Commercial certification is now, undoubtedly, already replacing the more academic tracks into IT - but why has this come about? The IT sector is of the opinion that for mastery of skill sets for commercial use, the right accreditation supplied for example by Microsoft, CompTIA, CISCO and Adobe often is more effective in the commercial field - for considerably less. Academic courses, for instance, become confusing because of a great deal of loosely associated study - and a syllabus that's too generalised. Students are then held back from getting enough specific knowledge about the core essentials.

The bottom line is: Authorised IT qualifications provide exactly what an employer needs - everything they need to know is in the title: for example, I am a 'Microsoft Certified Professional' in 'Designing Security for a Windows 2003 Network'. So companies can identify exactly what they need and what certifications are needed for the job.

The right sort of training package will have accredited exam simulation and preparation packages. Due to the fact that most IT examination boards are from the USA, it's essential to understand how exam questions will be phrased and formatted. It isn't good enough simply going through the right questions - it's essential that you can cope with them in the proper exam format. As you can imagine, it's very important to ensure that you're completely ready for your commercial exam prior to doing it. Going over simulated exams adds to your knowledge bank and will avoid you getting frustrated with unsuccessful attempts at exams.

Workshop days can be offered as a big positive benefit by a lot of trainers. After a good chat with the majority of computer industry students who have used them, you'll discover that they're really a waste of time because of many things:

- Masses of journeys to the workshop centre - normally hundreds of miles.

- Taking time out of work - typical training providers only offer Monday to Friday workshop availability and typically group 2-3 days together. To be honest, this doesn't suit working people, especially when you add the travel time on.

- Annual leave lost - the majority of IT hopefuls get just four weeks holiday each year. If half or more of that is used up by training days, you haven't got a great deal of holiday time remaining for the family as a whole.

- Training classes often reach their maximum intake very quickly, leaving us with a slot that doesn't really suit.

- You may prefer to move at a pace that is different to the other class members. Often this can bring about tension in the class.

- Don't forget the increased expense of travelling or several days accommodation either. Often, this will cost 00's or even 000's extra. Do the maths yourself - you'll be (unpleasantly) surprised.

- Not wanting employers to know about the training is often very important to many attendees. There's no need to throw away any lift up the ladder, income boosts or accomplishment with your current employer while you're training. When your boss discovers that you're undertaking training in a completely different market, how will they regard you?

- How many of us have shied away from raising a hand in the air, because we wanted to look smarter?

- Living away for part of your working week - a lot of trainees find themselves working or living somewhere else for certain parts of their training. Events end up being hard to get to, yet the monies have already been handed over in your initial payment.

The most elegant solution is to watch a videoed lesson - enabling you to learn at any time of day. You can train wherever you want. Got a laptop?... Then you could get a little sunshine outside while you learn. Any difficulties and get onto the live 24x7 support. All the lessons can be repeated if you need to - repetition aids memory. And you can forget taking notes - it's all prepared ready. Put simply: You save money, avoid hassle, don't waste time and completely avoid killing more trees.

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