The CompTIA A+ course has four specialist sections - you need to pass exams in just two sectors to be seen as A+ competent. This is why, the majority of colleges restrict their A+ to just two of the four areas. We think this is selling you short - yes you'll have qualified, but knowledge of every section will set you apart in your working life, where gaps in your knowledge will expose weaknesses. That's why we believe you should train in the whole course.
A+ certification by itself will give you the ability to fix and repair stand-alone PC's and MAC's; ones which are usually not part of a network - which means the home or small business market. Perhaps you see yourself as someone who works for a larger company - in network support, you should include CompTIA Network+ to your training package, or consider the Microsoft networking route (MCSA - MCSE) to give you a better comprehension of how networks function.
You have to make sure that all your certifications are what employers want - forget programs which lead to some in-house certificate (which is as useless as if you'd printed it yourself). To an employer, only top businesses such as Microsoft, Cisco, Adobe or CompTIA (for example) will open the right doors. Nothing else will cut the mustard.
We can guess that you probably enjoy fairly practical work - a 'hands-on' type. Usually, the painful task of reading endless manuals would be considered as a last resort, but it's not really your thing. Consider interactive, multimedia study if you'd really rather not use books. Memory is vastly improved when multiple senses are involved - this has been an accepted fact in expert circles for years now.
Courses are now available in disc format, so everything is learned directly from your own PC. Using video-streaming, you are able to see your instructors showing you how it's all done, and then have a go at it yourself - with interactive lab sessions. It would be silly not to view examples of the courseware provided before you purchase a course. The minimum you should expect would be instructor-led video demonstrations and audio-visual elements backed up by interactive lab's.
Some companies only have access to online training only; while you can get away with this much of the time, imagine the problems if your access to the internet is broken or you get a slow connection speed. A safer solution is the provision of physical CD or DVD discs that will solve that problem.
Getting into your first IT role sometimes feels easier to handle if you're supported with a Job Placement Assistance program. It can happen though that too much is made of this feature, for it is genuinely quite straightforward for a well trained and motivated person to find a job in this industry - as employers are keen to find appropriately well trained people.
However, what is relevant is to have CV and Interview advice and support though; and we'd recommend any student to get their CV updated right at the beginning of their training - don't procrastinate and leave it for when you're ready to start work. It's not uncommon to find that junior support jobs are offered to people who're still on their course and have still to get qualified. This will at least get you on your way. In many cases, a specialist independent regional employment service (who will get paid commission to place you) will be more pro-active than a centralised training company's service. Also of course they should know the local area and commercial needs.
A slight grievance of a number of course providers is how much 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.
The way a programme is physically sent to you can often be overlooked. How many stages do they break the program into? And in what order and what control do you have at what pace it arrives? Students often think it makes sense (when study may take one to three years to achieve full certification,) for many training providers to send out one module at a time, as you complete each part. Although: What would happen if you didn't finish each element within the time limits imposed? Often the staged order won't fit you as well as some other order of studying might.
To be straight, the perfect answer is to have their ideal 'order' of training laid out, but make sure you have all of your learning modules right from the beginning. It's then all yours should you not complete it as fast as they'd like.
Author Resource:-
(C) Jason Kendall. Look at LearningLolly.com for the best career advice. Click Here or Comptia Courses.
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