We're regularly asked to explain why traditional degrees are being replaced by more commercial certifications? With the costs of academic degree's becoming a tall order for many, together with the IT sector's growing opinion that corporate based study is closer to the mark commercially, there has been a big surge in CISCO, Adobe, Microsoft and CompTIA accredited training paths that create knowledgeable employees for considerably less. Obviously, a necessary degree of associated knowledge must be covered, but focused specifics in the particular job function gives a vendor trained student a huge edge.

The crux of the matter is this: Authorised IT qualifications let employers know exactly what you're capable of - everything they need to know is in the title: as an example - I am a 'Microsoft Certified Professional' in 'Designing Security for a Windows 2003 Network'. So employers can identify exactly what they need and which qualifications are required to perform the job.

Any program that you're going to undertake must provide a nationally (or globally) recognised exam at the end - not a useless 'in-house' piece of paper. From the perspective of an employer, only the major heavyweights such as Microsoft, CompTIA, Cisco or Adobe (for instance) will get you short-listed. Anything less won't make the grade.

You should remember: a training course or a certification isn't the end-goal; a job that you want to end up in is. Too many training companies place too much importance on the qualification itself. It's not unheard of, in some situations, to obtain tremendous satisfaction from a year of studying and then spend 20 miserable years in a job you hate, as a consequence of not performing the correct research at the beginning.

You also need to know what your attitude is towards earning potential, career development, and if you're ambitious or not. It makes sense to understand what will be expected of you, what particular certifications they want you to have and how to develop your experience. Seek guidance and advice from an experienced professional, irrespective of whether you have to pay - it's usually much cheaper and safer to find out at the beginning if you've chosen correctly, rather than realise after several years of study that you're doing entirely the wrong thing and have to start from the beginning again.

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