To become a proficient web designer and have the most recognised qualification for today's job market, your must-have certification is Adobe Dreamweaver. To utilise Dreamweaver professionally in web design, a full understanding of the entire Adobe Web Creative Suite (which includes Flash and Action Script) is without doubt a bonus. Having such skills means, you might lead on to becoming an ACP (Adobe Certified Professional) or an ACE (Adobe Certified Expert).
Getting to grips with how to design the website just gets you started. Creating traffic, maintaining content and some programming skills should follow. Aim for training with additional features that teach these subjects maybe PHP, HTML, and MySQL, in addition to SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and E-Commerce skills.
Think about the facts below carefully if you believe that old marketing ploy of 'guaranteeing' exams sounds like a benefit to the student:
We all know that we're still paying for it - it's not so hard to see that it's already in the full cost of the package supplied by the training company. Certainly, it's not a freebie (although some people will believe anything the marketing companies think up these days!) People who take exams one at a time, paying for them just before taking them are much more likely to pass. They are mindful of what they've paid and take the necessary steps to make sure they're ready.
Isn't it in your interests to find the best exam deal or offer when you take the exam, not to pay any mark-up to the training company, and to do it in a local testing office - rather than in some remote centre? Considerable numbers of unscrupulous training companies secure a great deal of profit by charging for exams at the start of the course and banking on the fact that many won't be taken. Additionally, 'Exam Guarantees' often aren't worth the paper they're written on. Most companies won't be prepared to pay for you to re-take until you're able to demonstrate an excellent mock pass rate.
With average Prometric and VUE examinations costing in the region of 112 pounds in this country, it makes sense to pay as you go. Why splash out often many hundreds of pounds extra at the beginning of your training? A commitment to studying and the use of authorised exam preparation tools are actually the key to your success.
So many training providers focus completely on the certification process, and forget the reasons for getting there - which will always be getting the job or career you want. Always begin with where you want to get to - don't make the journey more important than where you want to get to. It's a sad testimony to the sales skills of many companies, but a large percentage of students start out on programs that sound spectacular from the marketing materials, but which gets us a career that doesn't fulfil at all. Just ask several university graduates and you'll see where we're coming from.
You must also consider your leanings around earning potential, career development, and whether you intend to be quite ambitious. You should understand what the role will demand of you, what certifications are required and how to develop your experience. Always seek guidance and advice from a skilled professional, even if there's a fee involved - it's considerably cheaper and safer to find out at the start whether your choices are appropriate, rather than realise after several years of study that you've picked the wrong track and have to return to the start of another program.
Huge changes are flooding technology in the near future - and this means greater innovations all the time. We're in the very early stages of beginning to scrape the surface of how technology is going to shape our lives. Computers and the Internet will profoundly revolutionise how we see and interrelate with the rest of the world over the coming years.
If making decent money is high on your scale of wants, then you'll be pleasantly surprised to hear that the average salary for the majority of IT staff is a lot more than with other market sectors. The requirement for certified IT specialists is guaranteed for a good while yet, due to the ongoing increase in IT dependency in commerce and the very large shortage that remains.
Don't accept anything less than accredited simulation materials and an exam preparation system as part of your training package. As the majority of examining boards for IT tend to be American, it's essential to understand how exam questions will be phrased and formatted. You can't practice properly by just going through the right questions - they have to be in the same format as the actual exams. Mock exams will prove invaluable as a resource to you - so that when you come to take your actual exams, you won't be worried.