Gaileen Sutton

Four specialist training areas feature in the complete CompTIA A+ course, of which 2 passes are needed to gain A+ competency. We would advise however that restricting yourself to two out of the 4 subjects available might well not equip you for a job. Look for training that covers all the specialist areas – for greater confidence in the world of work.

In addition to learning about the ins and outs of building and maintaining computers, trainees involved in this training will have instruction on how to operate in antistatic conditions, as well as diagnostics, fault-finding and remote access.

Should you want to work towards looking after computer networks, add the very comprehensive CompTIA Network+ to your training package. Including Network+ will put you in a position to apply for more interesting jobs. Also look at the Microsoft networking qualifications (MCP, MCSA and MCSE).

The area most overlooked by new students considering a training program is the concept of ‘training segmentation’. Essentially, this is the breakdown of the materials for timed release to you, which vastly changes how you end up.

Typically, you will purchase a course requiring 1-3 years study and get sent one module each time you pass an exam. It seems to make sense on one level, but consider these issues:

What would their reaction be if you find it difficult to do each and every module at the required speed? Often the staged order doesn’t come as naturally as some other order of studying might.

In a perfect world, you’d get ALL the training materials right at the beginning – so you’ll have them all for the future to come back to – as and when you want. This allows a variation in the order that you move through the program if another more intuitive route presents itself.

A study programme has to build towards a fully recognised major qualification as an end-result – not a useless ‘in-house’ plaque for your wall.

If the accreditation doesn’t feature a conglomerate such as Microsoft, Cisco, Adobe or CompTIA, then you’ll probably find it will be commercially useless – because it won’t give an employer any directly-useable skills.

The age-old way of teaching, involving piles of reference textbooks, can be pretty hard going sometimes. If you’re nodding as you read this, dig around for more practical courses that are multimedia based.

Memory is vastly improved when we use multiple senses – educational experts have expounded on this for decades now.

Modern training can now be done at home via easy-to-use DVD or CD ROM’s. Instructor-led tutorials will mean you’ll find things easier to remember by way of their teaching and demonstrations. Then you test your knowledge by interacting with the software and practicing yourself.

Each company you’re contemplating should be able to show you some samples of their courseware. Expect video tutorials, instructor led classes and a variety of interactive modules.

Seek out CD and DVD ROM based physical training media if possible. You’re then protected from broadband outages, failure and signal quality issues etc.

Finding job security nowadays is incredibly rare. Businesses will throw us from the workplace at the drop of a hat – as and when it suits them.

It’s possible though to hit upon security at market-level, by digging for areas of high demand, tied with a shortage of skilled staff.

The computing Industry skills shortage throughout the UK falls in at roughly 26 percent, as noted by the 2006 e-Skills survey. Quite simply, we can’t properly place more than just 3 out of each 4 job positions in the computer industry.

Acquiring the appropriate commercial computing certification is consequently a quick route to succeed in a continuing as well as pleasing career.

No better time or market settings could exist for acquiring training in this swiftly expanding and evolving sector.

Copyright Scott Edwards. Navigate to Comptia Training or learninglolly.com/CompTIA_A_Certification.html.