The area most overlooked by new students mulling over a new direction is the issue of 'training segmentation'. Basically, this means the breakdown of the materials for delivery to you, which completely controls how you end up. Training companies will normally offer some sort of program spread over 1-3 years, and send out each piece as you complete each section or exam. Sounds reasonable? Well consider these facts: How would they react if you didn't complete every module at the speed they required? Sometimes their preference of study order doesn't work as well as an alternative path could be.

To provide the maximum security and flexibility, most students now choose to have all their training materials (which they've now paid for) delivered immediately, and not in stages. It's then your own choice in what order and how fast or slow you want to finish things.

If you're thinking of using a training provider who still provides 'in-centre workshop days' as a benefit of their course, then take note of these typical downsides encountered by most students:

- Many centre visits - sometimes hundreds of miles at a time.

- Mon-Fri availability for workshops is the norm, and trying to take several days leave in a single chunk can be difficult for the majority of students who work.

- The majority of us end up feeling 20 days holiday per year is not really enough. Knock off a good 50 percent of that for educational classes and see your problems doubled.

- Training workshops fill up quickly and can sometimes be too big - so they're not personal enough.

- The 'pace' - workshops typically feature students of different aptitude, consequently tension can run high between those that want to go quickly as opposed to the ones who need a little longer.

- The growing costs associated with travel - driving to and from the training college and of course several days accommodation can mount up over several visits. With only a basic 5-10 classes at a cost of 35 pounds for one night's accommodation, plus 40 pounds petrol and food at 15.00, that becomes a minimum of 450-900 pounds of hidden costs on top.

- It's important to maintain privacy. We shouldn't risk throwing away any lift up the ladder due to us while we're training.

- It's very common for trainees to hide the fact that they want to raise a question - simply due to the reason that they're in front of other people.

- More often than not, workshops become basically impossible to attend, if you live away for days at a time.

An altogether more elegant solution comes from viewing a videoed workshop - enabling you to learn at any time of day. Study from home on your PC or why not in the garden on a laptop. If you have any questions, then use the provided 24x7 live support (that should've been packaged with any technical type of training.) Repeat any modules whenever you feel you need to - repetition is good for memory. And note-taking is a thing of the past - everything is already laid on for you. Though this doesn't avoid every little difficulty, it surely vastly reduces stress and simplifies things. You've also got less travel, hassle and costs.

Don't get hung-up, as a lot of students can, on the accreditation program. You're not training for the sake of training; this is about employment. Focus on the end-goal. It's possible, for example, to thoroughly enjoy one year of training and then find yourself trapped for decades in something completely unrewarding, as an upshot of not doing the correct level of soul-searching at the outset.

Never let your focus stray from what it is you're trying to achieve, and build your study action-plan from that - not the other way round. Stay on target and begin studying for an end-result that'll reward you for many long and fruitful years. Look for help from an industry professional that 'gets' the commercial realities of the area you're interested in, and who can give you 'A day in the life of' synopsis of what duties you'll be performing on a day-to-day basis. It's sensible to understand whether or not this is right for you long before your course begins. After all, what is the point in kicking off your training and then realise you've made a huge mistake.

You'll be able to investigate each area much more extensively by visiting specific web-pages on this site. We discuss all the accreditation paths necessary to get you in to industry. Should you prefer, we'll send you our in-depth e-book 'Lollypedia' at no cost to you, which gives you the chance to make contact with our professional advisory team.

An advisor that doesn't ask many questions - the likelihood is they're just trying to sell you something. If they wade straight in with a specific product before understanding your background and whether you have any commercial experience, then it's very likely to be the case. If you've got a strong background, or perhaps a bit of work-based experience (some industry qualifications maybe?) then it could be that your starting point will be very different from someone with no background whatsoever. For students embarking on IT studies from scratch, it's often a good idea to break yourself in gently, kicking off with some basic user skills first. This can be built into most types of training.

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