The sometimes daunting task of securing your first job is often eased by some training providers because they offer a Job Placement Assistance facility. With the massive shortage of skills in the UK today, there's no need to place too much emphasis on this feature however. It's actually not as hard as some people make out to get a job once you're properly qualified.

Whatever you do, don't procrastinate and wait until you have completed your exams before bringing your CV up to date. Right at the beginning of your training, list what you're working on and get it out there! Many junior support roles are offered to people who are still learning and haven't even passed a single exam yet. This will at the very least get your CV into the 'possible' pile and not the 'no' pile. If you'd like to keep travelling time and costs to a minimum, then it's quite likely that a specialist locally based employment agency may be of more use than a national service, because they're far more likely to be familiar with what's available near you.

Fundamentally, as long as you put the same commitment into getting your first IT position as into training, you won't find it too challenging. Some people strangely invest a great deal of time on their training and studies and then just stop once they've passed their exams and seem to suppose that interviewers know they're there.

Many training schools still use the rather old-fashioned idea of classroom attendance. Quite often pushed as a positive point, if you track down someone who's been through a few, you'll find them listing some or most of these problems:

- Lots of centre visits - normally hundreds of miles at a time.

- Getting time out of work - most schools will only provide Mon-Fri class availability and group several days in a chunk. To be honest, this doesn't suit working people, even more so if you include the travel time on top.

- Let us not overlook the lost vacation days. Most of us have 4 weeks off each year. If half of that is used up on workshops, then we aren't going to be doing much vacationing.

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

- Many students want to study at a slower or quicker pace than the rest of the class. Sometimes this causes the tension often found in classrooms.

- A lot of students speak about the high (and unexpected) costs associated with travelling back and forth to the training facility while forking out for food and accommodation gets very expensive.

- Maintaining the privacy of our training can be high on the list of priorities to most attendees. You don't want to give up potential advancement, pay-rises or achievement in your job just because you're retraining. When your boss discovers you've committed to qualification in a completely different market, how will they regard you?

- Who amongst us hasn't shied away from raising a hand in the air, because we wanted to maintain the illusion that we did, in fact, understand?

- You should remember, workshops frequently become pretty much impossible to attend, if you work away for part of the week.

It obviously makes more sense to learn at a time that's convenient for you - not the school - and make use of interactive videos of instructors teaching a class. You could study at home on your desktop computer or why not in the garden on a laptop. If you've got questions, then utilise the 24x7 Support (that should come with any technical program.) No matter how many times you would like to re-take a quiz or test, video tutors can never get frustrated with you! And remember, with this method, note-taking is a thing of the past. Everything's laid out there for immediate use. Basically: You save on money, time, hassle and completely avoid polluting the environment.

Following on from your 'CCNA', there are an array of specialised qualifications out there. You could potentially go into wireless technology, or Security, or perhaps actually on to the Cisco Certified Networking Professional (CCNP). It isn't advisable to think about taking the 'CCNP' until you've totally accomplished your CCNA. You'll want to get a couple of years of industry experience along with the CCNA before moving onto the 'CCNP' certification. If however you have actually been in IT for some time, and have already achieved a qualification that compares to the CCNA (for instance whilst in the military) you might possibly move straight to 'CCNP'. To be honest, if you are starting up in it, no employer will expect you to be at such a high level of qualification, & could rightly question your true comprehension, if you haven't even been employed in a CCNA role first.

Lots of students opt to combine the 'A+', N+ & 'CCNA' track with the Microsoft MCSA or 'MCSE', to get a more 'rounded' networking education. With so many possibilities out there, a career-path of this nature ought always to be discussed with an industry experienced professional. That way you can be sure that nothing inappropriate for your requirements has been added, & nothing at all has been overlooked.

Authorised simulation materials and exam preparation packages are vital - and really must be obtained from your training provider. Steer clear of depending on non-accredited exam preparation systems. The type of questions asked is often somewhat different - and sometimes this can be a real headache when it comes to taking the real exam. Practice exams will prove very useful as a resource to you - so when it comes to taking the proper exam, you don't get phased.

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