IT Courses - Thoughts
Written by Jason Kendall on February 8th, 2010 in Uncategorized.
The CompTIA A+ course covers four specialised areas - you’ll have to qualify in just two sectors to be A+ competent. Because of this, most colleges only offer two of the 4 sectors. We consider that this will under prepare you - certainly you’ll have the qualification, but training on all 4 will set you apart in your working life, where knowledge of all four will be necessary. That’s why we believe you should train in the whole course.
Once on the CompTIA A+, you will learn how to build, fix, repair and work in antistatic conditions. Diagnostic techniques and fault finding are also on the syllabus, as is remote access.
If you add Network+ to your CompTIA A+ training course, you will additionally be able to assist with or manage networks of computers, meaning you’re in a position to move further up the career path.
Getting your first commercial position can feel more straightforward if you’re supported with a Job Placement Assistance program. The fact of the matter is it’s not as hard as some people make out to secure the right work - once you’re trained and certified; the shortage of IT personnel in Britain looks after that.
Nevertheless, avoid waiting until you’ve finished your training before getting your CV updated. The day you start training, list what you’re working on and get it out there!
Getting onto the ‘maybe’ pile of CV’s is far better than not even being known about. Often junior support jobs are given to students (who’ve only just left first base.)
The top companies to help get you placed are usually specialist independent regional recruitment consultancies. As they′re keen to place you to receive their commission, they′re perhaps more focused on results.
To bottom line it, if you put as much hard work into finding your first IT position as into studying, you’re not likely to experience problems. Some trainees inexplicably spend hundreds of hours on their course materials and then just stop once they′ve passed their exams and seem to suppose that interviewers know they′re there.
Beware of putting too much emphasis, as many people do, on the certification itself. Training for training’s sake is generally pointless; you’re training to become commercially employable. You need to remain focused on where you want to go.
You may train for one year and then end up doing the job for 20 years. Avoid the mistake of finding what seems like a very ‘interesting’ program only to spend 20 years doing a job you hate!
Spend some time thinking about how much you want to earn and the level of your ambition. This will influence which precise certifications you’ll need to attain and how much effort you’ll have to give in return.
Take advice from an experienced advisor, even if you have to pay a small fee - as it’s a lot cheaper and safer to find out at the start if you’ve chosen correctly, rather than find out after several years of study that the job you’ve chosen is not for you and have to return to the start of another program.
One area often overlooked by those weighing up a particular programme is the concept of ‘training segmentation’. Basically, this means how the program is broken down into parts for drop-shipping to you, which makes a huge difference to the point you end up at.
Many companies enrol you into a 2 or 3 year study programme, and deliver each piece one-by-one as you complete each section or exam. Sounds reasonable? Well consider these facts:
What if for some reason you don’t get to the end of every exam? And what if you find the order of the modules counter-intuitive? Through no fault of your own, you might take a little longer and not receive all the modules you’ve paid for.
For future safety and flexibility, many trainees now want to insist that all study materials are delivered immediately, and not in stages. That means it’s down to you in what order and how fast or slow you’d like to work.
People attracted to this sort of work can be very practical by nature, and won’t enjoy sitting at a desk in class, and endless reading of dry academic textbooks. If this is putting you off studying, opt for more involving, interactive learning materials, where learning is video-based.
We see a huge improvement in memory retention when all our senses are brought into the mix - educational experts have expounded on this for decades now.
Courses are now available on CD and DVD discs, where your computer becomes the centre of your learning. Using video-streaming, you will be able to see the instructor presenting exactly how to do something, and then have a go at it yourself - in a virtual lab environment.
You must ensure that you see examples of the study materials provided by your chosen company. Be sure that they contain video demo’s and interactive elements such as practice lab’s.
Pick CD and DVD ROM based physical training media every time. This then avoids all the potential pitfalls with broadband ‘downtime’ or slow-speeds.
Copyright 2009 Scott Edwards. Look at CLICK HERE or Website Design Course.
