Careers Training for Adobe Web Design - Update
The whole Adobe Web Creative Suite ought also to be studied in detail. This will introduce you to Action Script and Flash, (and more), and could lead on to the ACP (Adobe Certified Professional) or an ACE (Adobe Certified Expert) certification.
Knowing how to design the website is only the beginning. Driving traffic, maintaining content and knowledge of some programming essentials should come next. Consider courses that also contain modules to include these skills perhaps HTML, PHP and MySQL, in addition to SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and E-Commerce skills.
We can't make a big enough deal out of this point: You absolutely must have proper 24x7 instructor and mentor support. Later, you'll kick yourself if you don't.
Look for training where you can access help at any time of day or night (no matter if it's in the middle of the night on a weekend!) You want 24x7 direct access to mentors and instructors, and not a message system as this will slow you down - constantly waiting for a call-back at a convenient time for them.
Top training companies utilise several support facilities active in different time-zones. Online access provides the interactive interface to link them all seamlessly, irrespective of the time you login, there is always help at hand, without any contact issues or hassle.
Never settle for anything less. Direct-access 24x7 support is the only way to go with computer-based study. It's possible you don't intend to study late evenings; but for most of us, we're at work while the support is live.
Be alert that all accreditations you're considering doing will be commercially viable and are the most recent versions. 'In-house' certificates are generally useless.
From an employer's viewpoint, only the big-boys like Microsoft, Cisco, Adobe or CompTIA (as an example) give enough bang for your buck. Nothing else makes the grade.
A sneaky way that course providers make a lot more is through up-front charges for exams and then including an 'Exam Guarantee'. It looks like a good deal, till you look at the facts:
You're paying for it ultimately. It certainly isn't free - they've just worked it into the package price.
It's well known in the industry that when students fund each progressive exam, one after the other, they'll be in a better position to pass every time - since they're aware of their payment and their application will be greater.
Do your exams at a local pro-metric testing centre and find the best exam deal or offer available then.
Is there a good reason to pay interest on a bigger loan than is necessary because you've paid early for exams when there was no need to? Big margins are netted by organisations charging upfront for all their exams - and then cashing in when they're not all taken.
Don't forget, in the majority of cases of 'exam guarantees' - you are not in control of when you are allowed to do a re-take. You will have to demonstrate an excellent pass-rate before they'll approve a re-take.
Paying maybe a thousand pounds extra on 'Exam Guarantees' is foolish - when study, commitment and preparing with good quality mock and practice exams is what will really see you through.
Finding your first job in the industry sometimes feels easier to handle with the help of a Job Placement Assistance facility. It can happen though that too much is made of this feature, because it is genuinely quite straightforward for a well trained and motivated person to get work in the IT environment - as employers are keen to find appropriately skilled employees.
You would ideally have CV and Interview advice and support though; and we'd recommend all students to work on polishing up their CV as soon as they start a course - don't delay till you've finished your exams.
It's not unusual to find that you will get your first role while you're still a student (occasionally right at the beginning). If your CV doesn't say what you're learning (and it hasn't been posted on jobsites) then you aren't even in the running!
If it's important to you to find work near your home, then it's quite likely that a specialist independent regional recruitment consultant or service could serve you better than a centralised service, for they're far more likely to have insider knowledge of what's available near you.
A good number of students, so it seems, are prepared to study their hearts out (sometimes for years), and then just stop instead of trying to get a good job. Promote yourself... Make an effort to get yourself known. A job isn't just going to bump into you.
