How to Advance Your Career With Technical Skills Training

Advancing your career typically requires adding more skills. Obtaining technical skills training and becoming certified in new technology provides an opportunity to obtain a more lucrative career. Take classroom training offered by your local community colleges, universities and training centers or access online offerings such as webcasts, web-based training and podcasts to learn new skills and advance your career.

Instructions

1

Read technical books about topics you are interested in. For example, use resources such as your local library or online tools such as the Google Books website or Amazon website to get started.

2

Access online training tutorials. For example, find templates, how-to tutorials and demonstrations on the Microsoft Learning website. Take training to prepare for certification exams.

3

Take practice exams. The MeasureUP website provides test preparation materials including questions similar to certification exams and detailed explanations to help you learn and review the technical skill material. By determining gaps in your learning, you can prepare a personalized learning plan to advance your career with specific technical skills training.

4

Join a local club or online community to meet and learn from other technical professionals. The RampUp website (Microsoft Windows Live ID required) provides access to different tracks to help you get technical content in a formats such as articles, webcasts, online lab exercises and presentations. For example, if you are a PHP developer who wants to learn ASP.NET, you can take courses which will help you learn the new syntax and develop core skills required to build web applications with tools such as Visual Studio.

5

Register for and attend classroom training offered at local colleges, universities and training centers. Developing your technical skills in administering complex IT infrastructures, learning new programming languages, designing new technology, managing databases or developing project management skills typically requires at least a high school degree to start. Institutions such as ITT Technical Institute provide curriculum offerings which allow you to get an associate or bachelor's degree to prepare for technical careers in fields such as web development, computer drafting, computer network systems and information systems security.

6

Get certified. Assess yourself using tools such as Microsoft's Are You Certifiable website. Select an avatar and your expertise. Answer questions to technical questions. Once you are confident you have develop the skills necessary to pass the exam (by using practice tests, instructor-led training, self-paced materials, resource books or online resources) register to take the test associated with your technical field. Once you successfully pass the exam and any associated lab components, your credentials signify to your employer (or future employers) that you have the expertise to advance your career.