A+ consists of four exams and study sections, but you only need to get certified in 2 to qualify for your A+. As this is the case, the majority of training providers only offer 2 paths. Yet learning about all 4 will give you a much wider knowledge and understanding of your subject, which you’ll come to realise is a Godsend in professional employment.
Training courses in A+ cover diagnostics and fault finding – both remote access and hands-on, alongside building computers and repairing them and understanding antistatic conditions. If your ambition is looking after computer networks, you should add Network+ to the CompTIA A+ training you’re doing. Including Network+ will mean you can get a higher paid position. Also look at the networking qualifications from Microsoft, i.e. MCP, MCSA MCSE.
Always expect an authorised exam preparation system as part of your training package. Don’t fall foul of depending on unauthorised exam preparation questions. The type of questions asked is sometimes startlingly different – and this leads to huge confusion when the proper exam time arrives. ‘Mock’ or practice exams are enormously valuable as a tool for logging knowledge into your brain – then when the time comes for you to take the real deal, you won’t be worried.
Consider only study programmes that move onto commercially acknowledged accreditations. There’s an endless list of trainers pushing their own ‘in-house’ certificates that are essentially useless in today’s commercial market. From an employer’s viewpoint, only the top companies such as Microsoft, CompTIA, Adobe or Cisco (to give some examples) give enough bang for your buck. Anything less just doesn’t cut the mustard.
A big contender for the biggest single let-down in the IT training sector is a requirement to attend multiple workshop days. A lot of certification companies extol the virtues of the so-called ‘benefits’ of these classes, it’s almost certain though that you’ll find them a burden to be carried because of:
* Recurrent long journeys – 100′s of miles usually.
* Requesting time off work – typical colleges will only provide class availability from Monday to Friday and link several days together. This isn’t ideal for most people who work, and it’s made more problematic if you include the travel time on top.
* Holiday days lost – many working people only get 4 weeks annual leave. If you give up at least half to your training classes, that isn’t going to leave much vacation time for the family as a whole.
* In a situation where running costs are very high, a lot of companies have to put on larger classes – certainly not ideal (and much less personal).
* Tension is often caused in the classroom where most students want to move at a pace comfortable for them.
* Most trainees talk of the high costs involved with all the travelling back and forth to the centre while forking out for food and accommodation can get very high.
* Do you really want any chance of being ignored for advancement or income boosts while you’re training.
* We all avoid posing questions when surrounded by other attendees – as we don’t want to look silly.
* There are those of us who occasionally work elsewhere in the country for several days at a time, imagine the trouble involved in making the needed days in-centre, as time is now more scarce than ever.
A more flexible training route is to utilise ready-made, videoed classes at home, in comfort – at a time that’s convenient to you – not anybody else. Any time you get a problem, utilise the 24×7 Support (that you should have insisted on for any technical study.) Keep in mind, if you have a laptop, you could study wherever the mood takes you. All the lessons can be repeated at any time you need to brush up – repetition aids memory. And you’ll never have to write notes again – it’s already laid on. While this can’t completely take away all study problems, it certainly removes stress and makes things simpler. Plus you’ve got less travel, hassle and costs.