CompTIA (Computing Technology Industry Association) is a non-profit organisation formed in 1982. The company offers vendor-neutral accreditations that have made it a world leader in it's industry. This essentially means they are absolutely free to independently produce & monitor examinations & certifications that are required by the I.T. sector, regardless of a particular business' commercial interests. This really is very good for IT students, because they can be taught about different platforms and how they 'inter-connect' & 'integrate' with each other - a common situation today. CompTIA brings together several business and academic industry groups when creating or updating an examination, to ensure all things are thought about and the most commercially relevant syllabuses are created.

The CompTIA A+ examinations are mainly suitable for anybody wanting to start a job in any of the following areas: Call Centre Technician, Depot Technician, Help Desk Technician, Field Service Technician, PC Technician, IT Administrator & Remote Support Technician. Career prospects open up to include Network Administrators, Technicians and Installers for those who pass the CompTIA Network+ too.

New starters in the IT sector can turn to CompTIA for a good deal of their initial training packages. Individuals looking to get into networking and support, or servers, security & systems will usually start with CompTIA, although it is true to state that 'CompTIA' accreditations can boost any Curriculum Vitae designed for the I.T. market. The latest package of beginner-level courses named STRATA have been created by 'CompTIA'. These are designed for people who need a greater idea of fundamental IT knowledge, but do not always work with I.T. themselves.

CompTIA A+ & the Network+ are by far the most broadly recognised of their qualifications. Both of them, as a pair, form the foundation of many contemporary I.T. career-tracks - & for good reason. The CompTIA 'A+' qualification covers the fundamentals of computer maintenance, security, installation, support, fault finding and repair. Additionally , it addresses different personal and communication skills required to get your foot on the ladder of I.T.. The 'CompTIA' N+ certification extends this awareness to a wider comprehension of networking, servers and routers, and how they connect together. Security is needless to say extremely important, and wireless technology is dealt with to a certain degree. Both qualifications go with one another well, & collectively provide an excellent start-up platform for further exam programs, or a strong career in I.T. support.

In line with their 'ISO' standardisation move, 'CompTIA' have up-dated both 'A+' and Network+ exams to '2009' versions. Internationally the 2006-2007 versions of 'A+' (those with examination pre-fix number 600) will disappear over the coming year. In the United Kingdom, they discontinue on 31.08.2010. As both these, and the recently released 700 exams are now allowed to be taken in Prometric & Vue test-centres, it's sensible to study the '700' examinations now, & not have to re-certify later. The individual A+ 2009 examinations have become: CompTIA 'A+' Essentials (examination 220/701) and CompTIA 'A+' Practical Application (examination 220-702.) Along with some added information on more recent technologies, we now have two examinations which cover aspects of all 4 of the preceding examinations. Formerly, the A+ was broken into 4 examinations: one essential & three 'elective' specialisations. As the market has progressed, the expertise from all 4 examinations is actually regarded as necessary, and consequently has been fine-tuned into two compulsory exams. An up-grade exam has been created by CompTIA for those with the old certification. 'BR-003' is the reference number. Successfully passing the bridging examination will normally demand further study, although it shouldn't be especially onerous for those who initially studied all electives. Plainly though the new technology content will need to be mastered.

Career PC Self-Study Online Certification Training Courses In Microsoft MCPD >>