Finding The Right CompTIA Training - Update
Posted on July 5th, 2009 in Uncategorized |
CompTIA A + has a total of four exams and specialised sectors, but you only have to achieve certification in two for qualification purposes. This is why most training colleges restrict their course to just 2 areas. Yet learning about all 4 will give you a far deeper level of understanding of your subject, something you’ll discover is vital in professional employment.
A+ computer training courses cover fault-finding and diagnostics - both remote access and hands-on, in addition to building, fixing, repairing and working in antistatic conditions. You may also want to think about doing Network+ as you can then also work with networks, which is where the bigger salaries are.
Usually, your normal student doesn’t know where to start with IT, or even which area to focus their retraining program on. Since without any solid background in the IT industry, how can most of us be expected to understand what anyone doing a particular job actually does? To get through to the essence of this, a discussion is necessary, covering several definitive areas:
* Our personalities play a starring role - what things get your juices flowing, and what are the things that put a frown on your face.
* For what reasons you’re moving into computing - it could be you’re looking to overcome a long-held goal such as working for yourself maybe.
* What priority do you place on job satisfaction vs salary?
* There are many ways to train in Information Technology - you’ll need to gain some background information on what differentiates them.
* It makes sense to understand the differences across the myriad of training options.
To be honest, your only option to investigate these matters is via a conversation with an advisor or professional that understands the IT industry (and chiefly the commercial requirements.)
Review the following facts carefully if you believe the marketing blurb about ‘guaranteeing’ exams sounds like a benefit to the student:
You’re paying for it ultimately. One thing’s for sure - it isn’t free - it’s simply been shoe-horned into the price as a whole. It’s everybody’s ambition to qualify on the first attempt. Going for exams in order and funding them one at a time makes it far more likely you’ll pass first time - you put the effort in and are mindful of the investment you’ve made.
Look for the very best offer you can at the time, and keep hold of your own money. You’ll also be able to choose where to take your exam - so you can find somewhere local. Huge profits are made by some training companies who get money upfront for exam fees. For quite legitimate reasons, a number of students don’t get to do their exams but the company keeps the money. Amazingly, there are providers that depend on students not taking their exams - as that’s how they make a lot of their profit. Re-takes of any failed exams with organisations who offer an ‘Exam Guarantee’ are monitored with tight restrictions. You’ll be required to sit pre-tests until you’ve proven that you’re likely to pass.
Exam fees averaged approximately 112 pounds twelve months or so ago through Prometric or VUE centres around the United Kingdom. So don’t be talked into shelling out hundreds or thousands of pounds more to get ‘Exam Guarantees’, when common sense dictates that what’s really needed is a commitment to studying and the use of authorised exam preparation tools.
Those that are drawn to this type of work are often very practical, and don’t always take well to classrooms, and poring through books and manuals. If you identify with this, go for more modern interactive training, with on-screen demonstrations and labs. Research has always verified that getting into our studies physically, is proven to produce longer-lasting and deeper memory retention.
Fully interactive motion videos utilising video demo’s and practice lab’s will forever turn you away from traditional book study. And you’ll find them fun and interesting. Make sure to obtain a study material demo’ from the school that you’re considering. The materials should incorporate slide-shows, instructor-led videos and virtual practice lab’s for your new skills.
Pick physical media such as CD or DVD ROM’s every time. You can then avoid all the difficulties of broadband ‘downtime’ or slow-speeds.
Can job security really exist anywhere now? Here in the UK, with businesses changing their mind whenever it suits, we’d question whether it does. We could however locate security at market-level, by digging for areas that have high demand, together with shortages of trained staff.
Investigating the Information Technology (IT) market, the recent e-Skills survey demonstrated a more than 26 percent shortfall of skilled workers. It follows then that for every 4 jobs that are available throughout IT, businesses are only able to locate properly accredited workers for three of them. Appropriately qualified and commercially accredited new workers are as a result at a total premium, and it looks like they will be for a long time. Surely, it really is a fabulous time for retraining into the computing industry.
Considering how a program is ‘delivered’ to you isn’t always given the appropriate level of importance. In what way are your training elements sectioned? What is the order and at what speed is it delivered? Typically, you will purchase a course taking 1-3 years and receive a module at a time. While this may sound logical on one level, consider this: What would happen if you didn’t finish each and every exam at the required speed? Sometimes their preference of study order won’t be as easy as some other structure would for you.
To be straight, the perfect answer is to have their ideal ‘order’ of training laid out, but get everything up-front. Everything is then in your possession if you don’t manage to finish at their required pace.






















