The CompTIA A+ course covers four specialised areas - you’ll have to qualify in just two sectors to be A+ competent. Because of this, most colleges only offer two of the 4 sectors. We consider that this will under prepare you - certainly you’ll have the qualification, but training on all 4 will set you apart in your working life, where knowledge of all four will be necessary. That’s why we believe you should train in the whole course.
Once on the CompTIA A+, you will learn how to build, fix, repair and work in antistatic conditions. Diagnostic techniques and fault finding are also on the syllabus, as is remote access.
It could be a good idea to think about adding the CompTIA Network+ training as it will enable you to work with networks, and have a more responsible working role.
The perhaps intimidating chore of getting your first role in IT is often eased by some companies, via a Job Placement Assistance service. With the huge demand for appropriately skilled people in the United Kingdom right now, it’s not necessary to get too caught up in this feature though. It isn’t so complicated as you might think to get your first job as long as you’ve got the necessary skills and qualifications.
You would ideally have CV and Interview advice and support though; also we would encourage all students to get their CV updated as soon as they start a course - don’t wait till you’ve finished your exams.
It’s not unusual to find that you will be offered your first role whilst still on the course (occasionally right at the beginning). If your CV doesn’t show your latest training profile (and it’s not being looked at by employers) then you won’t even be considered!
The top companies to help get you placed are usually specialist independent regional recruitment consultancies. As they’re keen to place you to receive their commission, they’re perhaps more focused on results.
To bottom line it, if you put as much hard work into finding your first IT position as into studying, you’re not likely to experience problems. Some trainees inexplicably spend hundreds of hours on their course materials and then just stop once they’ve passed their exams and seem to suppose that interviewers know they’re there.
Beware of putting too much emphasis, as many people do, on the certification itself. Training for training’s sake is generally pointless; you’re training to become commercially employable. You need to remain focused on where you want to go.
You may train for one year and then end up doing the job for 20 years. Avoid the mistake of finding what seems like a very ‘interesting’ program only to spend 20 years doing a job you hate!
Stay focused on where you want to go, and then build your training requirements around that - not the other way round. Keep your eyes on your goals and ensure that you’re training for something you’ll still be enjoying many years from now.
Take advice from an experienced advisor, even if you have to pay a small fee - as it’s a lot cheaper and safer to find out at the start if you’ve chosen correctly, rather than find out after several years of study that the job you’ve chosen is not for you and have to return to the start of another program.
One area often overlooked by those weighing up a particular programme is the concept of ‘training segmentation’. Basically, this means how the program is broken down into parts for drop-shipping to you, which makes a huge difference to the point you end up at.
Usually, you’ll join a programme staged over 2 or 3 years and receive a module at a time. This sounds logical on one level, until you consider this:
What if for some reason you don’t get to the end of every exam? And what if you find the order of the modules counter-intuitive? Through no fault of your own, you might take a little longer and not receive all the modules you’ve paid for.
For the perfect solution, you’d ask for every single material to be delivered immediately - giving you them all for the future to come back to - at any time you choose. This also allows you to vary the order in which you move through the program where a more intuitive path can be found.
People attracted to this sort of work can be very practical by nature, and won’t enjoy sitting at a desk in class, and endless reading of dry academic textbooks. If this is putting you off studying, opt for more involving, interactive learning materials, where learning is video-based.
Research has always verified that becoming involved with our studies, to utilise all our senses, is proven to produce longer-lasting and deeper memory retention.
Courses are now available on CD and DVD discs, where your computer becomes the centre of your learning. Using video-streaming, you will be able to see the instructor presenting exactly how to do something, and then have a go at it yourself - in a virtual lab environment.
You must ensure that you see examples of the study materials provided by your chosen company. Be sure that they contain video demo’s and interactive elements such as practice lab’s.
Pick CD and DVD ROM based physical training media every time. This then avoids all the potential pitfalls with broadband ‘downtime’ or slow-speeds.
Written by Scott Edwards. Visit Website Design Course or www.CareerRetrainingCourses.co.uk/ucareco.html.
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