A+ consists of four exams and study sections, but you’re just expected to get certified in 2 to qualify for your A+. As this is the case, a great number of colleges only offer 2 paths. But giving you all four options will equip you with a far greater perspective of it all, something you’ll discover is essential in professional employment.
Alongside being taught how to build and fix computers, trainees involved in this training will learn how to operate in antistatic conditions, how to fault find, to diagnose and to remotely access problems.
Were you to add Network+ to your A+ course, you’ll also learn how to look after networks, which means you’ll be able to apply for more senior positions.
Students who consider this area of study are usually quite practically-minded, and don’t really enjoy classrooms, and struggling through thick study-volumes. If you identify with this, use multimedia, interactive learning, where everything is presented via full motion video.
Research has always verified that an ‘involved’ approach to study, where we utilise all our senses, is much more conducive to long-term memory.
Courses are now available in the form of CD and DVD ROM’s, so everything is learned directly from your own PC. Using video-streaming, you can sit back and watch the teachers showing you precisely how to perform the required skill, followed by your chance to practice – in a virtual lab environment.
It’s wise to view some of the typical study materials provided before you hand over your cheque. The minimum you should expect would be video tutorials, instructor demo’s and interactive modules with audio-visual elements.
It is generally unwise to select online only courseware. With highly variable reliability and quality from all internet service providers, it makes sense to have disc based courseware (On CD or DVD).
Exam ‘guarantees’ are sometimes offered as part of a training package – this always means exams have to be paid for upfront, at the start of your training. Before you get carried away with a course with such a promise, why not think about this:
It’s very clear we’re still being charged for it – it’s obviously already in the overall figure from the course provider. It’s absolutely not free – and it’s insulting that we’re supposed to think it is!
Those who go in for their examinations when it’s appropriate, paying as they go are much better placed to get through first time. They’re conscious of what they’ve paid and so are more inclined to be up to the task.
Isn’t it in your interests to hold on to your money and pay for the exam when you take the exam, instead of paying a premium to a training college, and to take it closer to home – rather than in some remote centre?
Why borrow the money or pay in advance (plus interest of course) on examinations when there was no need to? Huge profits are netted by organisations charging all their exam fees up-front – and banking on the fact that many won’t be taken.
Also, ‘Exam Guarantees’ often aren’t worth the paper they’re written on. Most companies won’t pay for you to re-take until you have demonstrated conclusively that you won’t fail again.
Shelling out hundreds or thousands of pounds on ‘Exam Guarantees’ is naive – when study, commitment and preparing with good quality mock and practice exams is actually the key to your success.
OK, why might we choose qualifications from the commercial sector and not familiar academic qualifications obtained from schools, colleges or universities?
With fees and living expenses for university students increasing year on year, and the IT sector’s growing opinion that corporate based study is closer to the mark commercially, we’ve seen a big surge in Microsoft, CISCO, Adobe and CompTIA certified training routes that supply key solutions to a student for considerably less.
In a nutshell, the learning just focuses on what’s actually required. It’s not quite as straightforward as that, but the principle objective is to focus on the exact skills required (along with a certain amount of crucial background) – without attempting to cover a bit about every other area (as academia often does).
What if you were an employer – and your company needed a person with some very particular skills. What should you do: Trawl through reams of different degrees and college qualifications from various applicants, trying to establish what they know and what vocational skills they have, or select a specialised number of commercial certifications that specifically match what you’re looking for, and make your short-list from that. The interview is then more about the person and how they’ll fit in – rather than on the depth of their technical knowledge.
Commencing from the idea that we need to locate the employment that excites us first, before we can even mull over what training program ticks the right boxes, how do we decide on the correct route?
Therefore, if you’ve got no background in IT in the workplace, how could you possibly know what any qualified IT worker actually does day-to-day? Let alone arrive at which educational path is the most likely for your success.
To work through this, we need to discuss a number of core topics:
* Our personalities play a starring part – what gives you a ‘kick’, and what are the areas that you really dislike.
* Do you hope to accomplish a closely held aim – like becoming self-employed in the near future?
* How important is salary to you – is an increase your main motivator, or do you place job satisfaction further up on the priority-scale?
* Learning what the main job roles and sectors are – and what differentiates them.
* What effort, commitment and time you’ll commit your training.
In these situations, the only way to gain help on these issues will be via a meeting with a professional who has years of experience in the IT industry (and specifically the commercial needs and requirements.)
Copyright Scott Edwards. Navigate to MCSA Training Courses or www.squidoo.com/MCSACertification.