Spiritual Action

There are four specialised areas of training in the complete CompTIA A+ course, of which you'll need certification in two subjects to gain A+ competency. But only learning about 2 of the study sections is likely to leave your knowledge base somewhat light. Look for training that covers all the specialist areas - you'll be glad you did when it comes to interview time.

Training courses in A+ cover fault-finding and diagnostics - both through hands-on and remote access, as well as building computers and repairing them and working in antistatic conditions. If you add Network+ to your CompTIA A+ training course, you'll also have the ability to take care of networks, meaning you're in a position to command a higher salary.

How do we reach an educated decision then? With all these possibilities, we'll need to know where to be looking - and what to be digging for.

Have a conversation with a proficient consultant and they'll entertain you with many worrying experiences of students who've been sold completely the wrong course for them. Make sure you deal with an industry professional that quizzes you to uncover the best thing for you - not for their retirement-fund! Dig until you find the very best place to start for you. Quite often, the starting point of study for someone with a little experience will be hugely different to someone without. Consider starting with some basic user skills first. It will usually make the learning curve a less steep.

Any program that you're going to undertake must provide a widely recognised accreditation as an end-result - not some little 'in-house' piece of paper. The main industry leaders like Microsoft, CompTIA, Cisco or Adobe all have internationally approved proficiency programmes. Major-league companies like these will make sure you're employable.

If you forget everything else - then just remember this: You have to get round-the-clock 24x7 instructor support. We can tell you that you'll strongly regret it if you don't follow this rule rigidly. Find a good quality service where you can access help at any time of the day or night (no matter if it's in the middle of the night on a weekend!) You want access directly to professional tutors, and not access to a call-in service which takes messages - so you're parked in a queue of others waiting to be called back when it's convenient for them.

It's possible to find professional companies who recommend and use online direct access support 24x7 - no matter what time of day it is. Never settle for a lower level of service. Direct-access round-the-clock support is the only kind to make the grade when it comes to IT training. Maybe burning the midnight-oil is not your thing; but for the majority of us however, we're at work at the time when most support is available.

Those that are drawn to this type of work are usually quite practically-minded, and aren't really suited to the classroom environment, and endless reading of dry academic textbooks. If you're thinking this sounds like you, use multimedia, interactive learning, with on-screen demonstrations and labs. Where possible, if we can get all of our senses involved in our learning, then we normally see dramatically better results.

Study programs now come on CD and DVD discs, where everything is taught on your PC. Video streaming means you will be able to see the instructor presenting exactly how it's all done, and then have a go at it yourself - via the interactive virtual lab's. Any company that you're considering should willingly take you through samples of their training materials. Make sure you encounter videos of instructor-led classes and many interactive sections.

Some companies only have access to training that is purely available online; and while this is acceptable much of the time, think what will happen if your access to the internet is broken or you get intermittent problems and speed issues. It is usually safer to have actual CD or DVD ROMs that removes the issue entirely.

A sneaky way that training providers make extra profits is through up-front charges for exams and presenting it as a guarantee for your exams. It looks like a good deal, but is it really:

Of course it's not free - you're still footing the bill for it - the price has simply been included in the whole thing. It's everybody's ambition to qualify on the first attempt. Entering examinations in order and funding them one at a time puts you in a much stronger position to qualify at the first attempt - you take it seriously and are aware of the costs involved.

Find the best exam deal or offer available when you take the exam, and keep hold of your own money. You'll then be able to select where you sit the exam - meaning you can choose a local testing centre. Considerable numbers of unscrupulous training colleges secure a great deal of profit by getting in the money for all the exam fees up-front and hoping either that you won't take them, or it will be a long time before you do. Remember, with most 'Exam Guarantees' - they control when and how often you are allowed to have another go. You will have to demonstrate an excellent pass-rate before they'll approve a re-take.

Due to typical VUE and Prometric tests coming in at approximately 112 pounds in Great Britain, it's common sense to fund them one by one. Not to fork out thousands extra in up-front costs. Commitment, effort and practice with quality exam preparation systems are the factors that really get you through.

Now, why is it better to gain commercial certification as opposed to the usual academic qualifications taught at the state educational establishments? Key company training (to use industry-speak) is far more specialised and product-specific. Industry has become aware that this level of specialised understanding is what's needed to cope with a technically advancing commercial environment. Microsoft, CISCO, Adobe and CompTIA are the big boys in this field. Essentially, the learning just focuses on what's actually required. It's not quite as straightforward as that, but principally the objective has to be to concentrate on the fundamentally important skill-sets (with some necessary background) - without going into too much detail in everything else (as academia often does).

The crux of the matter is this: Accredited IT qualifications give employers exactly what they're looking for - the title is a complete giveaway: as an example - I am a 'Microsoft Certified Professional' in 'Windows XP Administration and Configuration'. So employers can identify just what their needs are and what certifications will be suitable to deal with those needs.

Locating job security these days is incredibly rare. Companies will remove us out of the workforce with very little notice - as long as it fits their needs. Whereas a marketplace with high growth, where there just aren't enough staff to go round (because of a massive shortfall of fully trained workers), enables the possibility of lasting job security.

The most recent United Kingdom e-Skills investigation brought to light that 26 percent of computing and IT jobs remain unfilled as an upshot of a lack of trained staff. This shows that for every 4 jobs that are available across IT, we've only got three properly trained pro's to fill that need. This fundamental notion clearly demonstrates an urgent requirement for more appropriately certified computing professionals throughout the country. Because the IT sector is expanding at the speed it is, could there honestly be a better area of industry worth investigating for retraining.