March 2nd, 2010Training in CompTIA A Plus PC Support Explained
There are four specialist areas of training in a full CompTIA A+ program; you’re thought of as competent at A+ when you’ve achieved certifications for just two specialist areas. This is the reason that most colleges only have two of the courses on their syllabus. In fact it’s necessary to have the training for all four areas as many positions will be looking for knowledge and skills of all four areas. You don’t have to complete all 4 certifications, but we would recommend you learn about all four.
A+ computer training courses cover diagnostics and fault finding – both remote access and hands-on, as well as learning to build, repair and fix and working in antistatic conditions.
You might also choose to think about doing Network+ as it will enable you to work with networks, which means greater employment benefits.
Often, students don’t think to check on a vitally important element – the way the company actually breaks down and delivers the courseware sections, and into how many separate packages.
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:
Maybe the order of study insisted on by the company won’t suit you. And what if you don’t finish all the sections inside their defined time-scales?
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.
Make sure that all your certifications are what employers want – don’t bother with programmes that only give in-house certificates.
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.
Usually, trainers will provide piles of reference manuals and workbooks. This can be very boring and not ideal for studying effectively.
Many years of research has time and time again demonstrated that connecting physically with our study, is far more likely to produce long-lasting memories.
Programs are now found in disc format, where your computer becomes the centre of your learning. Using video-streaming, you can sit back and watch the teachers showing you precisely how to perform the required skill, with some practice time to follow – with interactive lab sessions.
You’ll definitely want a demonstration of the study materials from any training college. You’ll want to see instructor videos, demonstrations, slide-shows and lab’s for you to practice your skills in.
Avoiding training that is delivered purely online is generally a good idea. You want physical CD/DVD ROM course materials where offered, enabling them to be used at your convenience – it’s not wise to be held hostage to your broadband being ‘up’ 100 percent of the time.
Wouldn’t it be great to know for sure that our jobs are safe and the future is protected, however, the truth for the majority of jobs throughout Great Britain currently appears to be that there is no security anymore.
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.
Taking the Information Technology (IT) market as an example, a recent e-Skills survey brought to light a skills deficit throughout the country in excess of 26 percent. Meaning that for every 4 jobs that are available across computing, there are only 3 trained people to do them.
Highly taught and commercially grounded new workers are as a result at a resounding premium, and in all likelihood it will stay that way for many years longer.
Surely, this really is such a perfect time to train for IT.
(C) Scott Edwards 2009. Visit Comptia Certification or Click HERE.