Of Worlds

Because you’re looking at information about MCSE courses, you’re most likely in 1 of 2 situations: You’re possibly contemplating a dynamic move to get into the IT field, and your research tells you there’s a huge demand for people with the right qualifications. Alternatively maybe you’re an IT professional already - and you should formalise your skills with an MCSE.

As you do your searches, you’ll come across colleges that compromise their offerings by not providing the latest version from Microsoft. Avoid such training providers as it will create challenges for you at exam time. If your knowledge is of the wrong syllabus, it could be impossible to pass. Training providers should be dedicated to offering the correct route for their students. Directing learning is equally about helping people to work out which way to go, as it is giving them help to reach their destination.

A sneaky way that colleges make a lot more is by adding exam fees upfront to the cost of a course then giving it ‘Exam Guarantee’ status. It looks like a good deal, but is it really:

You’re paying for it one way or another. One thing’s for sure - it isn’t free - they’ve simply charged more for the whole training package. Should you seriously need to get a first time pass, you must pay for one exam at a time, give it the priority it deserves and give the task sufficient application.

Find the best exam deal or offer available at the time, and hang on to your cash. You’ll also be able to choose where to take your exam - which means you can stay local. Big margins are made by a significant number of organisations that get money upfront for exam fees. Many students don’t take them for one reason or another but the company keeps the money. Astoundingly enough, there are training companies that actually rely on students not sitting all the exams - as that’s very profitable for them. Additionally, ‘Exam Guarantees’ often aren’t worth the paper they’re written on. Many training companies won’t pay for re-takes until you’ve completely satisfied them that you’re ready this time.

Paying maybe a thousand pounds extra on ‘Exam Guarantees’ is short-sighted - when study, commitment and preparing with good quality mock and practice exams is actually the key to your success.

You have to be sure that all your certifications are commercially valid and current - don’t even consider studies which end up with a useless in-house certificate or plaque. Unless your qualification is issued by a big-hitter like Microsoft, CompTIA, Adobe or Cisco, then you’ll probably find it won’t be commercially viable - as it’ll be an unknown commodity.

Huge changes are washing over technology over the next generation - and this means greater innovations all the time. We’re in the very early stages of beginning to scrape the surface of how technology is going to shape our lives. The internet will profoundly revolutionise the way we see and interact with the world around us over the coming decades.

If money is way up on your list of priorities, then you will appreciate the fact that the regular income for the majority of IT staff is significantly better than salaries in the rest of the economy. Demand for properly certified IT professionals is certain for many years to come, due to the ongoing expansion in the marketplace and the vast shortage that we still have.

Most trainers typically provide a big box of books. It’s not a very interesting way to learn and not ideal for studying effectively. Research into the way we learn shows that we remember much more when all our senses are involved, and we take action to use what we’ve learned.

The latest home-based training features self-contained CD or DVD materials. Instructor-led tutorials will mean you’ll take everything in through the expert demonstrations. You can then test yourself by using practice-lab’s. You must ensure that you see the type of training provided by any company that you may want to train through. You’ll want to see that they include instructor-led video demonstrations with virtual practice-lab’s.

Often, companies will only use training that is purely available online; while you can get away with this much of the time, think what will happen if you lose your internet access or you only get very a very slow connection sometimes. It is usually safer to have CD and DVD ROM materials that will not have these problems.

Searching for your first position in IT is often made easier with a Job Placement Assistance program. Because of the huge shortage of skills in Britain at the moment, it’s not necessary to place too much emphasis on this feature however. It’s actually not as hard as some people make out to get your first job as long as you’re correctly trained and certified.

Get your CV updated straight-away though - you should get plenty of help from your training provider on this. Don’t wait till you’ve finished your exams. It can happen that you haven’t even got to the exam time when you will get your initial junior support position; yet this can’t and won’t happen if interviewers don’t get sight of your CV. The top companies to help get you placed are most often specialist independent regional recruitment consultancies. Because they only get paid when they place you, they’ll work that much harder to get a result.

Various men and women, apparently, are prepared to study their hearts out (for years sometimes), only to do nothing special when trying to get the right position. Promote yourself… Do everything you can to get in front of employers. Good jobs don’t just knock on your door.

(C) Jason Kendall. Browse LearningLolly.com for superb advice on MCSE 2008 Course and MCSA Course.

Companies are getting fewer results for a higher spend using time-honoured marketing techniques. So we have to look at updating our modus operandi. We all know it’s vital that all commercial organisations are on the web. Yet that in itself isn’t sufficient. Buyers MUST know how to reach you.

Let’s compare it to a new store opening up… A lot of money has gone into setting it up. They’re ready to go… And only then realise they’re out in the sticks in a no-through road. What’s worse, they haven’t told anyone where they are. How do you think they’ll get on? This is exactly the scenario for 99% of ALL commercial websites in existence.

The World Wide Web has caused a paradigm shift in marketing. Ten years ago, as everyone was getting on the bandwagon, there was an idea that everyone needed a website. Vast amounts of money were spent on all singing/dancing web sites. (A happy situation for web design businesses…) Before long though, the site owners were complaining that no-one looked at their new website! People had thought that if they had a big website, it would be easily spotted. This proved to be a complete fallacy…

Web marketing needs a whole new approach. Off-line marketing people would suggest your website is like a sales brochure. As a result, they’ll try to get you to promote the site on radio, TV or in the press. Essentially they’re working in the same way as they’ve always done. First they make a nice looking catalogue. Then they utilise various marketing methods to get people to look at the catalogue. This view is completely and utterly flawed in the internet economy.

This approach purely sees the web as a viewing portal, which it isn’t. It’s a hugely dynamic environment with complex interactivity. Users drill down to investigate the services they’re interested in. In addition, terrific site indexes have been created by several major Search Engines (SE’S) so customers can find the things they’re looking for. Think of the chaos involved if the Business Yellow Pages wasn’t in alphabetical order: We’d be forever frustrated and disappointed.

Search Engines have sorted all this. And so marketing is forced to move on. Because now, if you want to be found in the vast sea that is the internet, you have to be indexed in the Search Engines. But there’s a lot more to it than that… #S#

Of course, the Search Engines weren’t blind to this, so they developed an unusual paid advertising scheme so any site could get to the top. It’s known as PPC, or Pay per Click, because you’re only charged when a user opts for your link. What a great idea… Effectively, only people who’d expressed an interest in your product cost you any money. This form of advertising is very targeted. It can bring outstanding results if handled well.

But Pay-Per-Click is heavily over-subscribed now in most sectors. Predominantly because of a wealth of new bidders who lack experience, the cost per click has been driven upwards. Now, in 2009, we’re seeing click prices that are so high, it can literally be unfeasible to make a profit. In particular, where a sale requires a large number of clicks. Consequently we’re seeing a renewed interest in SEO. This means websites are optimised in ways that naturally push them up the search pages.

As an exercise: Go to Google or Bing RIGHT NOW and type in a few product or service keywords. Does your site appear in the first 3 pages of results? It’s very doubtful. In other words, you’re no-where to be found. If it is there, would clients really use those keywords?

Maybe you’ve already tried some Pay Per Click advertising so you appear in the paid listings, and maybe you’ve achieved some success so far. Can you be sure you’re working it as efficiently as possible? Is your ROI satisfactory? Are you aware of how to assess the quality and viability of each campaign? With PPC, testing and diagnostics are critical. You’ll never get the best results without correct figures.

Global figures clearly demonstrate that commercial marketing is swiftly moving online. There is no other choice but to deal with it - and ensure you’re taking full advantage of all the opportunities.