There are four A+ exams and sections to study, but you’re just expected to get certified in 2 for qualification purposes. For this reason, a great number of colleges only offer 2 paths. However, training you in all four will give you a far greater perspective of your subject, which you’ll come to realise is essential in professional employment.
CompTIA A+ without additional courses will give you the ability to fix and repair stand alone Macs, computers and laptops; ones that are generally not connected to a network – essentially the domestic or small business sector.
If you add Network+ to your A+ course, you’ll additionally be equipped to look after networks, giving you the facility to command a higher salary.
With all the options available, does it really shock us that the majority of trainees get stuck choosing the job they should even pursue.
Working through a list of IT job-titles is no use whatsoever. Surely, most of us have no idea what our own family members do for a living – let alone understand the ins and outs of a specific IT job.
To get to the bottom of this, we need to discuss several unique issues:
* What nature of person you think yourself to be – the tasks that you get enjoyment from, plus of course – what makes you unhappy.
* Are you looking to reach a closely held dream – for instance, working for yourself sometime soon?
* What scale of importance is the salary – is it the most important thing, or does job satisfaction rate further up on your priority-list?
* Understanding what typical career types and sectors are – and what makes them different.
* The level of commitment and effort you’re prepared to commit the training program.
The bottom line is, the only real way of covering these is via a good talk with someone that has enough background to provide solid advice.
One feature that many training companies provide is a programme of Job Placement assistance. This is designed to assist your search for your first position. The need for this feature can be bigged up out of proportion though – it’s quite easy for eager sales people to make too much of it. In reality, the still growing need for IT personnel in this country is the reason you’ll find a job.
Bring your CV up to date as soon as possible however (advice can be sought on this via your provider). Don’t delay till the exams have actually been passed.
It can happen that you haven’t even taken your exams when you’ll secure your initial junior support position; but this can’t and won’t happen if your CV isn’t in front of employers.
Most often, a local IT focused recruitment consultancy – who make their money when they’ve found you a job – will perform better than any recruitment division from a training organisation. Also of course they should know the local area and commercial needs.
A slight aggravation for some training course providers is how hard trainees are prepared to work to pass exams, but how un-prepared that student is to get the position they have acquired skills for. Get out there and hustle – you might find it’s fun.
Most training providers only give basic 9am till 6pm support (maybe a little earlier or later on certain days); very few go late in the evening or at weekends.
Find a good quality service with proper support available at any time of day or night (even 1am on Sunday morning!) Make sure it’s always direct access to tutors, and not a message system as this will slow you down – consistently being held in a queue for a call-back during office hours.
The best training colleges offer an internet-based 24×7 facility combining multiple support operations throughout multiple time-zones. You get a single, easy-to-use interface which seamlessly selects the best facility available no matter what time of day it is: Support on demand.
Seek out a training provider that gives this level of learning support. Only proper 24×7 round-the-clock live support delivers what is required.
Ask any expert advisor and they can normally tell you many horror stories of how students have been duped by salespeople. Ensure you only ever work with an experienced professional who digs deep to find out what’s appropriate to you – not for their pay-packet! You must establish an ideal starting-point that fits you.
With a bit of live experience or qualifications, your starting-point of learning is not the same as someone new to the industry.
Always consider starting with user-skills and software training first. This can help whip your basic knowledge into shape and make the learning curve a much more gentle.
All programs you’re considering really needs to work up to a nationally (or globally) recognised certification at the finale – definitely not some ‘in-house’ plaque for your wall.
To an employer, only the major heavyweights like Microsoft, Adobe, CompTIA or Cisco (as an example) really carry any commercial clout. Anything less just won’t hit the right spot.
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