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There are four specialised areas of training in the full CompTIA A+ syllabus, of which 2 passes are needed for your A+ qualification. However restricting yourself to two of the four specialities is likely to leave your knowledge base somewhat light. At least learn about all four - employers will notice the difference.

Qualifying in CompTIA A+ without additional courses will set you up to repair and fix computers and Macs; principally ones that aren’t joined to a network - essentially the domestic or small business sector.

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.

The perhaps intimidating chore of getting your first role in IT is often eased by some companies, via a Job Placement Assistance service. With the huge demand for appropriately skilled people in the United Kingdom right now, it’s not necessary to get too caught up in this feature though. It isn’t so complicated as you might think to get your first job as long as you’ve got the necessary skills and qualifications.

Help with your CV and interview techniques is sometimes offered (if not, see one of our sites for help). Make sure you bring your CV right up to date right away - don’t leave it till you pass the exams!

A good number of junior support jobs have been offered to people who’re still on their course and haven’t got any qualifications yet. This will at least get you into the ‘maybe’ pile of CV’s - rather than the ‘No’ pile.

Generally, you’ll receive quicker service from a specialised and independent local recruitment service than you’ll experience from any course provider’s employment division, as they will understand the local industry and employment needs.

Many trainees, it seems, put a great deal of effort into their studies (sometimes for years), and then just stop instead of looking for a job. Sell yourself… Do your best to let employers know about you. Don’t expect a job to just fall into your lap.

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.

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:

Many students find that the trainer’s ’standard’ path of training isn’t as suitable as another. They might find varying the order of study will be far more suitable. And what if you don’t get to the end at the pace they expect?

For the perfect solution, you’d ask for every single material to be delivered immediately - 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 where a more intuitive path can be found.

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.

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

The latest home-based training features interactive discs. Instructor-led tutorials will mean you’ll find things easier to remember by way of their teaching and demonstrations. Then you test your knowledge by interacting with the software and practicing yourself.

Make sure to obtain a training material demonstration from any training college. You should ask for expert-led demonstrations, slideshows and virtual practice lab’s for your new skills.

Some companies only have access to training that is purely available online; sometimes you can get away with this - but, consider how you’ll deal with it 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.

Copyright 2009 S. Edwards. Pop to Website Design Course or Flash Courses.