As well as learning about the ins and outs of building and maintaining computers, students on an A+ training course will have instruction on how to work in antistatic conditions, along with remote access, fault finding and diagnostics. Should you be thinking of taking care of computer networks, add the very comprehensive Network+ to your training package. Including Network+ will prepare you to get a higher paid position. Alternatively, you may prefer the networking qualifications from Microsoft, i.e. MCP, MCSA MCSE.
OK, why might we choose commercial qualifications as opposed to the usual academic qualifications obtained from schools and Further Education colleges? As we require increasingly more effective technological know-how, the IT sector has moved to specialist courses that can only be obtained from the actual vendors – in other words companies like Microsoft, CISCO, Adobe and CompTIA. Often this saves time and money for the student. Academic courses, as a example, clog up the training with vast amounts of loosely associated study – and much too wide a syllabus. This prevents a student from getting enough specific knowledge about the core essentials.
When an employer knows what areas they need covered, then they just need to look for a person with the appropriate exam numbers. Commercial syllabuses all have to conform to the same requirements and aren’t allowed to deviate (as academic syllabuses often do).
Many trainers provide a shelf full of reference manuals. Obviously, this isn’t much fun and isn’t the best way to go about remembering. Learning psychology studies show that we remember much more when we use all our senses, and we get practically involved in what we’re studying.
Top of the range study programs now offer interactive CD and DVD ROM’s. Through instructor-led video classes you’ll absorb the modules, one by one, through their teaching and demonstrations. Then it’s time to test your knowledge by utilising the practice lab’s and modules. You’ll definitely want a training material demonstration from the school that you’re considering. The materials should incorporate instructor videos, demonstrations, slide-shows and fully interactive skills-lab’s.
You should avoid purely online training. Physical CD or DVD ROM materials are preferable where possible, so that you have access at all times – you don’t want to be reliant on a good broadband connection all the time.
A typical blunder that students everywhere can make is to look for the actual course to take, instead of focusing on the end result they want to achieve. Colleges are stacked to the hilt with students that chose a program because it looked interesting – in place of something that could gain them an enjoyable career or job. Imagine training for just one year and then end up performing the job-role for decades. Ensure you avoid the fatal error of finding what seems like an ‘interesting’ course only to spend 20 years doing an unrewarding career!
Be honest with yourself about what you want to earn and what level of ambition fits you. Usually, this will point the way to what precise certifications you’ll need to attain and what you can expect to give industry in return. It’s good advice for all students to talk with an experienced professional before they embark on a study programme. This helps to ensure it contains the commercially required skills for the chosen career path.
One interesting way that training companies make more money is by adding exam fees upfront to the cost of a course and then including an ‘Exam Guarantee’. It looks like a good deal, but is it really:
You’re paying for it ultimately. It’s definitely not free – they’ve just worked it into the package price. Trainees who enter their exams one by one, paying as they go are much better placed to get through first time. They’re conscious of their investment and prepare more appropriately to ensure they are ready.
Isn’t it outrageous to have to pay the college at the start of the course for examination fees? Find the best exam deal or offer at the appropriate time, don’t pay mark-ups – and do it in a local testing centre – not at somewhere of their bidding. Big margins are made by many training colleges who get money for exam fees in advance. A number of students don’t take them for various reasons but the company keeps the money. Astoundingly enough, providers exist who depend on students not taking their exams – as that’s where a lot of their profit comes from. The majority of companies will insist on pre-tests and with-hold subsequent exam entries from you until you’ve demonstrated an excellent ability to pass – which makes an ‘Exam Guarantee’ frankly useless.
With the average price of Pro-metric and VUE tests coming in at around 112 pounds in the UK, it makes sense to pay as you go. It’s not in the student’s interests to fork out hundreds or thousands of pounds for exams when enrolling on a course. A commitment to studying and the use of authorised exam preparation tools are actually the key to your success.
Be careful that the qualifications you’re studying for are commercially relevant and are up-to-date. The ‘in-house’ certifications provided by many companies are not normally useful in gaining employment. Unless the accreditation comes from a big-hitter like Microsoft, CompTIA, Cisco or Adobe, then you may discover it will be commercially useless – because it won’t give an employer any directly-useable skills.
(C) Jason Kendall. Browse LearningLolly.com for quality career advice on Comptia Course and Comptia A+ Certification.
