A study programme really needs to work up to a nationally (or globally) recognised exam at the finale - and not some unimportant 'in-house' diploma - fit only for filing away and forgetting. From the perspective of an employer, only top businesses like Microsoft, Adobe, CompTIA or Cisco (to give some examples) will get you short-listed. Nothing else will cut the mustard.

Commercially accredited qualifications are now, very visibly, starting to replace the more academic tracks into IT - but why is this the case? The IT sector is of the opinion that to cover the necessary commercial skill-sets, the right accreditation from such organisations as CISCO, Adobe, Microsoft and CompTIA most often has much more specialised relevance - for much less time and money. Higher education courses, for instance, often get bogged down in a lot of loosely associated study - with a syllabus that's far too wide. This prevents a student from getting enough core and in-depth understanding on a specific area.

Think about if you were the employer - and you wanted someone who could provide a specific set of skills. Which is the most straightforward: Pore through reams of different degrees and college qualifications from graduate applicants, struggling to grasp what they've learned and what commercial skills they have, or choose particular accreditations that precisely match your needs, and then select who you want to interview from that. The interview is then more about the person and how they'll fit in - instead of long discussions on technical suitability.

Don't listen to a salesperson that offers any particular course without a decent chat so as to understand your abilities plus your level of experience. Make sure they can draw from a generous stable of training programs so they can provide you with what's right for you. Quite often, the training start-point for a student with some experience can be vastly different to the student with no experience. For those students starting IT studies and exams for the first time, it's often a good idea to break yourself in gently, beginning with some basic Microsoft package and Windows skills first. Usually this is packaged with most training programs.

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