There are four specialist areas of training in a full CompTIA A+ program; you’re considered competent at A+ when you’ve passed the test for 2 out of 4 subjects. This is the reason that the majority of training establishments only teach 2 specialised areas. The truth is it’s necessary to have the training for all four areas as many positions will ask for knowledge and skills of each specialist area. Don’t feel pressured to take all four exams, however we’d advise that you at least have a working knowledge of every area.

Courses in A+ computer training cover diagnostics and fault finding – both remote access and hands-on, alongside building computers and repairing them and operating in antistatic conditions.

If your ambition is maintaining networks, you’ll need to add CompTIA Network+ to your training package. This will put you in a position to apply for more interesting jobs. Alternatively, you may prefer the networking qualifications from Microsoft, i.e. MCP, MCSA MCSE.

The way a programme is physically sent to you can often be overlooked. How many parts is the training broken down into? What is the order and do you have a say in when you’ll get each part?

A release of your materials one piece at a time, according to your own speed is the usual method of releasing your program. This sounds sensible, but you should take these factors into account:

Students often discover that the company’s usual training route doesn’t suit. They might find varying the order of study will be far more suitable. Could it cause problems if you don’t get everything done at the pace they expect?

In an ideal situation, you’d get ALL the training materials right at the beginning – giving you them all to return to any point – as and when you want. This also allows you to vary the order in which you move through the program if another more intuitive route presents itself.

Of all the important things to consider, one of the most essential is always comprehensive 24×7 direct-access support from dedicated instructors and mentors. It’s an all too common story to find providers that will only offer a basic 9am till 6pm support period (maybe later on certain days) with very little availability over the weekend.

Look for training where you can access help at any time of day or night (even if it’s early hours on Sunday morning!) Make sure it’s always direct access to tutors, and not access to a call-in service which takes messages – so you’re consistently being held in a queue for a call-back during office hours.

Keep looking and you’ll come across the very best companies which give students direct-access support around the clock – no matter what time of day it is.

Look for a training school that goes the extra mile. Only proper live 24×7 round-the-clock support gives you the confidence to make it.

Have you recently questioned the security of your job? For most people, this only rears its head when we experience a knock-back. However, the painful truth is that job security is a thing of the past, for nearly everyone now.

Now, we only experience security in a fast growing marketplace, fuelled by a shortage of trained workers. It’s this alone that creates the right setting for a secure market – a much more desirable situation.

Taking the Information Technology (IT) industry as an example, a key e-Skills study brought to light major skills shortages around Great Britain in excess of 26 percent. Meaning that for every four jobs that are available throughout IT, we’ve only got three properly trained pro’s to fill that need.

Properly qualified and commercially accredited new workers are consequently at an absolute premium, and it seems it will continue to be so for a long time.

In reality, gaining new qualifications in IT over the coming years is most likely the best career direction you could choose.

You should remember: the actual training or a certification is not what you’re looking for; the career that you want is. Too many training companies over-emphasise just the training course.

Don’t let yourself become part of the group who set off on a track which looks like it could be fun – and get to the final hurdle of an accreditation for a career they’ll never really get any satisfaction from.

Stay focused on where you want to get to, and build your study action-plan from that – don’t do it back-to-front. Stay on target and study for a career that’ll reward you for many long and fruitful years.

Before you embark on a training course, trainees are advised to chat over the specific job requirements with a skilled advisor, to ensure the retraining path covers all the necessary elements.

Copyright Scott Edwards 2009. Try CLICK HERE or MCDST Certification.

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