If your future is in a career in web design, find a course in Adobe Dreamweaver. In order to take advantage of Dreamweaver commercially as a web designer, a thorough comprehension of the entire Adobe Web Creative Suite (which includes Flash and Action Script) is something to consider very seriously. With these skills, you might lead on to becoming an Adobe Certified Professional (ACP) or an Adobe Certified Expert (ACE).
Understanding how to make a website is only the beginning. Creating traffic, content maintenance and various programming skills are also required. Think about training programmes with additional features that include these skills maybe PHP, HTML, and MySQL, in addition to E-Commerce and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) skills.
Look at the following facts and pay great regard to them if you've been persuaded that that over-used sales technique about a guarantee for your exam looks like a reason to buy:
It's very clear we're still paying for it - it's not so hard to see that it's been added into the gross price invoiced by the training provider. It's absolutely not free - and it's insulting that we're supposed to think it is! If it's important to you to pass first time, then you should pay for each exam as you go, give it the necessary attention and apply yourself as required.
Do your exams somewhere local and don't pay up-front, but seek out the best deal for you when you're ready. Huge profits are netted by many training colleges who incorporate exam fees into the cost of the course. For various reasons, many students don't take their exams and so the company is quids-in. Astoundingly enough, there are providers that actually bank on it - and that's how they increase their profits. It's also worth noting that you should consider what an 'exam guarantee' really means. Many training companies will not pay for re-takes until you can prove to them you're ready to pass.
With average Prometric and VUE exams in the
A fatal Faux-Pas that students everywhere can make is to focus entirely on getting a qualification, and take their eye off the end result they want to achieve. Colleges are stacked to the hilt with students who took a course because it seemed fun - rather than what would get them their end-goal of a job they enjoyed. Don't be one of those unfortunate students who choose a training program that on the surface appears interesting - and get to the final hurdle of an accreditation for an unrewarding career path.
It's well worth a long chat to see the expectations of your industry. What particular exams they will want you to have and how you'll build your experience level. Spend some time setting guidelines as to how far you think you'll want to get as it may force you to choose a particular set of certifications. Have a chat with an experienced advisor who has a commercial understanding of the realities faced in the industry, and could provide detailed descriptions of what you're going to be doing in that job. Getting all these things right before beginning a training programme will save you both time and money.
Many people question why academic qualifications are being replaced by more commercial certifications? With a growing demand for specific technological expertise, industry has moved to specific, honed-in training that can only come from the vendors - that is companies such as Microsoft, CISCO, Adobe and CompTIA. Frequently this is at a far reduced cost both money and time wise. They do this through honing in on the particular skills that are needed (alongside an appropriate level of related knowledge,) rather than going into the heightened depths of background 'extras' that academic courses can get bogged down in - to pad out the syllabus.
Put yourself in the employer's position - and your company needed a person with some very particular skills. Which is the most straightforward: Go through a mass of different academic qualifications from various applicants, trying to establish what they know and which trade skills they have, or choose a specific set of accreditations that exactly fulfil your criteria, and then select who you want to interview from that. You'll then be able to concentrate on getting a feel for the person at interview - rather than on the depth of their technical knowledge.
Frequently, the normal person doesn't know in what direction to head in Information Technology, or even which area they should be considering getting trained in. Scanning lists of IT career possibilities is next to useless. Most of us have no concept what our good friends do at work - so we have no hope of understanding the subtleties of a new IT role. To come through this, we need to discuss several unique issues:
* The sort of person you consider yourself to be - what tasks do you find interesting, and on the other side of the coin - what makes you unhappy.
* For what reasons you're getting involved with Information Technology - is it to achieve a life-long goal such as firing your boss and working for yourself for example.
* What salary and timescale requirements you have?
* When taking into account all that computing covers, you really need to be able to see how they differ.
* It's wise to spend some time thinking about the level of commitment you're going to invest in your training.
In these situations, the only way to research these issues is via a conversation with an advisor or professional that has years of experience in computing (and more importantly it's commercial needs.)
(C) Jason Kendall. Navigate to LearningLolly.com for intelligent information on Adobe CS4 Training and Adobe Training Courses.
