If your dream is to become a great web designer with the right credentials for today’s employment market, your must-have certification is Adobe Dreamweaver. For professional applications you’ll need an in-depth understanding of the whole Adobe Web Creative Suite. This means also (though it’s not limited to) Action Script and Flash. If your goal is to become an Adobe Certified Professional (ACP) or an Adobe Certified Expert (ACE) then these skills are paramount.
To become a well-rounded web professional however, there is much more to consider. You’ll need to study various programming essentials like HTML, PHP and MySQL. A firm grounding in E-Commerce and SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) will also improve your CV and employability.
Proper support should never be taken lightly – ensure you track down something that includes 24×7 access, as not opting for this kind of support could put a damper on the speed you move through things. Beware of institutions who use messaging services ‘out-of-hours’ – with the call-back coming in during normal office hours. This is no use if you’re stuck and need help now.
World-class organisations utilise an online round-the-clock facility utilising a variety of support centres across the globe. You will have an easy to use environment that seamlessly accesses whichever office is appropriate any time of the day or night: Support on demand. If you opt for less than direct-access 24×7 support, you’ll very quickly realise that you’ve made a mistake. It may be that you don’t use it late at night, but you may need weekends, early mornings or even late evenings at some point.
Make sure that all your qualifications are current and what employers are looking for – forget courses which lead to some in-house certificate (which is as useless as if you’d printed it yourself). All the major IT organisations such as Microsoft, Adobe, Cisco or CompTIA have internationally renowned skills programs. Major-league companies like these will make your CV stand-out.
Have you recently questioned your job security? Normally, we only think of this after we get some bad news. But really, the reality is that our job security has gone the way of the dodo, for the vast majority of people. Of course, a marketplace with high growth, where there just aren’t enough staff to go round (as there is a massive shortfall of properly qualified staff), enables the possibility of true job security.
Taking the IT business as an example, a recent e-Skills study demonstrated major skills shortages in the UK of around 26 percent. Showing that for each four job positions existing in the computer industry, we have only 3 certified professionals to perform that task. Fully qualified and commercially grounded new staff are thus at a resounding premium, and it seems it will continue to be so for much longer. While the market is developing at such a quick pace, is there any other market worth looking at for your new career.
Being a part of the information technology industry is amongst the most electrifying and revolutionary industries you could be involved with. Being up close and personal with technology is to do your bit in the gigantic changes that will impact the whole world for generations to come. We’ve barely started to get an inclination of how technology will affect our lives in the future. The internet will significantly transform the way we view and interact with the world around us over the next few years.
Always remember that on average, the income of a person in the IT industry in the United Kingdom is a lot higher than remuneration packages in other industries, so in general you will be in a good position to earn significantly more in the IT sector, than you would in most typical jobs. Demand for properly certified IT professionals is a fact of life for many years to come, because of the continuous expansion in the technology industry and the very large shortage that we still have.
