A lot of training academies still use the rather old-fashioned idea of classroom attendance. Usually touted as a major benefit, following a chat with most students who've had to attend a couple, you'll most likely hear about many or all of the following problems:

- Loads of visits to the workshop centre - sometimes quite a distance away.

- Availability of classes; typically Monday to Friday and usually 2-3 days at a time. It's not easy to get the days away from work.

- At just 20 days holiday per year, using half of that on study events means we'll be hard-pushed to get a holiday with our families.

- Training workshops usually end up way too big.

- Often students are trying to maintain a quick pace, but some need a more gentle learning curve and want to set their own pace that fits. This causes tension and bad atmosphere in most workshops.

- Rising travel prices - arranging transport to the training facility and of course bed and breakfast can really add up over several visits. If we just assume 5-10 classes costing 35 pounds for one over-night room, plus a petrol cost of 40 pounds and 15 pounds for food, we arrive at four to nine hundred pounds of hidden costs that we now have to fund.

- Do you really want the chance of being ignored for a lift up the ladder or wage increases just because you're retraining.

- Surely, all of us at some time have avoided asking a question, because we wanted to fit in?

- Living away for part of your working week - many trainees find they're living or working somewhere else for certain parts of their study. Days in-centre end up being impossible at that point, yet the monies have already been handed over with your initial fees.

It has to make so much more sense to learn when it suits you -- not the training company - and employ videos of instructors with interactive virtual-lab's. Think... With a notebook PC then you could study wherever you happen to be at that time. And live 24x7 support is just a web-browser away if you hit challenges. You don't have to worry about any note-taking - all the lessons and background info are laid out on a plate. If you need to cover something again, it's right there. The final outcome: Less hassle and stress, money saved, and no wasted travelling time.

It's important to understand: the training course or a qualification is not what you're looking for; a job that you want is. Many trainers unfortunately completely prioritise the piece of paper. Students often train for a single year but end up performing the job-role for decades. Avoid the mistake of choosing what sounds like a program of interest to you and then put 10-20 years into an unrewarding career!

You must also consider your feelings on career development, earning potential, plus your level of ambition. It's vital to know what industry expects from you, what particular accreditations will be required and where you'll pick-up experience from. Have a conversation with an experienced advisor that has a commercial understanding of the realities faced in the industry, and is able to give you a detailed run-down of what to expect in that role. Getting all these things right well before commencement of any training programme will prevent a lot of wasted time and effort.

You have to be sure that all your accreditations are current and what employers are looking for - you're wasting your time with programs which lead to some in-house certificate (which is as useless as if you'd printed it yourself). From an employer's perspective, only the top companies like Microsoft, Adobe, CompTIA or Cisco (for example) will get you into the interview seat. Nothing else will cut the mustard.

An area that's often missed by people considering a training program is the issue of 'training segmentation'. This basically means the method used to break up the program to be delivered to you, which vastly changes how you end up. You may think it logical (with a typical time scale of 1-3 years to achieve full certification,) for a training company to release the training stage by stage, as you achieve each exam pass. But: Students often discover that their training company's standard order of study isn't as suitable as another. They might find a different order of study is more expedient. And what happens if they don't finish in the allotted time?

An ideal situation would be to have all the training materials packed off to you right at the start; every single thing! Then, nothing can hinder your ability to finish.

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