Adobe Web Design Training (150509)
If your dream is to become a great web designer qualified appropriately for the current working environment, you'll need to study Adobe Dreamweaver. For applications in the commercial world you should have an in-depth understanding of the full Adobe Web Creative Suite. This will include (though it's not limited to) Flash and Action Script. If your goal is to become an Adobe Certified Professional (ACP) or an Adobe Certified Expert (ACE) these skills will be absolutely essential.
The construction of a website is only the beginning of what's needed - in order to maintain content, create traffic, and work with dynamic database-driven sites, you'll be required to have other programming skills, for example PHP, HTML, and MySQL. In addition, you should gain a practical knowledge of E-Commerce and SEO (Search Engine Optimisation).
Being at the forefront of progressive developments in new technology really is electrifying. You become one of a team of people impacting progress around the world. It's a common misapprehension that the increase in technology we've been going through is easing off. Nothing could be further from the truth. We have yet to experience incredible advances, and the internet in particular will be the most effective tool in our lives.
Let's not forget that on average, the income of a person in the IT industry throughout this country is noticeably higher than average salaries nationally, therefore you will probably receive noticeably more with professional IT knowledge, than you could reasonably hope to achieve elsewhere. The requirement for certified IT specialists is a fact of life for a good while yet, because of the ongoing growth in this sector and the very large deficiency that we still have.
If the computing industry provides such an array of exceptional job prospects for us all - what are the questions we should ask and what aspects should we be considering?
Far too many companies are all about the certification, and avoid focusing on the reasons for getting there - which will always be getting the job or career you want. Your focus should start with the final destination in mind - don't make the vehicle more important than the destination. It's an awful thing, but the majority of trainees kick-off study that often sounds amazing in the prospectus, but which gets us a career that doesn't fulfil at all. Try talking to typical college students and you'll see where we're coming from.
Be honest with yourself about how much you want to earn and whether you're an ambitious person or not. This can often control what precise qualifications you will need and what you can expect to give industry in return. Seek help from an experienced advisor that appreciates the market you're interested in, and is able to give you 'A day in the life of' understanding of what you'll actually be doing during your working week. It just makes sense to ensure you're on the right track well before you jump into the study-program. There's really no reason in starting your training and then find you've gone the wrong way entirely.
A lot of trainers will only offer support available from 9-6 (office hours) and sometimes later on specific days; not many go late into the evening (after 8-9pm) or cover weekends properly. Never accept certification programs which can only support you through a call-centre messaging service when it's outside of usual working hours. Training schools will defend this with all kinds of excuses. The simple fact of the matter is - you want support at the appropriate time - not when it suits them.
The very best training providers use multiple support centres active in different time-zones. By utilising an interactive interface to join them all seamlessly, at any time you choose, help is just a click away, with no hassle or contact issues. Never make the mistake of compromise where support is concerned. Many students that drop-out or fail, would have had a different experience if they'd got the right support package in the first place.
Usually, trainers will provide a bunch of books and manuals. It's not a very interesting way to learn and not really conducive to achieving retention. Recent studies into the way we learn shows that memory is aided when we involve as many senses as possible, and we get practically involved in what we're studying.
The latest audio-visual interactive programs with demonstrations and practice sessions beat books hands-down. And they're a lot more fun to do. Each company you're contemplating should be able to show you a few examples of their training materials. Make sure you encounter videos of instructor-led classes and many interactive sections.
You should avoid purely online training. You want physical CD/DVD ROM course materials where possible, as you need to be able to use them whenever it's convenient for you - ISP quality varies, so you don't want to be totally reliant on your broadband being 'up' 100 percent of the time.
Students will sometimes miss checking on a vitally important element - how their company actually breaks down and delivers the physical training materials, and into how many separate packages. Individual deliveries for each training module one piece at a time, as you complete each module is the typical way that your program will arrive. While sounding logical, you should take these factors into account: Often, the staged breakdown insisted on by the company won't suit you. And what if you don't finish all the sections at the speed required?
The very best situation would see you getting all the learning modules packed off to your home before you even start; the whole caboodle! Thus avoiding any future problems that could impede your progress.
One crafty way that colleges make a big mark-up is by adding exam fees upfront to the cost of a course then giving it 'Exam Guarantee' status. It looks like a good deal, till you look at the facts:
In this day and age, we have to be a little more 'marketing-savvy' - and usually we grasp that it is something we're paying for (it's not a freebie because they like us so much!) Evidence shows that when trainees fund each examination, one by one, they will be much more likely to get through on the first attempt - as they are conscious of their payment and their application will be greater.
Do the examinations at a local pro-metric testing centre and go for the best offer you can find when you're ready. Paying upfront for examinations (which also includes interest if you've taken out a loan) is a false economy. Resist being talked into filling the training company's account with extra money of yours just to give them a good cash-flow! Many will hope you will never make it to exams - but they won't refund the cash. You should fully understand that re-takes through companies who offer an 'Exam Guarantee' inevitably are heavily regulated. They'll insist that you take mock exams first until you've proven that you're likely to pass.
Prometric and VUE exams are currently clocking in at an average of 112 pounds in the UK. Why pay exorbitant 'Exam Guarantee' fees (usually wrapped up in the course package price) - when a quality course, support and consistent and systematic learning, coupled with quality exam simulation software is what will really see you through.
A service provided by many trainers is job placement assistance. It's intention is to assist your search for your first position. Having said that, occasionally people are too impressed with this facility, because it's really not that difficult for well qualified and focused men and women to secure work in IT - because there's a great need for skilled employees.
You would ideally have help with your CV and interview techniques though; and we'd recommend all students to work on polishing up their CV right at the beginning of their training - don't put it off till you've finished your exams. It's not uncommon to find that junior support roles have been bagged by students who're still on their course and haven't even passed a single exam yet. At least this will get your CV into the 'possible' pile and not the 'no' pile. The top companies to help you land that job are normally specialist locally based employment services. Because they get paid commission to place you, they have more incentive to get on with it.
Do make sure you don't put hundreds of hours of effort into your studies, just to give up and imagine someone else is miraculously going to sort out your employment. Stand up for yourself and get out there. Put as much focus into landing your first job as you did to get trained.
The construction of a website is only the beginning of what's needed - in order to maintain content, create traffic, and work with dynamic database-driven sites, you'll be required to have other programming skills, for example PHP, HTML, and MySQL. In addition, you should gain a practical knowledge of E-Commerce and SEO (Search Engine Optimisation).
Being at the forefront of progressive developments in new technology really is electrifying. You become one of a team of people impacting progress around the world. It's a common misapprehension that the increase in technology we've been going through is easing off. Nothing could be further from the truth. We have yet to experience incredible advances, and the internet in particular will be the most effective tool in our lives.
Let's not forget that on average, the income of a person in the IT industry throughout this country is noticeably higher than average salaries nationally, therefore you will probably receive noticeably more with professional IT knowledge, than you could reasonably hope to achieve elsewhere. The requirement for certified IT specialists is a fact of life for a good while yet, because of the ongoing growth in this sector and the very large deficiency that we still have.
If the computing industry provides such an array of exceptional job prospects for us all - what are the questions we should ask and what aspects should we be considering?
Far too many companies are all about the certification, and avoid focusing on the reasons for getting there - which will always be getting the job or career you want. Your focus should start with the final destination in mind - don't make the vehicle more important than the destination. It's an awful thing, but the majority of trainees kick-off study that often sounds amazing in the prospectus, but which gets us a career that doesn't fulfil at all. Try talking to typical college students and you'll see where we're coming from.
Be honest with yourself about how much you want to earn and whether you're an ambitious person or not. This can often control what precise qualifications you will need and what you can expect to give industry in return. Seek help from an experienced advisor that appreciates the market you're interested in, and is able to give you 'A day in the life of' understanding of what you'll actually be doing during your working week. It just makes sense to ensure you're on the right track well before you jump into the study-program. There's really no reason in starting your training and then find you've gone the wrong way entirely.
A lot of trainers will only offer support available from 9-6 (office hours) and sometimes later on specific days; not many go late into the evening (after 8-9pm) or cover weekends properly. Never accept certification programs which can only support you through a call-centre messaging service when it's outside of usual working hours. Training schools will defend this with all kinds of excuses. The simple fact of the matter is - you want support at the appropriate time - not when it suits them.
The very best training providers use multiple support centres active in different time-zones. By utilising an interactive interface to join them all seamlessly, at any time you choose, help is just a click away, with no hassle or contact issues. Never make the mistake of compromise where support is concerned. Many students that drop-out or fail, would have had a different experience if they'd got the right support package in the first place.
Usually, trainers will provide a bunch of books and manuals. It's not a very interesting way to learn and not really conducive to achieving retention. Recent studies into the way we learn shows that memory is aided when we involve as many senses as possible, and we get practically involved in what we're studying.
The latest audio-visual interactive programs with demonstrations and practice sessions beat books hands-down. And they're a lot more fun to do. Each company you're contemplating should be able to show you a few examples of their training materials. Make sure you encounter videos of instructor-led classes and many interactive sections.
You should avoid purely online training. You want physical CD/DVD ROM course materials where possible, as you need to be able to use them whenever it's convenient for you - ISP quality varies, so you don't want to be totally reliant on your broadband being 'up' 100 percent of the time.
Students will sometimes miss checking on a vitally important element - how their company actually breaks down and delivers the physical training materials, and into how many separate packages. Individual deliveries for each training module one piece at a time, as you complete each module is the typical way that your program will arrive. While sounding logical, you should take these factors into account: Often, the staged breakdown insisted on by the company won't suit you. And what if you don't finish all the sections at the speed required?
The very best situation would see you getting all the learning modules packed off to your home before you even start; the whole caboodle! Thus avoiding any future problems that could impede your progress.
One crafty way that colleges make a big mark-up is by adding exam fees upfront to the cost of a course then giving it 'Exam Guarantee' status. It looks like a good deal, till you look at the facts:
In this day and age, we have to be a little more 'marketing-savvy' - and usually we grasp that it is something we're paying for (it's not a freebie because they like us so much!) Evidence shows that when trainees fund each examination, one by one, they will be much more likely to get through on the first attempt - as they are conscious of their payment and their application will be greater.
Do the examinations at a local pro-metric testing centre and go for the best offer you can find when you're ready. Paying upfront for examinations (which also includes interest if you've taken out a loan) is a false economy. Resist being talked into filling the training company's account with extra money of yours just to give them a good cash-flow! Many will hope you will never make it to exams - but they won't refund the cash. You should fully understand that re-takes through companies who offer an 'Exam Guarantee' inevitably are heavily regulated. They'll insist that you take mock exams first until you've proven that you're likely to pass.
Prometric and VUE exams are currently clocking in at an average of 112 pounds in the UK. Why pay exorbitant 'Exam Guarantee' fees (usually wrapped up in the course package price) - when a quality course, support and consistent and systematic learning, coupled with quality exam simulation software is what will really see you through.
A service provided by many trainers is job placement assistance. It's intention is to assist your search for your first position. Having said that, occasionally people are too impressed with this facility, because it's really not that difficult for well qualified and focused men and women to secure work in IT - because there's a great need for skilled employees.
You would ideally have help with your CV and interview techniques though; and we'd recommend all students to work on polishing up their CV right at the beginning of their training - don't put it off till you've finished your exams. It's not uncommon to find that junior support roles have been bagged by students who're still on their course and haven't even passed a single exam yet. At least this will get your CV into the 'possible' pile and not the 'no' pile. The top companies to help you land that job are normally specialist locally based employment services. Because they get paid commission to place you, they have more incentive to get on with it.
Do make sure you don't put hundreds of hours of effort into your studies, just to give up and imagine someone else is miraculously going to sort out your employment. Stand up for yourself and get out there. Put as much focus into landing your first job as you did to get trained.
About the Author:
Jason Kendall sources and advises on the most up-to-date computer based education. To investigate Web Design Training, visit LearningLolly Dreamweaver Courses.