The non-profit organisation CompTIA - Computing Technology Industry Association - was established in 1982. They have developed over the years to become the number one in vendor neutral IT accreditation. This effectively means they're free to independently create and monitor examinations & qualifications that are needed by the IT market, regardless of a particular business' commercial interests. With today's move towards 'inter-connectivity' & systems convergence, this is seen as a welcome move for the IT trainee, because it gives cross platform learning and an understanding of integration. 'CompTIA' brings together different business & learned industry groups when designing or updating an examination, to make sure that all things are considered and the very best commercially relevant syllabuses are created.

Essentially the most well known of all of the CompTIA qualifications are undoubtedly the 'A+' & the Network+. An incredibly important set considered as a package, they are the starting point for many excellent career-tracks. A+ training teaches all the basics of PC maintenance, fault finding & repair; including security, installation and support. To help you become established within the IT sector, the 'A+' also covers a number of communication & personal skill-sets. Developing this knowledge, the Network+ accreditation examines networks, (this includes routers and servers) and demonstrates how they communicate with each other. 'Security' is naturally extremely important, and wireless technology is dealt with to some degree. CompTIA A+ & N+ provide a solid basis for a systems career in I.T., & furthermore a great basis for other more more senior accreditation programs.

With regards to 'Network+' , the previous 'N10-003' has now been superseded by the 'N10-004', the '2009' version. A bigger emphasis is placed on Security in the '09 N+ exam, alongside network-design and wireless networking. This of course is as well as the foremost elements of network management and infrastructure.

The career roles listed here will be possible for the individual with a CompTIA A+ qualification: Call Centre Technician, Remote Support Technician, Depot Technician, Field Service Technician, Help Desk Technician, PC Technician & IT Administrator. Employment prospects open up to include Network Technicians, Installers and Administrators when you have the CompTIA Network+ too.

These accreditations and job roles are often done on the way to a much more senior I.T. placement. Before you decide to commit yourself to a training course, give some thought to exactly where you prefer your career destination to be. Take the opportunity to go through everything with a training program & IT professional - it will protect you against set backs as time goes on. IT Training organisations should offer to build a bespoke training path by putting together a number of programs to get the student from wherever they're starting from to wherever they want to end up.

Expect to allow close to one hundred to a hundred and fifty hours studying time for the A+ exams, & for the Network+ close to seventy-five to one hundred hours. Using the right multimedia training package that is supported by accredited examination practice software, the two accreditations could very well be accomplished inside of 6 months for the student who is studying around employment.

The two exams have fairly recently gone through a 2009 upgrade in-line with CompTIA's efforts towards 'ISO' standardisation. 'A+' examinations that started with the prefix '600' (i.e. the 2006/2007 edition) are now being phased out internationally. In Britain, they cease being offered on 31.08.2010. Because both the '600', and the recently released '700' exams are currently available to sit in 'prometric' & Vue test centres, it's sensible to study for the '700' examinations now, & not have to re-certify later on. CompTIA 'A+' Essentials and CompTIA 'A+' Practical Application are the new examination titles (220/701 & 220/702 respectively). The 4 previous examinations have been stream-lined in to two new exams, & some additional up-dated information has been added in. The old format was 1 required Essentials exam & three electives, of which only one needed to be sat. As the market has progressed, the knowledge from all 4 examinations is now deemed crucial, & consequently has been condensed in to two essential assessments. Anybody who has previously taken the 600 examination may bring their qualification up-to-date by taking a bridging examination - BR/003. Successfully passing the bridging exam will generally require further study, although this shouldn't be especially onerous for people who formerly studied all four. The new technology subjects will naturally require some fresh studying.

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