For anyone interested in a Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator (MCSA) course, you should know that companies offer quite diverse courses; some work and some don’t. You will find a range of courses, whether you’re a beginner, or an IT professional looking to formalise your skills with certification.
To pass at the MCSA level you need to pass 4 Microsoft Certified Professional exams (MCP’s). If you’re new to IT, it’s possible you will be required to improve your skill-set prior to attempting to go for the first of the MCP’s. Find a company with people who can help you sort out the best way forward for you and who will get you started in the right place.
A proficient and practiced consultant (as opposed to a salesman) will ask questions and seek to comprehend your current level of ability and experience. This is paramount to establishing the point at which you need to start your studies.
If you’ve got any work-based experience or some accreditation, you may find that your starting point is different from a beginner.
If you’re a student starting IT studies and exams for the first time, it can be helpful to avoid jumping in at the deep-end, kicking off with a user-skills course first. This can be built into most training packages.
A successful training program should have Microsoft (or key company) exam preparation systems.
Make sure that the practice exams are not just posing the correct questions on the right subjects, but are also posing them in the exact format that the real exams will ask them. It throws trainees if they’re faced with unrecognisable phrases and formats.
For many reasons, it’s very crucial to make sure you are completely prepared for your commercial exam prior to going for it. Going over ‘mock’ exams will help to boost your attitude and will save a lot of money on unsuccessful attempts at exams.
Some training providers will provide a useful Job Placement Assistance facility, designed to steer you into your first job. Often, people are too impressed with this facility, because it’s really not that difficult for any motivated and trained individual to land a job in IT – because there’s a great need for skilled employees.
Help with your CV and interview techniques is sometimes offered (alternatively, check out one of our sites for help). It’s essential that you polish up your CV right away – not when you’re ready to start work!
Getting your CV considered is more than not being known. A decent number of junior positions are bagged by people (sometimes when they’ve only just got going.)
In many cases, a specialist independent regional employment agency (who will, of course, be keen to place you to receive their commission) will be more pro-active than a division of a training company. In addition, they will no doubt be familiar with the local industry and employment needs.
Not inconsiderable numbers of students, so it seems, invest a great deal of time on their training course (for years sometimes), and then just stop instead of attempting to secure a good job. Sell yourself… Do your best to let employers know about you. Don’t expect a job to just fall into your lap.
It only makes sense to consider learning programs that’ll lead to commercially acknowledged accreditations. There are way too many small colleges offering unknown ‘in-house’ certificates which are worthless in today’s commercial market.
From an employer’s viewpoint, only the major heavyweights such as Microsoft, CompTIA, Adobe or Cisco (as an example) will open the right doors. Nothing else will cut the mustard.
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