In today's high speed society, support workers who are able to solve problems with networks and PC's, and give daily advice to users, are vital in all areas of the business environment. The world's requirement for the above mentioned individuals is growing at an impressive rate, as commercial enterprise becomes significantly more computer dependent.
Workshop days are often sold as a great facet by many training schools. After talking to many computer industry trainees who have used them, you'll likely realise that they've now become a waste of time because of many things:
* Repeated visits to the centre - 100's of miles most times.
* Asking for time off work - typical trainers only offer availability during weekdays and typically group 2-3 days together. If you're working then this can be difficult, and it's made more problematic if travelling time is added into the mix.
* And don't disregard lost vacation time. Often, we get 4 weeks off each year. If half of that is used up on workshops, then there's very little left over for us.
* Training workshops can get too big.
* Class pace - workshops usually have trainees of mixed abilities, therefore there is often tension between students with more background knowledge and those with less experience.
* You shouldn't disregard the added financial outlay of arranging transport and accommodation either. Often, this will cost a lot of money - from hundreds to thousands. Do the maths yourself - you may be surprised.
* Privacy is important to us all. We should never risk giving up any potential advancement at our current place of work because of our studies.
* Posing questions in a class full of students sometimes makes any one of us feel self-conscious. Surely, at some point, you've avoided asking a question just because you didn't want to appear stupid?
* Where students have to on occasion work or live away part of the time, consider the added problems of reaching the required workshops, when time-off becomes even harder to obtain.
It would be better to watch a video and gain knowledge from industry specialists one-on-one via ready-made classes, studying them at a time that's convenient for you and you alone. Do them at home on your computer or if you've got a laptop, you can go anywhere. Any questions; then utilise the 24x7 Support (that should've been packaged with any technical type of training.) All the lessons can be repeated whenever it's convenient - memory is aided by repetition. And note-taking becomes a thing of the past - it's already laid on for you. Whilst this won't avoid any normal learning difficulties, it surely vastly reduces stress and simplifies things. You also have reduced costs, travel and hassle.
Adding in the cost of exams as an inclusive element of the package price then including an exam guarantee is popular with many companies. But let's examine why they really do it:
In this day and age, we have to be a tad more knowledgeable about sales gimmicks - and usually we cotton on to the fact that we are actually being charged for it - it's not because they're so generous they want to give something away! If it's important to you to pass in one, then you should pay for each exam as you go, give it the necessary attention and apply yourself as required.
Look for the very best offer you can at the appropriate time, and avoid college mark-up fees. You'll also be able to choose where to do the examinations - which means you can stay local. Paying upfront for examination fees (plus interest - if you're financing your study) is madness. Why fill a company's coffers with your hard-earned cash just to give them more interest! Many will hope you won't get to do them all - then they'll keep the extra money. Also, you should consider what an 'exam guarantee' really means. Most companies will not pay for re-takes until you have demonstrated conclusively that you won't fail again.
With average Prometric and VUE exams coming in at around 112 pounds in the UK, it makes sense to pay as you go. It's not in the student's interests to fork out hundreds or thousands of pounds for exams when enrolling on a course. A commitment to studying and the use of authorised exam preparation tools are actually the key to your success.
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