense to understand whether or not this is right for you long before you embark on your training program. There's little reason in starting your training and then find you've gone the wrong way entirely.

Qualifications from the commercial sector are now, undoubtedly, beginning to replace the more academic tracks into IT - but why is this happening? With the costs of academic degree's climbing ever higher, alongside the industry's recognition that accreditation-based training is often far more commercially relevant, there's been a great increase in Microsoft, CISCO, Adobe and CompTIA certified training paths that create knowledgeable employees at a much reduced cost in terms of money and time. Higher education courses, as a example, can often get caught up in vast amounts of loosely associated study - with a syllabus that's far too wide. Students are then held back from learning the core essentials in sufficient depth.

What if you were an employer - and you needed to take on someone with a very particular skill-set. What's the simplest way to find the right person: Go through loads of academic qualifications from graduate applicants, asking for course details and which commercial skills they have, or choose a specific set of accreditations that exactly fulfil your criteria, and make your short-list from that. You'll then be able to concentrate on getting a feel for the person at interview - instead of long discussions on technical suitability.

Often, trainers provide piles of reference manuals and workbooks. This isn't very interesting and not really conducive to studying effectively. Our ability to remember is increased when all our senses are brought into the mix - experts have been clear on this for as long as we can remember.

Top of the range study programs now offer interactive discs. By watching and listening to instructors on video tutorials you'll absorb the modules, one by one, through the demonstrations and explanations. Then you test your knowledge by utilising the practice lab's and modules. Every company that you look at must be pushed to demo some examples of their training materials. Make sure you encounter videos of instructor-led classes and a variety of interactive modules.

It is generally unwise to select online only courseware. Connection quality and reliability varies hugely across most broadband providers, ensure that you have access to disc based courseware (On CD or DVD).

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