Thinking of taking an MCSE? If so, it's probable that you'll fall into one of two camps: You're currently an IT professional and you'd like to consolidate your skill-set with a qualification such as MCSE. Alternatively you might be just about to enter the IT environment, and you've discovered that there's a growing demand for qualified people.

As you try to find out more, you will notice training companies that short-change you by failing to provide the latest Microsoft version. Stay away from this type of college as you'll experience challenges when it comes to exams. If you're learning from an out-of-date syllabus, it will be hard to pass. Training providers must be committed to offering the correct route for their clients. Mentoring education is equally concerned with helping people to work out which way to go, as well as helping them get there.

Commercial qualifications are now, without a doubt, taking over from the traditional routes into the IT sector - but why is this happening? As we require increasingly more effective technological know-how, industry has had to move to specific, honed-in training that the vendors themselves supply - in other words companies like Microsoft, CISCO, Adobe and CompTIA. This often comes in at a fraction of the cost and time. This is done through focusing on the skills that are really needed (together with a relevant amount of related knowledge,) rather than covering masses of the background 'extras' that degree courses are prone to get tied up in (because the syllabus is so wide).

The bottom line is: Accredited IT qualifications give employers exactly what they're looking for - the title says it all: as an example - I am a 'Microsoft Certified Professional' in 'Planning and Maintaining a Windows 2003 Infrastructure'. So employers can look at their needs and what certifications are required to fulfil that.

A skilled and professional advisor (vs a salesman) will cover in some detail your abilities and experience. There is no other way of establishing your starting level of study. If you've got a strong background, or perhaps a bit of live experience (maybe some existing accreditation?) then it's likely your starting level will vary from someone with no background whatsoever. For students beginning IT exams and training from scratch, it can be helpful to avoid jumping in at the deep-end, beginning with user-skills and software training first. This can easily be incorporated into most accreditation programs.

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