Training For a Career in CompTIA In Detail

There are four specialised areas of training in the full CompTIA A+ syllabus, but you’re just required to achieve pass marks in 2 for your A+ qualification. Be aware though that only learning about 2 of the four specialities is likely to leave your knowledge base somewhat light. Choose a course with all 4 subjects – this will give you the edge in the working environment.

CompTIA A+ training programs cover diagnostics and fault finding – via hands on and remote access, in addition to building and fixing and understanding antistatic conditions.

You may also want to consider doing Network+ as it will give you the knowledge to become a networking engineer, and become a more senior IT professional.

Far too many companies focus completely on the certification process, and forget what you actually need – which will always be getting the job or career you want. Your focus should start with where you want to get to – don’t make the journey more important than where you want to get to.

Never let yourself become one of those unfortunate students who select a program that sounds really ‘interesting’ and ‘fun’ – only to end up with a qualification for something they’ll never enjoy.

It’s a good idea to understand the expectations of your industry. Which accreditations you’ll be required to have and how to gain experience. You should also spend a little time thinking about how far you wish to go as often it can present a very specific set of qualifications.

Take guidance from an industry professional, even if you have to pay a small fee – it’s considerably cheaper and safer to investigate at the start whether a chosen track will suit, instead of discovering after two full years that the job you’ve chosen is not for you and have to start from the beginning again.

It’s usual for students to get confused with a single courseware aspect very rarely considered: The way the training is divided into chunks and packaged off through the post.

The majority of training companies will set up a 2 or 3 year study programme, and drop-ship the materials to you piecemeal as you pass each exam. If you think this sound logical, then consider this:

How would they react if you didn’t complete each element within the time limits imposed? Often the prescribed exam order doesn’t come as naturally as another different route may.

For the perfect solution, you want ALL the study materials up-front – so you’ll have them all to come back to at any time in the future – as and when you want. You can also vary the order in which you attack each section as and when something more intuitive seems right for you.

Most training providers only provide support to you inside of office hours (typically 9am-6pm) and sometimes a little earlier or later; not many go late into the evening (after 8-9pm) or cover weekends properly.

Email support is too slow, and telephone support is usually to a call-centre which will take the information and email an instructor – who will attempt to call you within 24-48 hrs, when it’s convenient to them. This is no use if you’re stuck with a particular problem and only have a specific time you can study.

Keep looking and you’ll come across the top providers who recommend and use direct-access support around the clock – even in the middle of the night.

Don’t accept second best when it comes to your support. Many would-be IT professionals that throw in the towel, are in that situation because they didn’t get the support necessary for them.

Qualifications from the commercial sector are now, undoubtedly, taking over from the older academic routes into the industry – so why is this the case?

With the costs of academic degree’s climbing ever higher, alongside the IT sector’s increasing awareness that corporate based study is closer to the mark commercially, there has been a dramatic increase in CISCO, Adobe, Microsoft and CompTIA authorised training programmes that supply key solutions to a student for much less time and money.

Many degrees, for instance, clog up the training with a lot of loosely associated study – with a syllabus that’s far too wide. This prevents a student from understanding the specific essentials in enough depth.

It’s a bit like the TV advert: ‘It does what it says on the label’. Companies need only to know what they’re looking for, and then match up the appropriate exam numbers as a requirement. Then they know that anyone who applies can do the necessary work.

(C) Scott Edwards 2009. Look at PHP Training Course or www.CareerQualifications.co.uk/rcarqua.html.