The non-profit organisation CompTIA - Computing Technology Industry Association - was established in the early 1980's. They've developed progressively & right now are world leaders in IT qualifications that are vendor neutral. This means they can provide & oversee independent industry recognised IT examinations & certifications that do not support any one organisation's interests above another. With the current move towards inter-connectivity and systems 'convergence', this is a welcome step for the IT trainee, because it provides cross-platform learning & an understanding of integration. When a new exam is being assembled (or an earlier one updated), CompTIA consults with leading members of the professional & academic world in order to provide well balanced & extremely relevant content.

New entrants into the IT sector can turn to 'CompTIA' for a good deal of their preliminary training programs. Generally, trainees who are planning on employment opportunities in Networking, Servers, Systems, Security, Communications & Support should probably start out with CompTIA, although in fact students in any IT sector would likely find a 'CompTIA' accreditation a worthwhile addition to their Resume. There's also now a thrust at 'CompTIA' to provide their starter level 'STRATA' products to those individuals who don't work within I.T., but would gain from an awareness of the basics of IT and exactly how it influences their career.

The CompTIA 'A+' exams are predominantly suitable for anyone interested to begin a job in any of these roles: Call Centre Technician, Remote Support Technician, Depot Technician, Field Service Technician, Help Desk Technician, IT Administrator and PC Technician . CompTIA Network+ opens up possibilities for Network Administrators and Technicians, IT Cable Installers & Network Installers.

As you can imagine these jobs often lead to more senior roles if the appropriate certifications are in place. That's why it is imperative to examine your long-term options before picking out your personal career training path. The best way to maximise your career path the most is always to take advice from an IT expert before getting started on your training program. It's often a good option to look at tailored career training packages that feature the 'A+' & Network+ courses. Bundling various program materials together can be quite cost effective.

In line with their 'ISO' standardisation drive, 'CompTIA' have up-graded both A+ & Network+ exams to 2009 editions. Internationally the 2006/2007 editions of A+ (those with examination prefix number 600) will be retired over the next twelve months. In Britain, they discontinue on 31st August 2010. As both the '600', and the new 700 examinations at the moment are allowed to be taken in 'prometric' and 'Vue' test centres, it makes sense to study for the 700 examinations now, & not have to certify again later on. The individual 'A+' '09 exams are now: 'CompTIA' 'A+' Essentials (exam 220-701) & 'CompTIA' A+ Practical Application (exam 220/702.) The most crucial changes were an entire restructuring of the past 4 examinations into only 2 exams, & the inclusion of some coverage on newer technologies. The previous structure was 1 compulsory Essentials examination & 3 electives, of which only one needed to be taken. As the market has moved on, the expertise from all four exams is currently considered crucial, and consequently has been fine-tuned into two essential assessments. CompTIA also have introduced the 'BR-003' 'up-grade' examination, for people certified in the 600 examinations who need to up-date to the new 700 exams. Extra training will almost certainly end up being necessary, particularly for those who just originally studied for 2 of the 4 electives. Sufficient study time must be allowed for the new aspects however.

Expect to give yourself about one hundred to a hundred and fifty hours learning time for the A+ examinations, & for the Network+ in the region of seventy-five to a hundred hours. This means achieving both of them inside of six months part-time study very viable, providing quality multi-media training materials utilised, together with decent examination preparation-software.

On to the '09 version of the Network+ : 'N10-004' is currently the examination reference. As well as the strong component of managing networks & their internal infrastructure, this latest exam focuses to a great extent on design, security & wireless skill-sets.

'CompTIA' A+ & 'Network+' are easily the most commonly recognised of their qualifications. An exceptionally important set considered as a bundle, they're the starting place for many effective career tracks. The 'CompTIA' 'A+' certification teaches the basics of PC maintenance, security, installation, support, fault-finding & repair. Additionally, the 'A+' handles certain relationship-building skillsets that will help you to communicate more effectively with others. The CompTIA Network+ accreditation stretches this expertise to a wider grasp of networking, servers & routers, & just how they connect together. 'Security' is needless to say vital, and wireless technology is covered to some degree. Acquiring these two certifications will provide a good grounding for anybody wanting to get into the systems side of the IT marketplace, as well as a foundation of understanding for further accreditation.

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