If you may be starting with a certification company who is still using workshops as a benefit of their course, then consider these difficulties met by most IT hopefuls:

- Recurrent driving or public transport - very long trips in many cases.

- For those of us that work, then weekday only classes are difficult to make. You could be contending with two or three days together to make it worse.

- With just 4 weeks off each year, spending half on study events often means losing out on family and vacation time.

- 'In-Centre' days usually get fully subscribed quite quickly, meaning we have to accept a less-than-ideal slot.

- The pace of the workshop - centre-days typically have students of varied aptitude, consequently there is often tension between those that want to go quickly as opposed to those who prefer a more relaxed pace.

- Tot up the cost of all the petrol, fares, parking, accommodation and food and you could find yourself astounded. Trainees talk of increased costs of hundreds to thousands of pounds over time. Take some time to add it all up - then you'll know.

- Study privacy can be very important to a lot of students. You don't want to give up potential advancement, wage increases or achievement in your job because of your studies. When your boss discovers you're taking steps towards accreditation in a different industry, how will they regard you?

- We all find that, at times, it's uncomfortable to raise questions in a class full of our fellow attendees - to avoid appearing stupid.

- If your work takes you away from home, you face the added difficulty that days in-centre can become very hard to attend - unfortunately however, they've already been paid for.

It would be better to simply watch and study with teachers one-on-one from ready-made modules, studying them at a time that's convenient for you and you alone. Whenever you experience difficulties, get onto the live 24x7 support (that should come with any technical program.) You should remember, if your PC is a laptop, you can study just about anywhere. Any module can be repeated if you need to - doing something over will help you remember it. And note-taking is a thing of the past - everything is done for you already. The result: Reduced hassle, money saved, and you've got no travelling to do.

For the A+ examinations allow yourself something like 100-150 hrs to train & prepare, & slightly less for the N+ exams (perhaps up to 75-100 hours). This makes accomplishing them both in six months part-time study very feasible, providing superior multi-media training materials utilised, together with excellent exam preparation-software.

At the top of your shopping list for a training program should be comprehensive 24x7 direct-access support from dedicated instructors and mentors. So many companies we come across only provide office hours (or extended office hours) support. Always avoid study programmes that only provide support to you with a call-centre messaging system when it's outside of usual working hours. Colleges will always try to hide the importance of this issue. The bottom line is - you need support when you need support - not at their convenience.

The very best training providers incorporate three or four individual support centres active in different time-zones. By utilising an interactive interface to seamlessly link them all together, at any time you choose, help is at hand, avoiding all the delays and problems. If you fail to get yourself direct-access 24x7 support, you'll quickly find yourself regretting it. It may be that you don't use it during late nights, but what about weekends, late evenings or early mornings.

One area often overlooked by people thinking about a course is the issue of 'training segmentation'. This basically means the way the course is divided up to be delivered to you, which can make a dramatic difference to where you end up. Typically, you'll enrol on a course taking 1-3 years and receive one element at a time until graduation. While this may sound logical on one level, consider this: What if for some reason you don't get to the end of all the sections or exams? And what if the order provided doesn't meet your requirements? Due to no fault of yours, you mightn't complete everything fast enough and consequently not get all your materials.

For maximum flexibility and safety, it's not unusual for students to insist that all study materials are sent immediately, and not in a piecemeal fashion. It's then up to you at what speed and in which order you'd like to take your exams.

Naturally these roles can often lead to much more senior roles if the relevant accreditations have been put in place. That's why it is very important to examine your long term options prior to deciding on your personal career training route. The way to optimise your career path the most is to receive guidance from an I.T. specialist before getting started with your training. It can be a good option to consider tailored career training products that feature the 'A+' and Network+ courses. 'Bundling' a number of program materials into one is usually very cost-effective.