There are four A+ exams and specialised sectors, but you\'re just expected to achieve certification in two to be thought of as qualified. Because of this, a great number of colleges restrict their course to just 2 areas. But giving you all four options will provide you with a far greater perspective of the subject, which you\'ll come to realise is essential in professional employment.
Qualifying in CompTIA A+ without additional courses will mean that you\'re able to repair and fix stand-alone PC\'s and MAC\'s; ones that are generally not connected to a network - which means the home or small business market.
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:
You\'ll be charged for it ultimately. It\'s definitely not free - they\'ve simply charged more for the whole training package.
If it\'s important to you to get a first time pass, then you should avoid exam guarantees and pay when entering exams, focus on it intently and be ready for the task.
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.
Due to typical VUE and Prometric tests coming in at approximately 112 pounds in Great Britain, it makes sense to pay as you go. Why splash out often many hundreds of pounds extra at the beginning of your training? Commitment, effort and practice with quality exam preparation systems are the factors that really get you through.
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.
You would ideally have advice and support about your CV and interviews though; and we\'d recommend everyone to work on polishing up their CV the day they start training - don\'t procrastinate and leave it until you\'ve graduated or passed any exams.
Various junior support jobs have been offered to trainees who\'re still on their course and have yet to take their exams. This will at the very least get your CV into the \'possible\' pile and not the \'no\' pile.
Most often, a specialist locally based employment service (who will, of course, be keen to place you to receive their commission) is going to give you a better service than a centralised training company\'s service. It also stands to reason that they\'ll know the area and local employers better.
A big frustration for a number of course providers is how hard trainees are prepared to study to get qualified, but how ill-prepared they are to market themselves for the job they\'ve acquired skills for. Get out there and hustle - you might find it\'s fun.
Of all the important things to consider, one of the most essential is always full 24x7 support with professional mentors and instructors. Far too often we see trainers who only provide office hours (or extended office hours) support.
You\'ll be waiting ages for an answer with email based support, and phone support is often to a call-centre who will just take down the issue and email it over to their technical team - who\'ll call back sometime over the next 1-3 days, when it\'s convenient to them. This isn\'t a lot of good if you\'re lost and confused and only have a specific time you can study.
The very best programs tend to use an online access 24x7 facility utilising a variety of support centres throughout multiple time-zones. You\'ll have an environment which switches seamlessly to the best choice of centres irrespective of the time of day: Support when you need it.
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.
We\'re regularly asked to explain why traditional academic studies are now falling behind more commercial certificates?
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.
Many degrees, for instance, become confusing because of a great deal of loosely associated study - with much too broad a syllabus. This holds a student back from getting enough specific knowledge about the core essentials.
If an employer understands what they\'re looking for, then they just need to look for a person with the appropriate exam numbers. The syllabuses are set to exacting standards and aren\'t allowed to deviate (like academia frequently can and does).
(C) 2009 S. Edwards. Try HTML Programming or Change-My-Career.co.uk/QCMC.html.
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