If you're going through this material there's a good chance that either you want to get into networking and an MCSE certificate appeals to you, or you're someone with a certain amount of knowledge and it's apparent that you need the Microsoft qualification.

When researching training companies, don't use those that short-change you by failing to up-grade to the current Microsoft version. In the long-run, this will frustrate and cost the student a lot more due to the fact that they've been educated in an outdated MCSE program which will need updating pretty much straight away. Avoid businesses who are just trying to sell you something. You should be given detailed advice to verify that you're taking the right decisions. Guard against being rushed into some generic product by an over-keen salesman.

One feature offered by some training providers is job placement assistance. The service is put in place to help you get your first commercial position. Having said that, occasionally this feature is bigged up too much, as it's really not that difficult for a well trained and motivated person to find a job in the IT industry - because there's a great need for qualified personnel.

Ideally you should have advice and support about your CV and interviews though; and we'd encourage all students to bring their CV up to date as soon as they start a course - don't put it off until you've graduated or passed any exams. You might not even have taken your exams when you will get your initial junior support role; but this won't be the case if your CV isn't in front of employers. Normally you'll get quicker results from a specialised and independent local recruitment service than any training course provider's national service, as they will be more familiar with the area and local employers.

A regular grievance for a number of training companies is how much students are prepared to study to get top marks in their exams, but how un-prepared they are to work on getting the position they've studied for. Get out there and hustle - you might find it's fun.

Quite often, students have issues with a single courseware aspect which doesn't even occur to them: The breakdown of the course materials before being physically delivered to you. Many think it logical (with a typical time scale of 1-3 years to gain full certified status,) that a training provider will issue one section at a time, as you achieve each exam pass. However: What if you don't finish every section? And what if you find the order of the modules counter-intuitive? Due to no fault of yours, you may go a little slower and consequently not get all your materials.

To avoid any potential future issues, most students now choose to request that all their modules (now paid for) are sent immediately, and not in a piecemeal fashion. You can then decide at what speed and in which order you want to finish things.

Now, why might we choose commercial qualifications instead of traditional academic qualifications gained through schools, colleges or universities? Industry now recognises that to cover the necessary commercial skill-sets, the right accreditation supplied for example by Adobe, Microsoft, CISCO and CompTIA most often has much more specialised relevance - for much less time and money. Typically, only that which is required is learned. It's not quite as straightforward as that, but the principle remains that students need to focus on the exact skills required (alongside some required background) - without attempting to cover a bit about everything else (as universities often do).

It's rather like the advert: 'It does what it says on the tin'. The company just needs to know what areas need to be serviced, and then request applicants with the correct exam numbers. Then they know that anyone who applies can do the necessary work.

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