Watch out that all accreditations you're considering doing are commercially relevant and are bang up to date. 'In-house' exams and the certificates they come with are usually worthless. Unless the accreditation comes from a company like Microsoft, Cisco, CompTIA or Adobe, then you'll probably find it will be commercially useless - because no-one will recognise it.

Authorised simulation materials and exam preparation packages are vital - and must be offered by your course provider. As the majority of examination boards in IT are American, you must be prepared for the way exams are phrased. You can't practice properly by merely understanding random questions - they need to be in the proper exam format. Simulated exams will prove very useful for confidence building - so when it comes to taking the real deal, you will be much more relaxed.

Commercial certification is now, undoubtedly, beginning to replace the traditional academic paths into the IT industry - so why is this happening? With a growing demand for specific technological expertise, the IT sector has been required to move to the specialised core-skills learning that can only be obtained from the actual vendors - that is companies such as Adobe, Microsoft, CISCO and CompTIA. This frequently provides reductions in both cost and time. Patently, a necessary quantity of relevant additional knowledge must be taught, but essential specialised knowledge in the particular job function gives a vendor trained person a massive advantage.

It's a bit like the TV advert: 'It does what it says on the tin'. Employers simply need to know what they need doing, and then request applicants with the correct exam numbers. Then they know that anyone who applies can do the necessary work.

It's so important to understand this key point: You absolutely must have proper 24x7 support from professional instructors. You'll severely regret it if you don't adhere to this. Try and find training with help available at any time of the day or night (even 1am on Sunday morning!) You want direct access to tutors, and not simply some messaging service that means you're parked in a queue of others waiting to be called back when it's convenient for them.

The very best training providers incorporate three or four individual support centres active in different time-zones. By utilising an interactive interface to provide a seamless experience, any time of the day or night, there is always help at hand, without any problems or delays. If you fail to get yourself support round-the-clock, you'll very quickly realise that you've made a mistake. You might not want to use the service in the middle of the night, but you may need weekends, early mornings or late evenings.

If you're thinking of using a training provider which still provides 'in-centre' days as a necessary part of their training, then take note of these issues encountered by the majority of IT hopefuls:

- Constant travelling - quite a distance away in many cases.

- If, like many of us, you work, then Monday to Friday events are difficult to make. Often you're having to deal with at least 2, if not 3 days in a row.

- Most of us find 20 days holiday per year doesn't go very far. Knock off a good 50 percent of that for study workshops and see how much more difficult it makes things.

- Workshops fill up quickly and can be very crammed in.

- Workshop pace - workshops can contain students of varied talent, consequently tension can run high between students that want a quicker pace to those with less experience.

- The growing costs associated with travel - driving or taking public transport to the training facility together with over-night bed and breakfast can really add up with each visit. Assuming just 5-10 centre-days at about thirty-five pounds for an over-night room, plus 40 pounds petrol and 15 pounds for food, that equates to four to nine hundred pounds of add-on cost.

- We all enjoy our privacy. We shouldn't risk giving up any lift up the ladder that could awarded to us because we're getting trained in a different area.

- Posing questions in the presence of other class-mates sometimes makes us a little awkward. Ever avoided asking a question just because you didn't want to appear stupid?

- When your work takes you away from home, it's a fact of life that classes can often become very hard to attend - and yet, the fees were paid along with everything else at the start.

For a far more flexible approach, make use of pre-made workshops in the comfort of your own home - at a time that's convenient to you - not anybody else. Think... Using a notebook PC then you could learn in the garden, a park, or just outside. And live 24 hr-a-day support is just a web-browser away if you hit challenges. You have the ability to go back and re-cover all the modules as often as you want to. There's also no need to take notes as the teaching is yours forever. The final upshot: Reduced hassle, less cost, and absolutely no travelling.

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