Byte-O-Rama

News On CompTIA Network Technical Support Computer Training

by Jason Kendall

In this day and age, commercial institutions would be severely hampered without the help of support workers mending PC’s and networks, while giving advice to users on a regular basis each week. Due to the progressively complex nature of technological advances, many more qualified workers are being looked for to look after the many areas we’ve come to rely on.

Of course: a actual training or a certification is not what you’re looking for; the career that you want is. Many trainers unfortunately put too much weight in the piece of paper.

Never let yourself become part of the group who choose a training program that seems ‘fun’ or ‘interesting’ – and end up with a plaque on the wall for an unrewarding career path.

It’s essential to keep your focus on what it is you’re trying to achieve, and create a learning-plan from that – don’t do it back-to-front. Keep on track and study for something you’ll enjoy for years to come.

You’d also need help from an advisor who understands the industry you think may suit you, and who can offer ‘A typical day in the life of’ explanation for that career-path. This is of paramount importance as you’ll need to fully understand if this change is right for you.

With so much choice, there’s no surprise that nearly all career changers don’t really understand the best career path they will follow.

What are the chances of us grasping the many facets of a particular career when it’s an alien environment to us? Often we haven’t met someone who performs the role either.

Contemplation on these areas is required if you want to get to the right solution that will work for you:

* Personality factors and what you’re interested in – which work-oriented areas please or frustrate you.

* Do you hope to achieve an important dream – for example, working for yourself someday?

* How highly do you rate salary – is it very important, or is day-to-day enjoyment a little higher on your priority-list?

* Considering all that Information Technology encompasses, it’s important to be able to absorb how they differ.

* The time and energy you’ll commit your training.

For most people, dissecting these areas will require meeting with an experienced pro who can explain things properly. And we don’t just mean the accreditations – but also the commercial expectations and needs of the market as well.

We’re regularly asked to explain why qualifications from colleges and universities are less in demand than the more commercial certifications?

Corporate based study (in industry terminology) is most often much more specialised. Industry is aware that a specialist skill-set is what’s needed to handle an acceleratingly technical commercial environment. CISCO, Adobe, Microsoft and CompTIA dominate in this arena.

In essence, only that which is required is learned. It isn’t quite as lean as that might sound, but the most important function is always to cover the precise skills needed (alongside some required background) – without trying to cram in all sorts of other things (as degree courses are known to do).

If an employer understands what work they need doing, then they simply need to advertise for someone with a specific qualification. Syllabuses all have to conform to the same requirements and don’t change between schools (like academia frequently can and does).

The area most overlooked by potential students considering a training program is ‘training segmentation’. Essentially, this is the method used to break up the program for delivery to you, which completely controls where you end up.

By and large, you will join a program that takes between and 1 and 3 years and receive one element at a time until graduation. While this may sound logical on one level, consider this:

What happens when you don’t complete every exam? And what if the order provided doesn’t meet your requirements? Because of nothing that’s your fault, you may not meet the required timescales and therefore not end up with all the modules.

Ideally, you want ALL the study materials up-front – giving you them all to return to any point – whenever it suits you. This allows a variation in the order that you attack each section as and when something more intuitive seems right for you.

(C) Scott Edwards 2010. Hop over to Cisco Certification or www.ComputerTraining4PC.co.uk.