The most important factor to have in mind whenever you're contemplating any sort of computer training program is what you want to accomplish from it. Have you got a job in your mind that requires specific Computer user skills, or is it that you just wish to know the way to surf the web more thoroughly? And then of course, you may be hoping to switch your job altogether and get in to the IT industry itself.

Determining what you need to achieve from your training program is always your first concern. Once you're sure about the reason you want training, you can take a more informed decision about best type for you personally. This process also saves you money & time, and will mean you're not using up energy on the wrong thing.

If you want to aim for the 1st levels of Professional IT accreditation, then User And Systems-support might be a valid move. The 'Microsoft Certified Desktop Support Technician' (MCDST) can be a good quality training course if you're aiming to offer software support for business users. You'll normally need around 100 hours of study with this grade.

We move in to full I.T. professional career training courses at the next level. A common starting place for hardware-support, networking and security roles would be the 'CompTIA' A+ and Network+ certifications. Along with learning about the basics of hardware & networks, you will also be taught about support, troubleshooting, administration and security. A course that covers both should take close to two hundred to two hundred and fifty hours to get through. This suggests that someone training part-time alongside another job could be at the accreditation stage in 6 month's time.

If you are taking a look at a change of career into IT, then its possible that you'll need to start somewhere amidst these courses, depending on your current level of IT literacy. We would advise you explore your options on training and IT careers with an industry advisor if you have more complex ambitions. In fact anyone contemplating training to make a new career move should be prepared to take proper advice prior to getting started. Insufficient preparation can result in much frustration down the road, and cost you a great deal more than it should have!

You can check out each aspect much more extensively on specific web-pages on this site. We cover all the certification tracks required to get you into industry. If you prefer, we can send you our detailed Lollypedia e-book free of charge, which gives you the chance to contact our professional advisors.

Basically, the starting point for a complete novice, who just wants to obtain a basic understanding of how to get the most from their personal computer, is the European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL). It will deal with how to work the basic elements of Windows (which is the system that 'runs' nearly all personal PCs.) You will become familiar with how you can login to the net, and the way to get on to and find your way around website pages and manage email. You will also be taught the basics of word-processing and a bit about what databases & spreadsheets are generally used for.

In order to enhance your skill set for career-related purposes, you may want to consider some more formal training. A comprehensive understanding of 'Microsoft Office' is the skill set most need at this point. The principle accreditations are the 'Microsoft Office Specialist' (MOS) and the Microsoft Certified Application Specialist (MCAS.) MOS has been about for several years & works with Office 2003 and 'XP', which is still perfectly well used commercially. 'MCAS' emphasises 'Office' 2007 and 'Vista', so undoubtedly has greater longevity. Both certification tracks have individual examinations around the major Ms 'Office' applications: "Word", Excel, "Powerpoint" & Access - for word-processing, 'spreadsheets', 'presentations' and databases. These accreditations will indicate to a company that you are adequately skilled to utilise these applications to their fullest extent.

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