If you're considering a certification company that is still pushing workshop days as a feature of their programme, then listen to these problems reported by most IT hopefuls:

- All that travelling - frequent journeys and often hundreds of miles each time.

- If you're working, then weekday classes represent a difficulty in getting time off. Typically you are contending with at least 2, if not 3 days in a row.

- If we've got 4 weeks annual leave, giving half of them to study workshops leaves very little time for holidays.

- 'In-Centre' workshop days often end up over subscribed.

- Tension can run high in mixed classes as most students want to move at a pace comfortable for them.

- Never ignore the extra cost of travelling and over-night accommodation either. Often, this will cost 00's or even 000's extra. Take some time to add it all up - you'll get a shock.

- The majority of students want study privacy thus avoiding all come-back in their job.

- Raising questions around our class-mates sometimes makes any one of us a little uncomfortable. Would you admit that you've occasionally avoided posing a question because you didn't want to look foolish?

- If you occasionally work away from home, it's a fact of life that workshops can become awkward to keep up - and yet, the money has already been paid.

An altogether more elegant solution is based on viewing a filmed class - having instructor-led teaching on hand whenever it's convenient for you. Study at home on your desktop PC or why not in the garden on a laptop. Any questions that pop up, just make use of the 24x7 support (that we hope you'll insist on with any technical courses.) Just come back to any of the modules at any time you want to brush up. You also don't need to jot down any notes because you'll always have access to the teaching. While this won't avoid each and every issue, it unquestionably vastly reduces stress and simplifies things. You've also got less travel, hassle and costs.

After the 'CCNA', accreditation paths are varied and could very well incorporate a specialization in Security or Wireless fields, or you could take a look at moving onto the 'CCNP' ('Cisco Certified Networking Professional'.) It isn't advisable to consider taking the CCNP before you have fully completed the CCNA. It's best to get two years of Cisco experience together with your 'CCNA' ahead of progressing on to 'CCNP' accreditation. However if you have actually been in IT for a while, and have already gained a certification that is equivalent to the CCNA (for example whilst in the armed forces) you might be able to move straight to CCNP. The bottom line is that if you're starting in it, no recruiter will expect you to have achieved such a high level of qualification, & might quite rightly query your exact comprehension, if you've not even been employed in a 'CCNA' job first.

We'd hazard a guess that you're a practical sort of person - a 'hands-on' personality type. Typically, the trial of reading reference books and manuals is something you'll force on yourself if you absolutely have to, but you'd hate it. Consider interactive, multimedia study if you'd really rather not use books. Research over recent years has repeatedly verified that an 'involved' approach to study, where we utilise all our senses, is proven to produce longer-lasting and deeper memory retention.

Start a study-program in which you'll get a host of DVD-ROM's - you'll start with videos of instructor demonstrations, and then have the opportunity to fine-tune your skills in fully interactive practice sessions. Every company that you look at should be able to show you a few examples of the type of training materials they provide. You're looking for evidence of tutorial videos and demonstrations and interactive areas to practice in.

You should avoid purely online training. Physical CD or DVD ROM materials are preferable where obtainable, so that you have access at all times - and not be totally reliant on a good broadband connection all the time.

Online Training Courses For Information Technology >>