How can job security honestly exist anywhere now? Here in the UK, with industry changing its mind on a whim, we'd question whether it does. In times of growing skills shortfalls coupled with growing demand however, we always find a new kind of security in the marketplace; as fuelled by a continual growth, businesses struggle to find enough staff.

Recently, a United Kingdom e-Skills investigation highlighted that twenty six percent of IT jobs haven't been filled mainly due to a lack of well-trained staff. This shows that for each four job positions that are available around the computer industry, there are barely three qualified workers to fulfil that role. This single notion on its own underpins why the country requires so many more trainees to join the IT industry. For sure, this really is such a perfect time to consider retraining into the computer industry.

Many students presume that the tech college or university track is still the most effective. So why then are commercial certificates becoming more in demand? With a growing demand for specific technological expertise, the IT sector has of necessity moved to the specialised training that can only come from the vendors - in other words companies such as Adobe, Microsoft, CISCO and CompTIA. Frequently this is at a far reduced cost both money and time wise. In essence, only required knowledge is taught. It's slightly more broad than that, but the principle remains that students need to cover the precise skills needed (along with a certain amount of crucial background) - without going into too much detail in everything else (as universities often do).

Just as the old advertisement said: 'It does what it says on the tin'. Employers simply need to know what they're looking for, and then request applicants with the correct exam numbers. They'll know then that all applicants can do what they need.

The leading database solutions in use around the globe are Microsoft SQL-Server and 'Oracle'. Oracle is a more mature System that is still utilised on large-scale installations, although 'SQL' Server is a lot more popular today in standard business-environments; 'SQL' has grown to be the 'de-facto' norm for Databases on the internet. Needless to say, as SQL-Server is fully owned by MS, the company has incorporated it into each of its platforms and programs. For those aiming to become professionally accredited therefore, this is the natural route to take. The MCITP (Microsoft Certified IT Professional) & 'MCTS' ('Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist') packages have replaced the older 'MCDBA' ('Microsoft Certified Database Administrator') qualifications. Whilst SQL Server 08 is beginning to secure some foothold, the existing prevalent commercial version of Microsoft SQL Server is 2005, and it's this release which features in the MCITP DBA qualification. In order to achieve the complete 'MCITP' accreditation, various 'MCTS' modules must be accomplished first.

The typical profile of a Database Administrator or developer is someone that is extremely precise, is very well disciplined and thorough, & can work well either alone or as a member of a smallish team. The job regularly entails presenting to senior managers, & as such confident communication-skills will be necessary. Working with business Databases is definitely a position of responsibility - and safety and security is consistently evolving into a larger factor in this sector. A very high degree of personal ethics & professional dependability will undoubtedly be needed - and in some organisations you will be asked for some sort of security clearance. Workers from business and accounting environments can become good DBAs, and quite often the role is a stepping stone to a more advanced position in the business hierarchy.

Workshops are often touted as a strong aspect by a lot of trainers. After chatting with many computer industry students that have tried them out, you'll discover that they're really a major problem as they hadn't properly considered the following:

- Many back and forth visits - normally hundreds of miles each and every time.

- Requesting time out of work - typical trainers can only give weekday availability and typically group 2-3 days together. To be honest, this doesn't suit working people, and this is made worse if travelling time is added into the mix.

- Annual leave lost - most students only get 4 weeks annual leave. If over half of it is swallowed up by educational classes, that doesn't leave much holiday time left for the student.

- 'In-Centre' days can fill up very quickly and will likely end up bigger than you'd hoped.

- Tension can run high inside the classroom where the right pace for one student is not the same as another.

- Tot up the cost of all the petrol, fares, parking, food and accommodation and you could find yourself astounded. Trainees report costs of between several hundred and a couple of thousand pounds. Break it down - and you'll see how.

- All of us want some privacy. We wouldn't want to run the risk of throwing away any possible promotion that could awarded to us because we're getting trained in a different area.

- Raising questions in front of other class-mates will sometimes make any one of us a little self-conscious. Would you admit that you've occasionally avoided posing a question as you didn't want to appear stupid?

- Living away for part of your working week - some trainees find they have to work or live away for sections of the program. Classes are therefore hard to get to, yet you've already coughed up the readies with your initial fees.

Why don't you just watch and learn with teachers one-to-one from ready-made modules, taking them at your convenience - not somebody else's. Think... With a notebook PC you can learn absolutely anywhere you want (within reason!) And 24x7 support is just a web-browser away in case of difficulty. You'll never have to write notes again - all the lessons are prepared and laid out for you - ready to go. Anything you want to do over, just go for it. Although this can't completely avoid any normal learning difficulties, it undoubtedly makes things easier, simpler and less stressful. Plus you've got less costs, travel and hassle.

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