IT Courses – Thoughts

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.

It could be a good idea to think about adding the CompTIA Network+ training as it will enable you to work with networks, and have a more responsible working role.

Many trainers have a handy Job Placement Assistance program, designed to steer you into your first job. Often, too much is made of this feature, because it is actually not that hard for well qualified and focused men and women to find a job in the IT industry – as employers are keen to find appropriately trained staff.

You would ideally have CV and Interview advice and support though; also we would encourage all students to get their CV updated as soon as they start a course – don\’t wait till you\’ve finished your exams.

It\’s not unusual to find that you will be offered your first role whilst still on the course (occasionally right at the beginning). If your CV doesn\’t show your latest training profile (and it\’s not being looked at by employers) then you won\’t even be considered!

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.

Never let yourself become one of those unfortunate people who choose a training program that seems \’fun\’ or \’interesting\’ – only to end up with a qualification for an unrewarding career path.

Make sure you investigate what your attitude is towards career progression and earning potential, and if you\’re ambitious or not. It\’s vital to know what will be expected of you, what particular qualifications are required and in what way you can develop commercial experience.

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.

Considering how a program is \’delivered\’ to you is often missed by many students. How many stages do they break the program into? What is the order and at what speed is it delivered?

Usually, you\’ll join a programme staged over 2 or 3 years and receive a module at a time. This sounds logical on one level, until you consider this:

Maybe the order of study insisted on by the company won\’t suit you. It may be difficult to get through every element inside of their particular timetable?

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.

It\’s likely that you\’ve always enjoyed practical work – a \’hands-on\’ individual. Typically, the trial of reading reference books and manuals can be just about bared when essential, but you\’d hate it. You should use video and multimedia based materials if you\’d really rather not use books.

Many studies have proved that memory is aided when we receive multi-sensorial input, and we take action to use what we\’ve learned.

Interactive full motion video involving demonstration and virtual lab\’s will beat books every time. And you\’ll find them fun and interesting.

It would be silly not to view a small selection of training examples before you purchase a course. You should expect video tutorials, instructor demo\’s and audio-visual elements backed up by interactive 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.

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