by Jason Kendall
If you’d like to become a web designer and have the most recognised qualification for today’s employment market, the course you need is Adobe Dreamweaver. The complete Adobe Web Creative Suite should also be studied comprehensively. This will mean you have knowledge of Flash and Action Script, amongst others, and could lead on to the ACE (Adobe Certified Expert) or ACP (Adobe Certified Professional) accreditation.
Having knowledge of how to construct a website just gets you started. Creating traffic, content maintenance and some programming skills should come next. Aim for courses with additional features that teach these subjects perhaps HTML, PHP and MySQL, as well as E-Commerce and SEO (Search Engine Optimisation).
Some commercial training providers will only provide basic 9am till 6pm support (maybe a little earlier or later on certain days); most won’t answer after 8-9pm at the latest and frequently never at the weekends. Don’t accept study programmes that only provide support to students via a call-centre messaging service outside of normal office hours. Trainers will give you every excuse in the book why you don’t need this. But, no matter how they put it – you need support when you need support – not when it suits them.
The most successful trainers utilise several support facilities across multiple time-zones. They use an online interactive interface to join them all seamlessly, any time of the day or night, help is just seconds away, without any contact issues or hassle. Never compromise when you’re looking for the right support service. The majority of students that throw in the towel, are in that situation because they didn’t get the support necessary for them.
Let’s admit it: There’s absolutely no personal job security available anymore; there’s really only industry and sector security – as any company can fire a solitary member of staff when it meets the company’s trade requirements. However, a fast growing sector, where there just aren’t enough staff to go round (through a growing shortage of properly qualified professionals), opens the possibility of lasting job security.
With the Information Technology (IT) industry for instance, a recent e-Skills investigation highlighted a skills gap in the UK around the 26 percent mark. Quite simply, we can only fill 3 out of 4 positions in IT. This alarming concept reveals the requirement for more appropriately certified Information Technology professionals across the United Kingdom. Undoubtedly, now really is a critical time to consider retraining into the IT industry.
Don’t put too much store, like so many people do, on the training course itself. You’re not training for the sake of training; you should be geared towards the actual job at the end of it. Begin and continue with the end in mind. It’s unfortunate, but thousands of new students commence training that sounds fabulous from the prospectus, but which delivers a career that is of no interest. Try talking to typical college students to see what we mean.
Make sure you investigate how you feel about earning potential, career development, and if you’re ambitious or not. It’s vital to know what industry expects from you, what particular qualifications are needed and where you’ll pick-up experience from. All students are advised to speak to an experienced industry professional before deciding on their learning programme. This gives some measure of assurance that it features what is required for the chosen career path.
Commencing with the idea that it’s necessary to choose the employment that excites us first and foremost, before we can even chew over what career training would meet that requirement, how do we decide on the right direction? Scanning a list of odd-sounding and meaningless job titles is no use whatsoever. Surely, most of us have no concept what our good friends do at work – so we have no hope of understanding the complexities of a new IT role. Contemplation on the following points is important when you want to dig down the right answers:
* The sort of individual you think yourself to be – what tasks do you get enjoyment from, plus of course – what don’t you like doing.
* What time-frame are you looking at for retraining?
* How important is salary to you – is it of prime importance, or does job satisfaction rate a little higher on the scale of your priorities?
* Getting to grips with what typical job roles and markets are – and what differentiates them.
* It’s wise to spend some time thinking about the level of commitment you’re going to invest in the accreditation program.
In all honesty, your only option to research these areas will be via a meeting with a professional that understands the IT industry (and specifically it’s commercial needs and requirements.)
Massive developments are washing over technology over the next few decades – and it only gets more exciting every day. Technology, computers and connections through the internet will radically shape our lives in the future; overwhelmingly so.
The usual IT technician over this country as a whole has been shown to earn significantly more than equivalent professionals in much of the rest of the economy. Standard IT wages are hard to beat nationally. Apparently there’s no easing up for IT industry expansion in the UK. The industry is continuing to expand quickly, and as we have a significant shortage of skilled professionals, it’s not likely that this will change significantly for decades to come.