Workshops can be portrayed as a major benefit by some training companies. When you chat with the majority of IT students who have used them, you'll discover that they're really a mistake because of many things:

- A lot of visits to the workshop centre - normally hundreds of miles.

- Mon-Fri accessibility with workshops is the norm, and getting two to three days out of work can be difficult for a lot of trainees who are working.

- Lost holiday days - most working people get just four weeks holiday each year. If over half of it is swallowed up by study classes, vacation time is going to be quite short for students and their families.

- 'In-Centre' days sometimes end up too big.

- The 'pace' - centre-days invariably consist of trainees of varying skill, consequently tension can run high between those that want to go quickly as opposed to those who prefer a more relaxed pace.

- A lot of attendees tell us of the considerable cost of getting to and from the venue and paying for food and accommodation becomes prohibitively expensive.

- Privacy is important to us all. We don't want to risk giving up any possible promotion at our current place of work while we're training.

- How many of us have avoided asking a question, because we wanted to look smarter?

- Being away from home with your work during the week - a minority of attendees find they're living or working away for certain parts of the program. Classes are therefore very difficult then, yet the money has already changed hands in your initial payment.

It really does make much more sense to learn at a time that's convenient for you - not the school - and use videos of instructors with interactive virtual-lab's. You can study anywhere you want. If you've got a laptop, why not get some sun outside while you work. Any difficulties and get onto the live 24x7 support. You'll never have to write notes again - everything is prepared in advance for you. And if you want to repeat anything, you've got it all. What could be more straightforward: Time and money is saved and travelling is avoided altogether; and you've got a much more relaxed training setting.

Far too many companies only look at the plaque to hang on your wall, and completely miss what you actually need - which is a commercial career or job. Always start with the final destination in mind - don't get hung-up on the training vehicle. It's a terrible situation, but a large percentage of students kick-off study that often sounds great from the prospectus, but which delivers a career that is of no interest at all. Just ask several university students for a real eye-opener.

It's essential to keep your focus on where you want to go, and create a learning-plan from that - not the other way round. Stay on target - making sure you're training for an end-result you'll enjoy for years to come. Obtain help from an experienced industry advisor who has commercial knowledge of your chosen market-place, and will be able to provide 'A day in the life of' understanding of what kinds of tasks you'll be undertaking during your working week. It's good sense to ensure you're on the right track well before you embark on your training program. What's the point in starting your training only to find you've taken the wrong route.

The world of information technology is amongst the most electrifying and revolutionary industries to be involved in today. Being up close and personal with technology is to be a part of the massive changes affecting everyone who lives in the 21st century. It's a common misapprehension that the technological advancement we've had over recent years is easing off. There is no truth in this at all. Massive changes are on the horizon, and the internet in particular will become an increasingly dominant part of our lives.

And don't forget that income in IT in Great Britain is considerably higher than average salaries nationally, so you'll more than likely gain noticeably more in the IT sector, than you could reasonably hope to achieve elsewhere. Due to the technological sector increasing with no sign of a slow-down, it's looking good that the requirement for professionally qualified and skilled IT workers will continue to boom for a good while yet.

More recently, 'Digital' or 'Computer' Forensics is a frequently used term that's been made popular by Television shows such as "Crime Scene Investigation - CSI". Clearly though the role in the real world won't always be quite so stylised as the TV shows would have us believe! But for many, it offers a very interesting and satisfying career in technology-based investigation. The job entails searching for & interpreting 'digital footprints' to assist with data recovery or legal cases.

Together with Security & Digital Forensics the to some extent new role of Ethical Hacking is developing. These are accreditations provided through the EC-Council which teach more advanced candidates the more dark concepts of hacking -- but with the goal of using these abilities to safeguard and raise the security of a system, rather than harm it.

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