Currently, you'll find very few Windows 'NT' server installations remaining, but you'll find even now quite a lot around at Server 2000. It's still early-days yet for Windows Server 2008, with 2003 continuing to be dominant. While this is actually the case in the commercial world, the majority of Microsoft's qualifications are still centred on the '2003' Operating system. MS's accreditations MCSA and 'MCSE' have supported the various server evolutions over time. In accordance with industry, the 2003 versions of these networking certifications are still the most commonly required. Nevertheless it wouldn't be recommended to ignore 2008 training, as to cover this too will future-proof yourself.

We'd all like to believe that our careers are safe and the future is protected, but the likely scenario for most sectors throughout the UK currently is that security may be a thing of the past. When we come across increasing skills deficits mixed with high demand areas of course, we generally hit upon a new kind of security in the marketplace; as fuelled by a continual growth, businesses struggle to find the influx of staff needed.

With the computing sector for instance, the last e-Skills survey demonstrated massive skills shortages throughout the country in excess of 26 percent. Meaning that for every four jobs available around computing, there are barely three qualified workers to fulfil that role. Acquiring the appropriate commercial IT exams is correspondingly a quick route to a continuing and rewarding living. No better time or market circumstances could exist for acquiring training in this hugely expanding and evolving business.

An important area that is sometimes not even considered by those mulling over a new direction is the concept of 'training segmentation'. Basically, this means the breakdown of the materials for timed release to you, which makes a huge difference to where you end up. By and large, you'll join a programme taking 1-3 years and get sent one module each time you pass an exam. While this may sound logical on one level, consider this: What happens when you don't complete every single section? And what if you find the order of the modules counter-intuitive? Through no fault of your own, you may go a little slower and therefore not end up with all the modules.

The ideal circumstances are to get all the training materials packed off to your address right at the beginning; the whole caboodle! This prevents any future issues from rising that will affect your capacity to get everything done.

You have to make sure that all your exams are commercially valid and current - forget programmes that lead to in-house certificates. Unless the accreditation comes from a company like Microsoft, Cisco, CompTIA or Adobe, then it's likely it will have been a waste of time - because it won't give an employer any directly-useable skills.

Study time is usually acknowledged as around 300-350 hours for the MCSA & 500-550 hrs for the MCSE, assuming quality multimedia training materials, round the clock access to student support, and some decent examination preparation software. Should you have experience you could reasonably study in your free time and attain your accreditations in under a year. Should you be a new comer to the I.T. industry though, think about starting on 'Comptia' 'A+' and 'N+' first. These are likely to take about 200 hours to do, which for the new part time student will most likely equate to 6-8 months. Particulars of 'A+' and Network+ certifications can be found on the CompTIA section of this website.

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