Training in CompTIA Support Considered

By: Jason Kendall Click author's name for more of his/her articles

There are four specialised areas of training in the overall A+ programme, of which you'll need certification in two subjects for competency in A+. We would advise however that restricting yourself to two out of the 4 subjects available is likely to leave your knowledge base somewhat light. Try to cover all four - you'll be glad you did when it comes to interview time.

Passing the A+ exam in isolation will give you the ability to repair and fix computers and Macs; ones that are most often not part of a network - which is for the most part the home market. Were you to add Network+ to your A+ course, you'll also learn how to look after networks, allowing you to apply for more senior positions.

Looking around, we find an excess of professional positions up for grabs in computing. Finding the particular one out of this complexity often proves challenging. Perusing lists of IT career possibilities is no use whatsoever. The vast majority of us don't really appreciate what our own family members do for a living - so what chance do we have in understanding the subtleties of a particular IT career. Deliberation over these different factors is required if you need to uncover the right answers:

* Your individual personality and what you're interested in - what work-oriented areas please or frustrate you.

* What sort of time-frame do you want for the retraining?

* What priority do you place on salary vs job satisfaction?

* With many, many different sectors to gain certifications for in computing - you'll need to achieve a basic understanding of what sets them apart.

* Taking a cold, hard look into the effort, commitment and time you'll make available.

At the end of the day, your only chance of investigating all this is from an in-depth discussion with a professional who knows the industry well enough to be able to guide you.

A sneaky way that training providers make extra profits is by adding exam fees upfront to the cost of a course and presenting it as a guarantee for your exams. This looks like a great idea for the student, till you look at the facts:

You'll pay for it one way or another. You can be assured it's not a freebie - it's just been rolled into the price of the whole package. Qualifying on the first 'go' is what everyone wants to do. Taking your exams progressively when it's appropriate and funding them as you go has a marked effect on pass-rates - you prepare appropriately and are aware of the costs involved.

Don't pay up-front, but seek out the best deal for you at the time, and avoid college mark-up fees. You'll then be able to select where you do the examinations - which means you can stay local. What's the point in paying early for examinations when you don't need to? Huge profits are made because training colleges are getting paid upfront for exams - and hoping either that you won't take them, or it will be a long time before you do. Remember, in the majority of cases of 'exam guarantees' - you are not in control of when you can do your re-takes. You'll have to prove conclusively that you can pass before they'll pay for another exam.

Exam fees averaged about 112 pounds twelve months or so ago through local VUE or Pro-metric centres throughout the country. So what's the point of paying maybe a thousand pounds extra to get 'Exam Guarantees', when any student knows that the most successful method is study, commitment and preparing with good quality mock and practice exams.

It's important to understand: a actual training or a certification isn't the end-goal; the job or career that you want to end up in is. Too many training companies put too much weight in just the training course. It's a testament to the marketing skills of the big companies, but the majority of trainees begin programs that seem magnificent in the syllabus guide, but which provides the end-result of a job that doesn't fulfil at all. Talk to many college leavers to see what we mean.

Stay focused on where you want to go, and formulate your training based on that - avoid getting them back-to-front. Stay on target and ensure that you're training for an end-result you'll still be enjoying many years from now. Have a chat with an industry professional who knows about the sector you're looking at, and could provide detailed descriptions of what to expect in that role. Establishing this before beginning a learning programme will save you both time and money.

Only consider learning paths that move onto industry acknowledged exams. There are loads of small companies proposing their own 'in-house' certificates which aren't worth the paper they're printed on when it comes to finding a job. Unless the accreditation comes from a big-hitter like Microsoft, CompTIA, Adobe or Cisco, then you may discover it will have been a waste of time - as no-one will have heard of it.

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About The Author: (C) Jason Kendall. Hop over to LearningLolly.com for in-depth information on Comptia Certification Training and Comptia A+ Courses.