My Prosperous World

CompTIA A+ consists of 4 training sections; you’re considered A+ competent when you’ve passed the test for half of them. This is the reason that the majority of training establishments only have two of the courses on their syllabus. In reality you’re advised to have the information on each subject as industry will demand an understanding of the whole A+ program. You don’t have to take all four exams, but we would recommend you study for all four areas.

CompTIA A+ without additional courses will set you up to fix and maintain computers and Macs; ones which are usually not part of a network – this generally applies to home use and small companies.

You may also want to consider adding the CompTIA Network+ training as it will give you the knowledge to become a networking engineer, which means greater employment benefits.

The age-old way of teaching, involving piles of reference textbooks, is usually pretty hard going. If all this is ringing some familiar bells, look for learning programmes that are on-screen and interactive.

Years of research and study has always verified that connecting physically with our study, is proven to produce longer-lasting and deeper memory retention.

You can now study via interactive discs. Through instructor-led video classes you’ll learn your subject through the demonstrations and explanations. Then you test your knowledge by interacting with the software and practicing yourself.

All companies should be able to show you a few samples of their courseware. You should hope for instructor-led videos and a variety of interactive modules.

You should avoid purely online training. You want physical CD/DVD ROM course materials where possible, as you need to be able to use them whenever it’s convenient for you – ISP quality varies, so you don’t want to be totally reliant on your internet connection always being ‘up’ and available.

Don’t accept anything less than the current Microsoft (or relevant organisation’s) accredited exam simulation and preparation packages.

Sometimes people can get confused by practising exam questions that don’t come from the authorised examining boards. It’s not uncommon that the question formats and phraseology is startlingly different and you should be prepared for this.

Ensure that you verify your knowledge through tests and simulated exams prior to taking the real thing.

An important area that is sometimes not even considered by trainees considering a training program is ‘training segmentation’. This is essentially how the program is broken down into parts to be delivered to you, which can make a dramatic difference to what you end up with.

Drop-shipping your training elements one piece at a time, according to your own speed is the usual method of releasing your program. While sounding logical, you might like to consider this:

What would their reaction be if you find it difficult to do each and every module at the speed they required? Often the prescribed exam order doesn’t come as naturally as some other structure would for you.

Ideally, you’d get ALL the training materials right at the beginning – giving you them all for the future to come back to – at any time you choose. This also allows you to vary the order in which you move through the program if you find another route more intuitive.

Locating job security nowadays is problematic. Businesses will drop us from the workplace at the drop of a hat – whenever it suits.

We’re able though to reveal security at the market sector level, by searching for high demand areas, together with a lack of qualified workers.

Offering the IT market for example, the 2006 e-Skills analysis highlighted a skills shortage throughout Great Britain of around 26 percent. Showing that for each four job positions in existence throughout IT, we’ve only got three properly trained pro’s to fulfil that role.

This disturbing truth reveals the requirement for more properly qualified IT professionals throughout the UK.

Actually, retraining in Information Technology throughout the next year or two is very likely the best choice of careers you could make.

(C) Scott Edwards 2009. Go to Click HERE or MCSE Training.