In amongst the top nominees for the most common difficulty in the IT training sector is a requirement to attend multiple workshop days. Most training academies harp on about the 'benefits' of going in to their classes, but most students end up finding them a thorn in your side due to many reasons:

- All that travelling - multiple journeys and usually hundreds of miles a time.

- Workshop access; normally weekdays only and sometimes 2-3 days at a time. It's not easy to get the leave of absence.

- Annual leave lost - most trainees get just four weeks holiday each year. If you give up at least half to your educational classes, that doesn't leave much holiday time left for students and their families.

- Training events normally become quickly full, so we end up having to take the '2nd best' solution.

- Workshop pace - classes normally have students of different abilities, consequently there is often tension between the quicker-learners and the ones who need a little longer.

- Most attendees tell us of the considerable cost of travelling back and forth to the training venue while forking out for food and accommodation can get very expensive.

- Maintaining the privacy of our training is often very important to quite a lot of attendees. There's no need to throw away any possible promotions, income boosts or accomplishment in your job just because you're retraining. If your boss finds out that you're undertaking certification in a completely different market, what do you think they'll do?

- Raising questions in front of other class-mates sometimes makes us a little awkward. Ever avoided asking a question because you didn't want to appear stupid?

- Living away for part of your working week - many students have to work or live somewhere else for sections of the programme. Days in-centre are therefore very difficult then, yet you've already paid for them when you paid initially.

Doesn't it make a lot more sense to take classes at your convenience - not your training provider's - and utilise interactive videos of instructors teaching a class. Any time you get a problem, get onto the live 24x7 support (that you should have insisted on for any technical study.) Remember, if you've got a notebook PC, study isn't restricted to the home or office. It's never going to matter how many times you feel you need to repeat something, filmed teachers are never going to run out of patience! Also, as an added bonus, there's no need to take notes. It's already there for you. The final outcome: Reduced hassle and stress, less cost, and travelling is removed.

In most cases, a normal IT hopeful has no idea what way to go about starting in the IT industry, or even which area they should look at getting trained in. I mean, if you don't have any background in the IT sector, how are you equipped to know what any qualified IT worker does each day? Let alone arrive at which training route will be most suitable for a successful result. The key to answering this dilemma appropriately stems from an in-depth conversation around a variety of topics:

- Which type of individual you reckon you are - what tasks do you find interesting, and conversely - what you hate to do.

- What time-frame are you looking at for your training?

- What are your thoughts on salary vs job satisfaction?

- There are many ways to train in IT - there's a need to gain some key facts on what sets them apart.

- Taking a proper look into the effort, commitment and time you can give.

To bypass the industry jargon, and reveal the most viable option for your success, have an informal meeting with an industry expert and advisor; a person who can impart the commercial reality whilst covering the accreditations.

Every program under consideration should always lead to a nationally (or globally) recognised certification as an end-result - not a useless 'in-house' diploma - fit only for filing away and forgetting. Only properly recognised qualifications from companies such as Microsoft, Adobe, Cisco and CompTIA will be useful to a future employer.

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