Though the majority of IT professionals who seek out new certifications attend traditional classroom-based training, there are all sorts of other ways to gain the knowledge you need to pass a certification test. Beyond books - of which there are thousands - is a host of online, video, and multimedia options that are worth considering. Just proceed with a bit of caution, and carefully evaluate the quality of the materials you're downloading or watching.
The first tip: don't waste your time looking for true quality training materials in places where they don't exist. Podcasts and YouTube, for example, don't provide the kinds of tools you need for actual training. While both serve up videos and audio recordings of experts who share hints or talk about certification strategies, neither offers true coursework. Like many other things in life, good quality materials are worth paying for.
The same goes for e-books. You can find free ones online, but you'll have to decide if they're legitimate uploads that are of good quality and cover the topic at hand sufficiently.
Your best bet for training at home, at your own pace, is DVD video or online series. Many of these are offered by the same companies that provide classroom training. Rob Weaver, a technical architect and project manager at AccuWeaver who acquired his PMP certification with the help of an online training site, had a good experience. "I was surprised by how I picked up things better in the online course than I had in classroom courses, due to the way they were delivered. The online class was more interactive, with tests that reinforced the topics and video that made things clearer than simply reading the book would have. In fact, much of the classroom training I had done was actually reading books."
Weaver isn't alone. Jeanne Beliveau-Dunn, general manager of Cisco Learning, has been running the Cisco Learning Network since its inception in June 2008. "We've generated 15 million page hits, 2.26 million unique visitors, and 124,000 registrations," she says. What's the attraction? "Mixing up media can help people learn at their own pace, in the location and at the time they prefer, in the media they are attracted to most. For example, they can learn in chunks of time versus having to sit through long presentations in a formal classroom setting."
Beliveau-Dunn makes the point that today's younger generation expects content to be delivered through Web 2.0 technologies. Videos, online classes, podcasts, and e-books capture their interest and attention. Such tools are what they're accustomed to, and how they like to relate to the world around them.
They may also be attracted by the price. "There's definitely a cost savings using scalable multimedia training tools as opposed to staffing a classroom," says Beliveau-Dunn. "Once content is created, there's an insignificant marginal cost to distribute it to thousands of additional students."
The caveat, of course, is that you have to have a certain amount of self-discipline to make it through. "People must be motivated to study on their own and attend online classes," says Beliveau-Dunn. Adds Weaver: "Be sure you have the time to take the class. It's easy to get sidetracked on other work while you're studying." To that end, look for courses that provide feedback through self-assessments, learning games, discussion forums, and perhaps professional consultation as well.
RECOMMEND THIS ARTICLE
You must be logged in
to recommend articles
| 
