IT Career Course Providers Clarified

by Jason Kendall

Four separate areas of study make up a full CompTIA A+; you're qualified as an A+ achiever once you've passed your exams for 2 out of 4 subjects. For this reason, most training providers only teach 2 specialised areas. In reality it's necessary to have the teaching in all areas as many jobs will demand an understanding of the whole A+ program. It's not essential to pass exams in all of them, but it seems common sense that you at least have a working knowledge of every area.

When you embark on the CompTIA A+, you'll be taught how to work in antistatic conditions and build and fix computers. Diagnostic techniques and fault finding are also on the syllabus, as is remote access.

Should you decide to add Network+ training, you'll additionally be equipped to assist with or manage networks of computers, giving you the facility to apply for more senior positions.

Adding in the cost of examinations with the course fee then giving it 'Exam Guarantee' status is a popular marketing tool with a number of training colleges. However, let's consider what's really going on:

You'll be charged for it ultimately. It's definitely not free - they've simply charged more for the whole training package.

Should you seriously need to pass first time, you must fund each exam as you take it, prioritise it appropriately and give the task sufficient application.

Doesn't it make more sense to find the best exam deal or offer at the time, rather than coughing up months or even a year or two in advance to a training college, and to do it locally - instead of the remote centre that's convenient only to the trainer?

Many questionable training colleges secure a great deal of profit through getting paid for examinations upfront and hoping either that you won't take them, or it will be a long time before you do.

Also, 'Exam Guarantees' often aren't worth the paper they're written on. The majority of organisations will not pay for re-takes until you're able to demonstrate an excellent mock pass rate.

Exam fees averaged 112 pounds or thereabouts last year through local VUE or Pro-metric centres throughout the country. Therefore, why splash out often many hundreds of pounds extra to have 'an Exam Guarantee', when it's no secret that the best guarantee is a commitment to studying and the use of authorised exam preparation tools.

We'd all like to believe that our jobs will remain secure and our future is protected, but the growing reality for the majority of jobs around the UK today appears to be that security may be a thing of the past.

We can however locate security at market-level, by probing for areas in high demand, together with work-skill shortages.

The Information Technology (IT) skills-gap around the United Kingdom currently stands at roughly 26 percent, as shown by the latest e-Skills study. Accordingly, for each four job positions available throughout IT, employers are only able to locate certified professionals for 3 of the 4.

Well taught and commercially certified new professionals are therefore at a total premium, and it looks like they will be for many years to come.

As the Information Technology market is expanding at such a rate, there really isn't any other market worth considering for retraining.

We're regularly asked to explain why traditional degrees are now falling behind more commercial qualifications?

With university education costs becoming a tall order for many, and the industry's growing opinion that vendor-based training most often has much more commercial relevance, there's been a big surge in CISCO, Adobe, Microsoft and CompTIA accredited training paths that create knowledgeable employees for much less time and money.

Academic courses, as a example, can often get caught up in vast amounts of loosely associated study - and a syllabus that's too generalised. Students are then held back from getting enough specific knowledge about the core essentials.

Just as the old advertisement said: 'It does what it says on the tin'. All an employer has to do is know what areas need to be serviced, and then request applicants with the correct exam numbers. They'll know then that all applicants can do what they need.

An all too common mistake that we encounter all too often is to focus entirely on getting a qualification, rather than starting with where they want to get to. Colleges are brimming over with unaware students who took a course because it seemed fun - in place of something that could gain them their end-goal of a job they enjoyed.

Avoid becoming part of the group who select a program that seems 'fun' or 'interesting' - only to end up with a qualification for something they'll never enjoy.

It's essential to keep your focus on what you want to achieve, and then build your training requirements around that - don't do it the other way round. Keep your eyes on your goals - making sure you're training for a career that'll reward you for many long and fruitful years.

Seek guidance and advice from an experienced professional, even if there's a fee involved - it's usually much cheaper and safer to discover early on whether something is going to suit and interest you, instead of discovering following two years of study that you aren't going to enjoy the job you've chosen and have to return to the start of another program.

About the Author: