Training for your CompTIA A+ covers four specialised areas – you’ll need exam certification in just two sectors to reach the level of A+ competent. For this reason, most training providers simply provide 2 of the training options. Our opinion is this is selling you short – of course you can gain accreditation, but knowing about the others will set you apart in the workplace, where you’ll need to know about all of them. So that’s why you require information in all four areas.
Passing the A+ exam in isolation will set you up to mend and maintain computers and Macs; ones which are usually not part of a network – essentially the domestic or small business sector.
If you add Network+ to your A+ course, you will additionally be able to assist with or manage networks of computers, giving you the facility to move further up the career path.
You’ll come across courses which guarantee examination passes – this always means exams have to be paid for upfront, at the start of your training. However, prior to embracing this so-called guarantee, look at the following:
You’ll pay for it by some means. You can be assured it’s not a freebie – it’s simply been shoe-horned into the price as a whole.
Should you seriously need to qualify first ‘go’, you must pay for each exam as you go, prioritise it appropriately and be ready for the task.
Shouldn’t you be looking to find the best exam deal or offer when you’re ready, not to pay the fees marked up by a training company, and to do it in a local testing office – rather than in some remote centre?
Paying in advance for examination fees (plus interest – if you’re financing your study) is a false economy. Resist being talked into filling the training company’s account with your money simply to help their cash-flow! Many will hope you won’t get to do them all – so they don’t need to pay for them.
Re-takes of any failed exams through training course providers who offer an ‘Exam Guarantee’ are monitored with tight restrictions. You’ll be required to sit pre-tests to make sure they think you’re going to pass.
Spending hundreds or even thousands extra on an ‘Exam Guarantee’ is foolish – when consistent and systematic learning, coupled with quality exam simulation software is what will really see you through.
A question; why might we choose commercial certification instead of traditional academic qualifications obtained from schools, colleges or universities?
As we require increasingly more effective technological know-how, industry has moved to specialist courses only available through the vendors themselves – that is companies like Microsoft, CISCO, Adobe and CompTIA. Frequently this is at a far reduced cost both money and time wise.
They do this through concentrating on the particular skills that are needed (along with a relevant amount of related knowledge,) instead of covering masses of the background non-specific minutiae that computer Science Degrees are prone to get tied up in (because the syllabus is so wide).
Assuming a company understands what they’re looking for, then all they have to do is advertise for someone with a specific qualification. The syllabuses are set to meet an exact requirement and do not vary between trainers (like academia frequently can and does).
Finding your first job in the industry sometimes feels easier to handle if you’re supported with a Job Placement Assistance service. Don’t get overly impressed with this service – it isn’t unusual for training companies to overplay it. Ultimately, the massive skills shortage in this country is why employers will be interested in you.
Help and assistance with preparing a CV and getting interviews is sometimes offered (if not, see one of our sites for help). Make sure you update that dusty old CV straight away – not when you’re ready to start work!
A good number of junior support jobs have been bagged by people who’re still on their course and haven’t even passed a single exam yet. This will at least get your CV into the ‘possible’ pile and not the ‘no’ pile.
If you’d like to get employment in your home town, then it’s quite likely that a specialist independent regional recruitment consultant or service could serve you better than a national service, for they are much more inclined to be familiar with what’s available near you.
Just be sure that you don’t spend hundreds of hours on your training and studies, only to stop and expect somebody else to secure your first position. Get off your backside and get out there. Invest as much resource into securing your first job as it took to pass the exams.
Massive developments are coming via technology over the next generation – and the industry becomes more ground-breaking every year.
Computing technology and dialogue through the internet will noticeably change our lives in the future; remarkably so.
Let’s not ignore salaries moreover – the typical remuneration throughout Britain for a typical IT employee is noticeably greater than in the rest of the economy. It’s a good bet you’ll bring in quite a bit more than you’d expect to earn doing other work.
The requirement for appropriately qualified IT professionals is a fact of life for many years to come, due to the continuous development in IT dependency in commerce and the massive skills gap that remains.
Copyright Scott Edwards 2009. Browse around This Site or www.learninglolly.com/A_Training_Courses.html.