Considering CompTIA A Plus Retraining Uncovered

There are a total of 4 specialist training sectors in the overall A+ programme, of which you'll need certification in two subjects to gain A+ competency. But restricting yourself to two of the specialised areas is likely to leave your knowledge base somewhat light. At least learn about all four - for greater confidence in the world of work.

As well as being taught about building and fixing computers, trainees involved in this training will be taught how to work in antistatic conditions, along with remote access, fault finding and diagnostics.

If you add Network+ training to your A+, you'll also learn how to take care of networks, giving you the facility to expect a better remuneration package.

It's not uncommon for companies to offer inclusive exam guarantees - they always involve paying for the exam fees up-front, when you pay for the rest of your course. Before you get carried away with a course with such a promise, why not look at the following:

Everybody's aware that they're ultimately paying for it - obviously it has already in the overall price charged by the college. It's certainly not free - and it's insulting that we're supposed to think it is!

It's everybody's ambition to qualify on the first attempt. Entering examinations one by one and paying for them just before taking them puts you in a much stronger position to qualify at the first attempt - you put the effort in and are mindful of the investment you've made.

Don't you think it's more sensible to hold on to your money and pay for the exam at the time, not to pay the fees marked up by the training company, and to do it locally - instead of the remote centre that's convenient only to the trainer?

A lot of current training course providers make huge amounts of money through getting in the money for exam fees early then hoping you won't see them all through.

Most companies will insist that you take mock exams first and not allow you to re-take an exam until you've demonstrated an excellent ability to pass - which actually leaves you with no guarantee at all.

Due to typical VUE and Prometric tests coming in at approximately 112 pounds in Great Britain, it makes sense to pay as you go. Why splash out often many hundreds of pounds extra at the beginning of your training? Commitment, effort and practice with quality exam preparation systems are the factors that really get you through.

The somewhat scary thought of finding your first job is often eased by some training providers because they offer a Job Placement Assistance service. With the huge skills shortage in the UK right now, it's not too important to get too caught up in this feature though. It isn't so complicated as you might think to secure your first job as long as you're correctly trained and certified.

You would ideally have advice and support about your CV and interviews though; and we'd recommend everyone to work on polishing up their CV the day they start training - don't procrastinate and leave it until you've graduated or passed any exams.

You might not even have passed your first exam when you will be offered your first junior support role; yet this won't be the case unless you've posted your CV on job sites.

Most often, a specialist locally based employment service (who will, of course, be keen to place you to receive their commission) is going to give you a better service than a centralised training company's service. It also stands to reason that they'll know the area and local employers better.

A big frustration for a number of course providers is how hard trainees are prepared to study to get qualified, but how ill-prepared they are to market themselves for the job they've acquired skills for. Get out there and hustle - you might find it's fun.

We need to make this very clear: Always get full 24×7 instructor and mentor support. Later, you'll kick yourself if you don't.

You'll be waiting ages for an answer with email based support, and phone support is often to a call-centre who will just take down the issue and email it over to their technical team - who'll call back sometime over the next 1-3 days, when it's convenient to them. This isn't a lot of good if you're lost and confused and only have a specific time you can study.

The very best training providers have many support offices across multiple time-zones. An online system provides an interactive interface to link them all seamlessly, no matter what time you login, there is always help at hand, avoiding all the delays and problems.

Never compromise when it comes to your support. The majority of IT hopefuls who give up, are in that situation because of a lack of support.

Commercial qualifications are now, without a doubt, already replacing the traditional routes into IT - why then has this come about?

Industry now recognises that to learn the appropriate commercial skills, official accreditation supplied for example by CISCO, Adobe, Microsoft and CompTIA often is more effective in the commercial field - for considerably less.

Vendor training works through focusing on the particular skills that are needed (alongside an appropriate level of background knowledge,) rather than spending months and years on the background 'padding' that academic courses can get bogged down in - to pad out the syllabus.

The bottom line is: Authorised IT qualifications tell an employer precisely what skills you have - everything they need to know is in the title: for example, I am a 'Microsoft Certified Professional' in 'Managing and Maintaining Windows Server 2003'. Consequently companies can look at their needs and what certifications are needed for the job.

(C) S. Edwards 2009. Hop over to www.Change-My-Career.co.uk/QCMC.html or HTML Programming.