The CompTIA A+ course has four specialist sections – you need to pass exams in 2 different areas to reach the level of competent in A+. For this reason, most training providers simply provide 2 of the training options. We consider that this isn’t enough – certainly you’ll have the qualification, but knowing about the others will give you a distinct advantage in the workplace, where you’ll need to know about all of them. So that’s why you deserve training in all four areas.
As well as being taught about building and fixing computers, trainees on an A+ training course will learn how to operate in antistatic conditions, how to fault find, to diagnose and to remotely access problems.
Should you fancy yourself as the kind of individual who works for a larger company – supporting, fixing and maintaining networks, build on A+ with Network+, or alternatively look at doing an MCSA or MCSE with Microsoft in order to have a more advanced experience of the way networks work.
The way in which your courseware is broken down for you is usually ignored by most students. How is the courseware broken down? What is the order and do you have a say in when you’ll get each part?
Usually, you will join a program requiring 1-3 years study and receive one element at a time until graduation. While this may sound logical on one level, consider this:
How would they react if you didn’t complete each and every module within the time limits imposed? And maybe you’ll find their order of completion doesn’t come as naturally as another different route may.
To provide the maximum security and flexibility, it’s normal for most trainees to have all their training materials (which they’ve now paid for) couriered out in one package, all at the beginning. It’s then your own choice how fast or slow and in what order you want to go.
IT has become amongst the most stimulating and innovative industries that you can get into right now. To be working on the cutting-edge of technology is to be a part of the massive changes affecting everyone who lives in the 21st century.
Technology, computers and connections through the web will dramatically shape the way we live our lives in the near future; overwhelmingly so.
And keep in mind that on average, the income of a person in the IT sector in Great Britain is a lot greater than the national average salary, which means you’ll most likely receive noticeably more as an IT specialist, than you’d expect to earn elsewhere.
There is a substantial national demand for trained and qualified IT technicians. In addition, as growth in the industry shows little sign of contracting, it looks like this will be the case for a good while yet.
We’d all like to believe that our jobs will always be secure and our work futures are protected, but the growing reality for the majority of jobs around Great Britain currently is that there is no security anymore.
Whereas a marketplace with high growth, where staff are in constant demand (as there is a growing shortage of fully trained people), creates the conditions for true job security.
Reviewing the Information Technology (IT) market, the most recent e-Skills survey brought to light an over 26 percent deficit in trained staff. Or, to put it differently, this shows that the United Kingdom can only locate three properly accredited workers for each 4 job positions existing now.
Appropriately skilled and commercially certified new employees are correspondingly at a resounding premium, and it’s estimated to remain so for many years longer.
It would be hard to imagine if a better time or market settings will exist for getting trained into this quickly expanding and blossoming business.
A service that several companies offer is a programme of Job Placement assistance. The service is put in place to help you get your first commercial position. However sometimes there is more emphasis than is necessary on this service, as it is actually not that hard for well qualified and focused men and women to find work in this industry – as there is such a shortage of trained staff.
Whatever you do, don’t wait till you have qualified before polishing up your CV. As soon as you start a course, mark down what you’re doing and place it on jobsites!
You may not have got to the stage where you’ve qualified when you will get your initial junior support role; but this can’t and won’t happen unless you’ve posted your CV on job sites.
Actually, a local IT focused recruitment consultant or service – who make their money when they’ve found you a job – will be more pro-active than a division of a training company. It also stands to reason that they’ll know the area and local employers better.
A big frustration of many training course providers is how hard trainees are prepared to work to get top marks in their exams, but how un-prepared that student is to get the role they’ve studied for. Don’t falter at the last fence.
(C) Scott Edwards 2009. Check out Graphic Design Portfolio or CLICK HERE.