The CompTIA A+ training program covers four areas of training; you\’re thought of as competent at A+ once you\’ve passed your exams for two of the four areas. This is the reason that most training providers only have two of the courses on their syllabus. You\’ll find that to carry out a job effectively, you\’ll need the information on each subject as many jobs will ask for an awareness of the whole A+ program. You don\’t have to qualify in them all, however we\’d advise that you at least have a working knowledge of every area.
As well as being taught about building and fixing computers, trainees involved in this training will be taught how to work in antistatic conditions, along with remote access, fault finding and diagnostics.
If you would like to be someone who works in a multi-faceted environment – in network support, add Network+ to your CompTIA A+, or alternatively look at doing an MCSA or MCSE with Microsoft as you\’ll need a more advanced experience of the way networks work.
Consider the points below very carefully if you\’ve been persuaded that the sales ploy of \’guaranteeing\’ exams sounds like a benefit to the student:
Patently it isn\’t free – you\’re still paying for it – it\’s just been wrapped up in the price of the package.
Students who go in for their examinations when it\’s appropriate, funding them as they go are much more likely to pass. They are aware of what they\’ve paid and revise more thoroughly to make sure they\’re ready.
Do your exams as locally as possible and don\’t pay up-front, but seek out the best deal for you when you\’re ready.
A lot of current training course providers make huge amounts of money through getting in the money for exam fees early then hoping you won\’t see them all through.
Don\’t forget, with \’Exam Guarantees\’ from most places – they control when and how often you can re-take the exam. Subsequent exam attempts are only authorised at the company\’s say so.
On average, exams cost approximately 112 pounds twelve months or so ago via Prometric or VUE centres around the United Kingdom. So why pay hundreds or thousands of pounds extra to have \’an Exam Guarantee\’, when common sense dictates that the responsible approach is study, commitment and preparing with good quality mock and practice exams.
One useful service offered by some training providers is a Job Placement Assistance program. This is to help you get your first commercial position. The fact of the matter is it isn\’t a complex operation to land your first job – assuming you\’re well trained and qualified; the shortage of IT personnel in Britain looks after that.
Whatever you do, avoid waiting until you have completed your exams before updating your CV. As soon as you start studying, list what you\’re working on and get it out there!
Getting your CV considered is more than not being known. A surprising amount of junior jobs are got by trainees (sometimes when they\’ve only just got going.)
If you don\’t want to travel too far to work, then you may well find that a specialist locally based employment agency may serve you better than a national service, as they are much more inclined to be familiar with the local job scene.
A good number of students, it seems, conscientiously work through their course materials (for years sometimes), and just give up when it comes to trying to get a good job. Promote yourself… Do your best to put yourself out there. Don\’t think a job\’s just going to jump out in front of you.
We need to make this very clear: Always get full 24×7 instructor and mentor support. Later, you\’ll kick yourself if you don\’t.
Don\’t accept certification programs which can only support students with a call-centre messaging system when it\’s outside of usual working hours. Companies will defend this with all kinds of excuses. Essentially – you need support when you need support – not when it\’s convenient for them.
Keep your eyes open for colleges that utilise many support facilities across multiple time-zones. Each one should be integrated to enable simple one-stop access together with 24 hours-a-day access, when it\’s convenient for you, with no fuss.
Never compromise when it comes to your support. The majority of IT hopefuls who give up, are in that situation because of a lack of support.
Now, why is it better to gain qualifications from the commercial sector as opposed to familiar academic qualifications gained through the state educational establishments?
Industry now recognises that to learn the appropriate commercial skills, official accreditation supplied for example by CISCO, Adobe, Microsoft and CompTIA often is more effective in the commercial field – for considerably less.
Vendor training works through focusing on the particular skills that are needed (alongside an appropriate level of background knowledge,) rather than spending months and years on the background \’padding\’ that academic courses can get bogged down in – to pad out the syllabus.
The bottom line is: Authorised IT qualifications tell an employer precisely what skills you have – everything they need to know is in the title: for example, I am a \’Microsoft Certified Professional\’ in \’Managing and Maintaining Windows Server 2003\’. Consequently companies can look at their needs and what certifications are needed for the job.
(C) Scott Edwards 2009. Hop over to Change-My-Career.co.uk/QCMC.html or HTML Programming.
No related posts.