Good for you! As you're reading this article it's likely you're thinking about re-training to work in a different industry - that puts you way ahead of the crowd. A small minority of us are pleased to go to work each day, but it's rare anyone does more than moan. You could be a member of the few who decide to make the change.

With regard to individual courses, look for an advisor who can help you sort out which area will be right for you. A person who will get a feel for your personality, and discover what job role you'll be most comfortable with:

• Do you operate better working alone or perhaps being around others is vital for your sanity?

• Banking and building are not coping well today, so which sector would give you the most options?

• Having completed your retraining, would you like your skills to see you to retirement age?

• Are you confident that retraining in your chosen sector can help you find employment, and will provide the facility to be employed up to retirement age?

It's important that your number one choice is the IT sector - it's common knowledge that it's on the grow. IT isn't all techie people lost in their computer screens the whole time - naturally those roles do exist, but the majority of roles are filled with ordinary people who are earning rather well.

Speak with almost any specialised consultant and they'll regale you with many awful tales of how students have been duped by salespeople. Only deal with a skilled professional that quizzes you to find out what's appropriate to you - not for their wallet! It's very important to locate an ideal starting-point that fits you. Remember, if you've had any relevant qualifications that are related, then you can sometimes expect to begin at a different level to someone who is new to the field. If you're a new trainee beginning IT exams and training as a new venture, it can be helpful to break yourself in gently, starting with user-skills and software training first. This can easily be incorporated into most training packages.

Trainees looking at this market are usually quite practically-minded, and don't always take well to classrooms, and poring through books and manuals. If you identify with this, try the newer style of interactive study, where you can learn everything on-screen. If we can involve all our senses in the learning process, our results will often be quite spectacular.

Courses are now available in the form of CD and DVD ROM's, where your computer becomes the centre of your learning. Utilising the latest video technology, you can sit back and watch the teachers showing you precisely how to do something, and then have a go at it yourself - via the interactive virtual lab's. Don't take any chances and look at some of the typical study materials provided before you make your decision. The minimum you should expect would be instructor-led video demonstrations and interactive modules with audio-visual elements.

Avoid training that is purely online. Ideally, you should opt for CD and DVD ROM courseware where offered, as you need to be able to use them whenever it's convenient for you - you don't want to be reliant on a good broadband connection all the time.

Commercial certification is now, very visibly, taking over from the more academic tracks into the industry - but why is this the case? Accreditation-based training (as it's known in the industry) is more effective in the commercial field. The IT sector has become aware that this level of specialised understanding is what's needed to meet the requirements of a technically advancing workplace. Adobe, Microsoft, CISCO and CompTIA are the key players in this arena. Academic courses, for example, can often get caught up in vast amounts of background study - and much too wide a syllabus. Students are then prevented from understanding the specific essentials in enough depth.

It's a bit like the TV advert: 'It does what it says on the tin'. All an employer has to do is know what areas need to be serviced, and then advertise for someone with the specific certification. That way they can be sure they're interviewing applicants who can do the job.