A typical blunder that students everywhere can make is to choose a career based on a course, instead of focusing on the desired end-result. Colleges are full of unaware students who took a course because it seemed fun - instead of the program that would surely get them the job they want. It's common, in many cases, to get a great deal of enjoyment from a year of study only to end up putting 20 long years into something completely unrewarding, entirely because you stumbled into it without some decent due-diligence at the beginning.

It's well worth a long chat to see the exact expectations industry will have. What precise accreditations you'll need and how to gain experience. You should also spend a little time considering how far you'd like to progress your career as often it can control your selection of qualifications. Our recommendation would be to seek advice from a skilled professional before making your final decision on a particular learning programme, so you can be sure that the content of a learning package provides the skills for the job being sought.

Often, trainers provide piles of reference manuals and workbooks. This isn't very interesting and isn't the best way to go about studying effectively. Where possible, if we can get all of our senses involved in our learning, our results will often be quite spectacular.

Start a study-program in which you're provided with an array of DVD-ROM's - you'll start with videos of instructor demonstrations, with the facility to fine-tune your skills in fully interactive practice sessions. It's imperative to see courseware examples from each company you're contemplating. You'll want to see that they include video, demonstrations and various interactive elements.

Pick actual CD or DVD ROM's whenever you can. This then avoids all the potential pitfalls with the variability of broadband quality and service.

A major candidate for the biggest issue to be got round in the IT training sector can be attending multi-day workshops. Most training academies extol the virtues of the so-called 'benefits' of these classes, it's almost certain though that you'll find them a thorn in your side due to many reasons:

- A lot of journeys to the workshops - sometimes hundreds of miles.

- Requesting frequent time off work - many companies only offer Mon-Fri class availability - typically grouping 2 or 3 days together. This can be hard for a lot of working people, even more so if travelling time is added into the mix.

- If we've got twenty days annual leave, giving half of them to educational days leaves very little time for holidays.

- Training events usually become quickly full, meaning we have to accept the '2nd best' solution.

- Many trainees want to progress quickly, while others are looking to take a more 'steady' pace and want to set their own pace that fits. This causes tension and bad atmosphere on many workshops.

- The growing costs associated with travel - driving to the training college and of course accommodation for the duration can really add up over several visits. Assuming just five to ten workshops costing 35 pounds for an over-night room, plus a petrol cost of 40 pounds and 15.00 for food, we arrive at 450-900 pounds of hidden costs on top.

- Don't risk any chance of getting ignored for a lift up the ladder or wage increases just because you're retraining.

- Asking questions in the presence of other class-mates often makes us a little awkward. Surely, at some point, you've avoided asking a question as you were worried it might make you look silly?

- For those of us who need to on occasion work elsewhere in the country for several days at a time, consider the added problems of getting to the requisite workshops, as time becomes even more scarce.

Why don't you just watch and be taught by teachers one-to-one in videoed modules, taking them at your convenience - not somebody else's. Training can take place wherever it suits you. If you own a laptop, why not take in a bit of sun in your garden while you learn. Any issues that arise just get onto the live 24x7 support. Lessons and modules can be repeated at any time you need to brush up - repetition aids memory. And you'll never have to write notes again - it's already laid on for you. Essentially: You save time, hassle, money and completely avoid killing more trees.

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