Founded twenty eight years ago, the 'Computing Technology Industry Association' (or 'CompTIA' in short) is a non-profit establishment. They've developed over time to become the leader in vendor neutral I.T. certification. This means they can provide & oversee independent industry recognised I.T. examinations & certifications that don't reflect any one company's interests over another. This is very good for students, because they can be taught about different platforms & how they inter-connect & 'integrate' with each other - a common circumstance now in industry. CompTIA brings together numerous commercial and learned industry organisations when creating or up-dating an exam, to ensure all things are considered and the most industry related syllabuses are created.

The most well-known of all the CompTIA qualifications are without doubt the A+ and 'Network+'. These two, as a set, create the foundation for many contemporary I.T. career-tracks - & rightly so. The CompTIA A+ qualification teaches the basics of PC maintenance, support, security, installation, fault finding & repair. So that you can become established within the IT industry, the 'A+' also addresses various communication and personal skills. The Network+ takes things further, by building in a more significant knowledge of how networks operate and connect with one another. Both Security & Wi-Fi are discussed to a certain extent. Both accreditations complement one another well, & together form a good start-up platform for other exam programs, or a strong career in IT support.

The career roles listed here are all appropriate for the applicant holding a CompTIA 'A+' certification: Depot Technician, Call Centre Technician, Remote Support Technician, Field Service Technician, Help Desk Technician, PC Technician & IT Administrator. With CompTIA 'Network+' also, you can consider becoming a Network Installer, an IT Cable Installer, a Network Administrator or a Network Technician .

As for the '2009' edition of the 'Network+' - N10-004 has become the exam number. As well as the solid element of managing and running networks and their infrastructures, the new examination concentrates closely on security, design & wireless skill-sets.

Standard study-times for these exams are thought to be about 100-150 hrs for the A+ , and 75 to 100 hrs for the N+ . This means obtaining them both inside of 6 months part-time study very possible, providing quality multimedia training materials utilised, together with excellent examination preparation-software.

For the new trainee to IT, CompTIA offers the preliminary foundation training courses in many areas. Wherever a trainee opts to build a career in I.T., there are 'CompTIA' accreditations that will increase their abilities. People who are specifically interested in Networking, Systems, Support, Security, Servers and Communications are particularly well-served. A new package of beginner level courses called STRATA have been released by CompTIA. These are designed for those who could do with a greater understanding of basic I.T. knowledge, but do not specifically work in IT themselves.

Both of the exams have recently undergone a 2009 update in line with CompTIA's efforts towards ISO standardisation. Worldwide the 2006/2007 editions of A+ (with the exam pre-fix number 600) will be phased-out within the next year. In Great Britain, they discontinue on August 31st 2010. As '2009' examinations (version 700) are currently offered at test-centres across the country, these newer study programs would be a more sensible choice anybody just starting out. 'A+' '09 is now offered as '220-701' 'CompTIA' A+ Essentials & 220/702 'CompTIA' A+ Practical Application. Together with some additional content on newer technologies, there are now two exams which cover aspects of all four of the past exams. Even though the old 'A+' had 4 exams in the total program, only two were needed to get the qualification. But as the market has progressed, the know-how from all 4 exams is now regarded as essential, & thus has been fine-tuned in to two required assessments. Anybody who has formerly taken the 600 exam is allowed to bring their qualification up to date by taking an up-grade exam - BR-003. Further training will almost certainly be required, especially for many who only originally studied for two of the four electives. The new technology topics will clearly call for some extra study.

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