CompTIA A Plus Training
A+ consists of four exams and sections to study, but you only have to get your exams in 2 of them to be considered A+ competent. For this reason, many educational establishments restrict their course to just 2 areas. Yet learning about all 4 will provide you with a far greater perspective of it all, which you’ll come to realise is essential in the working environment.
If you decide to become a student on the A+ training program you’ll become familiar with how to build and repair PC’s and operate in antistatic conditions. Diagnostic techniques and fault finding are also on the syllabus, as is remote access. If you would like to be someone who is a member of a large organisation – fixing and supporting networks, build on A+ with Network+, or follow the Microsoft route – MCP’s, MCSA or MCSE as you’ll need a wider knowledge of the way networks work.
So if the UK computer industry grants so many phenomenal career possibilities for us – then which questions should we pose and which elements should we be considering?
An all too common mistake that potential students often succumb to is to choose a career based on a course, and not focus on the desired end-result. Universities have thousands of students who chose a course based on what sounded good – instead of what would yield the career they desired. It’s possible, in some situations, to get a great deal of enjoyment from a year of study and then spend 20 miserable years in a tiresome job role, as a consequence of not performing some quality research when it was needed – at the start.
Never let your focus stray from where you want to get to, and formulate your training based on that – don’t do it back-to-front. Keep on track – making sure you’re training for a career you’ll enjoy for years to come. It’s worth seeking guidance from a professional that understands the sector you’re considering, and who can give you ‘A day in the life of’ explanation for each job considered. These things are of paramount importance because you need to know if you’re going down the right road.
The classroom style of learning we remember from school, using textbooks and whiteboards, can be pretty hard going sometimes. If all this is ringing some familiar bells, look for learning programmes which have a majority of interactive, multimedia parts. Learning psychology studies show that we remember much more when we use all our senses, and we get physically involved with the study process.
Modern training can now be done at home via interactive CD and DVD ROM’s. Real-world classes from the instructors will mean you’ll absorb the modules, one by one, through the expert demonstrations. You can then test yourself by utilising the practice lab’s and modules. Don’t take any chances and look at a small selection of training examples before you hand over your cheque. The minimum you should expect would be video tutorials, instructor demo’s and audio-visual elements backed up by interactive lab’s.
You’ll find that many companies will only provide just online versions of their training packages; and while this is acceptable much of the time, consider what happens if your access to the internet is broken or you get intermittent problems and speed issues. It’s much safer to rely on actual CD or DVD ROMs which will not have these problems.
Quite often, students have issues with a single training area very rarely considered: How the training is broken down and packaged off through the post. Typically, you’ll join a programme staged over 2 or 3 years and get posted one section at a time – from one exam to the next. While this may sound logical on one level, consider this: Maybe the order of study prescribed by the provider doesn’t suit you. You may find it a stretch to finalise all the modules at the speed required?
An ideal situation would be to have all the training materials posted to you right at the start; the entire thing! Then, nothing can hinder your capacity to get everything done.
One thing you must always insist on is comprehensive 24×7 direct-access support from dedicated instructors and mentors. So many companies we come across only provide support to you inside of office hours (typically 9am-6pm) and sometimes a little earlier or later (but not weekends usually). Never buy certification programs which can only support you through a call-centre messaging service after 6-9pm in the evening and during weekends. Companies will try to talk you round from this line of reasoning. Essentially – you need support when you need support – not when it’s convenient for them.
The best training colleges utilise an online 24 hours-a-day package pulling in several support offices across the globe. You will be provided with a single, easy-to-use interface which switches seamlessly to the best choice of centres at any time of day or night: Support when you need it. Unless you insist on direct-access 24×7 support, you’ll very quickly realise that you’ve made a mistake. You may not need it late in the night, but you may need weekends, evenings and early mornings at some point
Including examinations with the course fee then including an exam guarantee is a popular marketing tool with a good many training companies. However, let’s consider what’s really going on:
They’ve allowed costings for it one way or another. You can be assured it’s not a freebie – they’ve simply charged more for the whole training package. Trainees who take each progressive exam, funding them one at a time are far more likely to pass first time. They’re thoughtful of the cost and so are more inclined to be ready for the task.
Isn’t it in your interests to go for the best offer when you take the exam, not to pay any mark-up to a college, and also to sit exams more locally – instead of the remote centre that’s convenient only to the trainer? Why tie up your cash (or borrow more than you need) for exam fees when you didn’t need to? A great deal of money is made because training colleges are charging all their exam fees up-front – and hoping either that you won’t take them, or it will be a long time before you do. The majority of organisations will insist on pre-tests and with-hold subsequent exam entries from you until you’ve demonstrated an excellent ability to pass – so an ‘Exam Guarantee’ comes with many clauses in reality.
Paying maybe a thousand pounds extra on an ‘Exam Guarantee’ is foolish – when hard work, commitment and the right preparation via exam simulations is what will really see you through.
A service that many training companies provide is job placement assistance. The service is put in place to help you find your first job in the industry. Having said that, occasionally this feature is bigged up too much, because it’s really not that difficult for a well trained and motivated person to get work in the IT industry – because there’s a great need for well trained people.
Advice and support about getting interviews and your CV is sometimes offered (if it isn’t, consult one of our sites). Be sure to you update that dusty old CV today – don’t wait until you’ve finished your exams! Quite often, you will be offered your initial position while you’re still a student (occasionally right at the beginning). If your CV doesn’t show your latest training profile (and it isn’t in the hands of someone with jobs to offer) then you won’t even be considered! Actually, a specialist independent regional recruitment consultancy – who make their money when they’ve found you a job – will perform better than any centralised training company’s service. It also stands to reason that they’ll know the local industry and employment needs.
Many students, it seems, are prepared to study their hearts out (sometimes for years), and then just stop instead of finding the right position. Sell yourself… Make an effort to get in front of employers. A job isn’t just going to bump into you.
Without a doubt: There’s very little evidence of personal job security now; there’s only market and business security – as any company can remove anyone when it meets the business’ commercial needs. However, a sector experiencing fast growth, with huge staffing demands (because of an enormous shortfall of properly qualified staff), opens the possibility of lasting job security.
Taking the computer business as an example, a recent e-Skills survey highlighted a national skills shortage in the United Kingdom of around 26 percent. Alternatively, you could say, this highlights that the country is only able to source 3 trained people for every 4 jobs existing currently. Properly qualified and commercially grounded new staff are correspondingly at a total premium, and in all likelihood it will stay that way for a long time to come. In actuality, gaining new qualifications in IT during the next few years is almost definitely the safest choice of careers you could make.
