Computer training for CompTIA A+ has four specialist sections – you’ll have to qualify in just two sectors to be considered A+ competent. Because of this, the majority of colleges limit their course to 2 of the 4 sectors. Our opinion is this is selling you short – yes you’ll have qualified, but knowledge of every section will prepare you more fully for when you’re in the workplace, where you’ll need a more comprehensive understanding. This is why you should train in all four areas.
Alongside being taught how to build PC’s and fix them, students on A+ courses will be shown how to work in antistatic conditions, along with remote access, fault finding and diagnostics.
Should you fancy yourself as the kind of individual who works in a multi-faceted environment – in network support, add Network+ to your CompTIA A+, or consider an MCSA or MCSE with Microsoft as you’ll need a more advanced experience of the way networks work.
Talk to any professional consultant and they’ll regale you with many horror stories of students who’ve been sold completely the wrong course for them. Stick to an experienced professional that asks lots of questions to find out what’s right for you – not for their wallet! Dig until you find a starting-point that will suit you.
With a bit of live experience or some accreditation, you may find that your starting point is very different to someone completely new.
For those students beginning IT exams and training anew, it can be helpful to avoid jumping in at the deep-end, kicking off with user-skills and software training first. This can be built into most training packages.
Proper support is incredibly important – ensure you track down something that includes 24×7 access, as anything less will not satisfy and will also hamper your progress.
Many only provide email support (too slow), and phone support is usually just a call-centre who will chat nicely with you for 5 minutes to ask what the issue is and then simply send an email to an instructor – who’ll call back sometime over the next 1-3 days, at a suitable time to them. This is no use if you’re stuck and can’t continue and have a one hour time-slot in which to study.
The best training colleges opt for an online round-the-clock service utilising a variety of support centres from around the world. You get an easy to use interface which seamlessly accesses whichever office is appropriate irrespective of the time of day: Support when you need it.
If you accept anything less than online 24×7 support, you’ll regret it. It may be that you don’t use it during late nights, but what about weekends, late evenings or early mornings.
Qualifications from the commercial sector are now, most definitely, beginning to replace the older academic routes into the IT industry – so why is this happening?
Accreditation-based training (in industry terminology) is far more effective and specialised. The IT sector has realised that specialisation is essential to handle a technically advancing commercial environment. Adobe, Microsoft, CISCO and CompTIA dominate in this arena.
Obviously, a necessary amount of closely linked detail must be learned, but focused specialisation in the required areas gives a commercially trained student a distinct advantage.
It’s rather like the advert: ‘It does what it says on the tin’. Employers simply need to know where they have gaps, and then match up the appropriate exam numbers as a requirement. That way they can be sure they’re interviewing applicants who can do the job.
How long has it been since you considered the security of your job? For most people, this only rears its head when we get some bad news. However, the reality is that job security simply doesn’t exist anymore, for all but the most lucky of us.
We could however locate security at the market sector level, by probing for areas in high demand, together with shortages of trained staff.
Using the computing business as an example, a key e-Skills analysis demonstrated a national skills shortage in the UK of over 26 percent. Showing that for every 4 jobs that exist across computing, we have only 3 certified professionals to do them.
This single idea in itself shows why the UK urgently requires so many more people to enter the industry.
It’s unlikely if a better time or market settings is ever likely to exist for obtaining certification in this rapidly emerging and budding sector.
Typically, a new trainee will not know to ask about something that can make a profound difference to their results – how their company segments the courseware elements, and into how many bits.
Normally, you’ll join a programme staged over 2 or 3 years and receive a module at a time. While this may sound logical on one level, consider this:
What if you don’t finish all the sections or exams? And what if the order provided doesn’t meet your requirements? Without any fault on your part, you mightn’t complete everything fast enough and not get all the study materials as a result.
Truth be told, the very best answer is to obtain their recommendation on the best possible order of study, but make sure you have all of your learning modules right from the beginning. You’re then in possession of everything should you not complete it inside of their required time-scales.
(C) Jason Kendall. Pop over to LearningLolly.com for logical career advice on Comptia A+ and A+ Training.
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