A ridiculously large number of organisations focus completely on the certification process, and completely miss why you're doing this - getting yourself a new job or career. You should always begin with the end goal - don't get hung-up on the training vehicle. Don't be one of those unfortunate people who set off on a track that sounds really 'interesting' and 'fun' - and get to the final hurdle of an accreditation for a career they'll never really get any satisfaction from.

Spend some time thinking about what you want to earn and the level of your ambition. This will influence what precise certifications you'll need to attain and what you can expect to give industry in return. As a precursor to beginning a study programme, you'd be well advised to chat over the exact market requirements with an industry professional, to be absolutely sure the retraining course covers all the bases.

Massive developments are coming via technology over the next few decades - and this means greater innovations all the time. We're only just starting to get to grips with how all this change will affect us. How we interact with the world will be inordinately affected by computers and the web.

And don't forget salaries either - the average salary across the UK for a typical IT worker is considerably greater than in the rest of the economy. It's likely you'll bring in a much greater package than you would in most other jobs. Because the IT market sector is still emerging nationally and internationally, it's predictable that the requirement for appropriately qualified IT professionals will remain buoyant for decades to come.

People attracted to this sort of work are often very practical, and don't really enjoy classrooms, and endless reading of dry academic textbooks. If you identify with this, try the newer style of interactive study, where everything is presented via full motion video. Where possible, if we can utilise all of our senses into our learning, then we often see hugely increased memory retention as a result.

Find a course where you'll receive a library of CD and DVD based materials - you'll learn by watching video tutorials and demonstrations, with the facility to practice your skills in interactive lab's. You must ensure that you see the type of training provided by any company that you may want to train through. Be sure that they contain instructor-led video demonstrations with virtual practice-lab's.

You should avoid purely online training. You want physical CD/DVD ROM course materials where available, enabling them to be used at your convenience - it's not wise to be held hostage to a quality and continuous internet connection.

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