If you'd like to get involved in a web design team, Adobe Dreamweaver is a fundamental criteria to achieve in-demand qualifications that are globally recognised. For applications in the commercial world you should have an in-depth and thorough understanding of the entire Adobe Web Creative Suite. This includes (but is by no means restricted to) Action Script and Flash. If your goal is to become an Adobe Certified Expert (ACE) or Adobe Certified Professional (ACP) these skills will be absolutely essential.

Constructing the website is only the beginning of what you'll need - in order to maintain content, create traffic, and work with dynamic database-driven sites, you'll need to bolt on more programming skills, namely ones like PHP, HTML, and MySQL. A good web designer will additionally develop an excellent grasp of E-Commerce and SEO (Search Engine Optimisation).

Validated exam preparation and simulation materials are vital - and must be offered by your training company. Due to the fact that many examining boards for IT are American, it's essential to understand how exam questions will be phrased and formatted. It's not sufficient simply going through the right questions - they must be in an exam format that exactly replicates the real thing. Ensure that you ask for exam preparation tools so you can test your comprehension at all times. Practice or 'mock' exams help to build your confidence - then the real thing isn't quite as scary.

Many students come unstuck over a single training area usually not even thought about: The breakdown of the course materials before being physically delivered to you. By and large, you will join a program taking 1-3 years and receive one element at a time until graduation. This sounds logical on one level, until you consider this: Often, the staged breakdown prescribed by the provider doesn't suit you. It may be difficult to get through all the sections inside their defined time-scales?

In an ideal situation, you want everything at the start - so you'll have them all to come back to at any time in the future - irrespective of any schedule. You can also vary the order in which you attack each section if you find another route more intuitive.

Trainees looking at this market often have a very practical outlook on work, and don't always take well to classrooms, and slogging through piles of books. If this is putting you off studying, use multimedia, interactive learning, where everything is presented via full motion video. Studies have always shown that an 'involved' approach to study, where we utilise all our senses, is proven to produce longer-lasting and deeper memory retention.

Interactive audio-visual materials utilising video demo's and practice lab's will turn you off book-based study for ever more. And they're far more fun. Each company you're contemplating should willingly take you through a few samples of their training materials. Expect video tutorials, instructor led classes and interactive areas to practice in.

Some companies only have access to training that is purely available online; sometimes you can get away with this - but, imagine the problems when you don't have access to the internet or you get slow speeds and down-time etc. It's preferable to have DVD or CD discs that will not have these problems.

Commencing with the understanding that we have to choose the area of most interest first, before we're able to mull over what educational program would meet that requirement, how can we choose the way that suits us? How can most of us possibly understand the tasks faced daily in an IT career when it's an alien environment to us? Often we haven't met someone who performs the role either. Reflection on these different areas is important when you need to discover a solution that suits you:

* What nature of individual you think yourself to be - what kind of jobs you enjoy, and conversely - what you hate to do.

* What time-frame are you looking at for the retraining?

* What priority do you place on salary vs job satisfaction?

* Often, trainees don't consider the amount of work needed to get fully certified.

* You have to take in what is different for the myriad of training options.

The bottom line is, the best way of checking this all out is by means of an in-depth discussion with an advisor who has enough background to be able to guide you.