by Jason Kendall
Four specialist training areas feature in the complete CompTIA A+ course, of which you’ll need certification in two subjects to be considered A+ qualified. We would advise however that only studying two of the four specialities might well not equip you for a job. At least learn about all four – employers will notice the difference.
Qualifying in CompTIA A+ on its own will allow you to fix and repair stand-alone PC’s and MAC’s; ones which are usually not part of a network – which is for the most part the home market.
Should you decide to add Network+ training, you’ll additionally be equipped to assist with or manage networks of computers, giving you the facility to apply for more senior positions.
One crafty way that training providers make a lot more is by charging for exams up-front and offering an exam guarantee. This sounds impressive, but is it really:
It’s very clear we’re still paying for it – obviously it has already been included in the overall figure from the training company. It’s certainly not free (although some people will believe anything the marketing companies think up these days!)
Qualifying on the first ‘go’ is what everyone wants to do. Entering examinations when it’s appropriate and funding them one at a time makes it far more likely you’ll pass first time – you revise thoroughly and are mindful of the investment you’ve made.
Why should you pay your college at the start of the course for exams? Find the best exam deal or offer when you’re ready, instead of paying a premium – and do it locally – rather than possibly hours away from your area.
Many questionable training colleges secure a great deal of profit through getting paid for examinations upfront and hoping either that you won’t take them, or it will be a long time before you do.
Most companies will require you to sit pre-tests and with-hold subsequent exam entries from you until you’ve demonstrated an excellent ability to pass – which actually leaves you with no guarantee at all.
Exam fees averaged 112 pounds or thereabouts last year through local VUE or Pro-metric centres throughout the country. Therefore, why splash out often many hundreds of pounds extra to have ‘an Exam Guarantee’, when it’s no secret that the best guarantee is a commitment to studying and the use of authorised exam preparation tools.
Does job security truly exist anywhere now? In the UK for example, where industry can change its mind whenever it suits, it certainly appears not.
We can however locate security at market-level, by probing for areas in high demand, together with work-skill shortages.
The Information Technology (IT) skills-gap around the United Kingdom currently stands at roughly 26 percent, as shown by the latest e-Skills study. Accordingly, for each four job positions available throughout IT, employers are only able to locate certified professionals for 3 of the 4.
Well taught and commercially certified new professionals are therefore at a total premium, and it looks like they will be for many years to come.
In actuality, acquiring professional IT skills throughout the years to come is most likely the safest career move you’ll ever make.
Qualifications from the commercial sector are now, most definitely, beginning to replace the traditional routes into the industry – but why is this?
With an ever-increasing technical demand on resources, the IT sector has had to move to the specialised core-skills learning that the vendors themselves supply – for example companies such as Adobe, Microsoft, CISCO and CompTIA. This usually turns out to involve less time and financial outlay.
In essence, only that which is required is learned. It’s not quite as straightforward as that, but the principle objective is to concentrate on the fundamentally important skill-sets (with some necessary background) – without trying to cram in every other area (as degree courses are known to do).
Imagine if you were an employer – and your company needed a person with some very particular skills. Which is the most straightforward: Go through loads of academic qualifications from hopeful applicants, struggling to grasp what they’ve learned and which commercial skills have been attained, or select a specialised number of commercial certifications that precisely match your needs, and make your short-list from that. You can then focus on how someone will fit into the team at interview – rather than on the depth of their technical knowledge.
An all too common mistake that we encounter all too often is to focus entirely on getting a qualification, rather than starting with where they want to get to. Colleges are brimming over with unaware students who took a course because it seemed fun – in place of something that could gain them their end-goal of a job they enjoyed.
It’s a sad fact, but thousands of new students start out on programs that sound great from the sales literature, but which provides a job that doesn’t satisfy. Try talking to typical university students to see what we mean.
Take time to understand how you feel about career progression and earning potential, and whether you intend to be quite ambitious. It makes sense to understand what industry expects from you, what particular accreditations they want you to have and how you’ll gain real-world experience.
Seek guidance and advice from an experienced professional, even if there’s a fee involved – it’s usually much cheaper and safer to discover early on whether something is going to suit and interest you, instead of discovering following two years of study that you aren’t going to enjoy the job you’ve chosen and have to return to the start of another program.
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