Ask any specialised advisor and you'll be surprised by their many awful tales of students who've been conned by dodgy salespeople. Ensure you only ever work with someone who quizzes you to uncover the best thing for you - not for their retirement-fund! You need to find the right starting point of study for you. With a strong background, or perhaps a bit of live experience (some industry qualifications maybe?) then it's more than likely your starting point will vary from someone who is just starting out. If this is going to be your first attempt at studying for an IT examination then you should consider whether to start with a user-skills course first.

Don't accept anything less than the latest Microsoft (or relevant organisation's) accredited exam simulation and preparation packages. Don't go for training programs depending on non-accredited exam preparation systems. Their phraseology is sometimes startlingly different - and this leads to huge confusion when the proper exam time arrives. A way to build self-confidence is if you analyse your depth of understanding by doing tests and mock ups of exams before you take the actual exam.

Its not surprising then that Cisco provides many accreditation routes, handling all it's technologies and patents. To help simplify things, candidates are usually advised to start their Cisco training at the same place, prior to acquiring more complex and specialist skillsets. The Cisco 'CCNA' (Cisco Certified Network Associate) training program consists of two exams, that will equip the right entrant candidate with the required expertise in installation, configuration, operation, & trouble shooting of medium-sized enterprise level router & data-switched networks.

Ensure all your exams are what employers want - don't even consider studies that only give in-house certificates. All the major commercial players like Microsoft, Cisco, CompTIA or Adobe each have widely approved proficiency programmes. Major-league companies like these will make sure you're employable.

To develop a very broad-based blended learning plan you could add the MCSA or MCSE from MS to a CompTIA A+/N+ & 'Cisco' CCNA track. With so many opportunities to pick from, a career path like this should invariably be talked through with an IT expert. This way you will be sure that nothing unsuited to your needs has been incorporated, and nothing has been missed out.

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