What after CompTIA A+ Certification

It’s a big world we live in and it is completely up to you where you would like to route your career after being a CompTIA A+ Certified Technician. Your geographic location plays a vital role in this. The competition for entry level technical positions is much more fierce in cities where population is high. The CompTIA A+ certification not only will give you a sound edge over others in this competitive world, but also will give you an opportunity to add more certifications to your name.

Here are some of the common jobs that use CompTIA A+ certification:
Technical support specialist
Field service technician
IT support technician
IT support administrator
IT support specialist
Help Desk and Customer Service
Computer Manufacturer

Although the above list seem to be small, still there are endless opportunities for a A+ Certified Technician. Nowadays, specialized training and skills are in huge demand. Some areas worth mentioning are as:

Personalized Training: Teaching users how to use applications, prevent loss of data and not be a victim of cyber-crimes.
Computer Forensics: Due to increase in identity theft, the need for people to analyse data in an encrypted way is a must.
Backup & Recovery: How to recover your data if you forget to back-up your files.
Large Scale Database Management Systems and Very Large Scale Database Management Systems (LSDBMS & VLSDBMS): Commonly known as terabyte data ware housing.

Once you become a CompTIA A+ certified technician, you can redirect your career path in any way you would want to. The various paths that you can tread on would be:

Administration: Providing network support, configuring routers and managing user accounts on the corporate servers.
Development: Design the companies web presence and intranet and manage it on aregular basis.
Hardware: From repairing simple computers to manufacturing high-end workstations and servers.
Technician: Pass the Net+ exam thus leading to installing network cabling, supporting corporate end users and managing the corporate desktop.

As you can clearly see that there are numerous possibilities for a CompTIA A+ Certified technician. But this is only a small piece of the whole cake. You can combine multiple other certifications and direct your career in a whole new direction.

The world of Information technology has huge innovations and prospects in this ever changing industry and the CompTIA A+ certification that you have acquired will always remain a solid foundation for you to build on.

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CompTIA Project+ Certification Training

There are a variety of certifications available to and benefiting today's IT project manager. Some test the more technical aspects of information technology projects while others test general project management skills as they relate to any industry. The CompTIA Project+ certification allows project managers or those in related roles in the IT industry to acquire a project management credential in relatively short amount of time and with no prerequisites or post-certification continuing education requirements.

This certification tests project management skills for those with at least 12 months of experience participating in or leading projects with a technical component. The exam tests project proficiency in business, interpersonal and technical aspects.

Who should pursue the CompTIA Project+ certification?
The required year of project experience can come in almost any role; example titles might include project manager, business analyst, or project team member. Professionals that are interested in working for companies such as Xerox Analyst Services, BT Global Services or Computacenter would be well-suited to pursue the CompTIA Project+ certification; these and similar firms offer positive testimony on the CompTIA website regarding the confidence they have in the talent of CompTIA-certified professionals.

Because the CompTIA Project+ certification generates exam questions based on industry-wide analysis and survey research, these companies can feel confident in hiring CompTIA certified professionals. Additionally, CompTIA offers vendor-neutral project management certification which allows employers to hire based on skill, regardless of project management software or product experience. Other companies that look specifically for CompTIA certified professionals include Canon, Dell and HP.

The CompTIA Project+ certification process
Unlike some project management certifications, the Project+ credential does not require the candidates apply for or demonstrate exam prerequisites. In part, this is why CompTIA's certification can be earned at a faster pace than other project management credentials. Once an IT professional decides to pursue the CompTIA Project+ certification, the remainder of the certification process looks essentially like this:

Train and prepare for the exam. A wide variety of training methods exist for CompTIA Project+ candidates. Instructor-led classroom study, independent computer-based study, and CompTIA's own eLearning courses are all widely offered. Example exam questions can even be downloaded from the CompTIA website.

Purchase an exam voucher and register. Once candidates finish preparing for the exam, they'll need to purchase an exam voucher. For U.S. candidates and CompTIA members, the exam is $209. For non-members the exam is $246. The voucher is used in registering for the exam. CompTIA Project+ exams can be taken at Prometric and Pearson VUE testing centers.

Take the exam. An exam "blueprint" is available on the CompTIA website. The exam requires candidates to complete 80 questions in 90 minutes. Question formats include multiple-choice, multiple-response and drag-and-drop items. Exam questions cover four project management domains, each covering a different percentage of the exam:
Project initiation and scope definition--20%
Project planning--30%
Project execution, control and coordination--43%
Project closure, acceptance and support--7%

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Wi-Fi blocking debate far from over

$750K fine levied against Smart City by FCC for WiFi blocking has WLAN pros, vendors talking again

Following the FCC’s warning in January that it would no longer tolerate the Marriotts of the world blocking visitors’ WiFi hotspots, I set a reminder on my calendar to revisit the topic six months later. After all, the issue of WiFi blocking sparked strong reactions from IT pros, end users and vendors of wireless LAN products early in the year, and I figured it wasn’t over yet.

So I started by making an inquiry directly to Marriott Global CIO Bruce Hoffmeister, who foisted me on to a company spokesman, who “respectfully declined” to connect me with anyone for an update on how Marriott is now dealing with perceived threats to its network. He simply directed me back to Marriott’s statement from January that it would behave itself, no doubt hoping the hotel chain could further distance itself from the $600K fine that the FCC hit it with, as well as the rest of the bad publicity. I also inquired at the FCC, which in Marriott-like fashion, referred me back to the agency’s last statement on the matter from January, and in a follow up, said it can’t comment on whether any new investigations are underway. Most of the WLAN vendors and administrators were pretty quiet, too when I made the rounds a few weeks back.

While all this was demoralizing, my intuition about this story still having legs was validated last week (while I was on vacation, of course) when the FCC slapped an Internet service provider called Smart City with a $750,000 fine for pulling a Marriott at several locations and blocking personal WiFi hotspots. Smart City was found not be protecting its network against any specific security threat, but rather, trying to force people to pay for its Internet service.

So despite Marriott’s best efforts, the hotel chain’s past shenanigans were dredged up again in coverage of the Smart City story. Because now all of a sudden, everyone’s talking again.

One vendor spokesman expressed surprise that the FCC had once again levied a big fine on a WiFi blocker: “Trying to control and govern the unlicensed spectrum is a tall order, especially in venues and public areas."

One university network architect, Lee Badman, published an open letter to the FCC on his blog following the FCC's Smart City order in which he says “as a WLAN professional I implore you to recognize that these actions are creating significant amounts of confusion for enterprise Wi-Fi environments and those of us who keep them operational for the millions of business clients that use them every day.” He goes on to list 5 big questions hanging over the WLAN space in the wake of the latest FCC ruling on WiFi blocking.

Among the things Badman’s peers are worried about or are wondering about:

*Does using frequency blocking material in building design constitute WiFi blocking in a passive way?

*Does getting end users to agree to acceptable use policies (AUPs) protect WLAN operators from getting busted for WiFi blocking?

*How can the de-auth/mitigation tools sold by WLAN vendors be used legally?

Some users would also like to see WLAN vendors band together and get clearer answers about what customers can and can’t do in terms of WiFi security and management. And in fact, some vendors have been working at least in the hospitality industry to come up with best practices for successful WiFi deployments. The Hotel Technology Next Generation association, which includes Marriott among its members, issued a WiFi roadmap in April, that while only touching on the topic of blocking tools, looks like it has some potential to help organizations stay on the right side of the law. (Meanwhile, the American Hotel & Lodging Association, a hospitality industry group that sided with Marriott’s right to block users of personal Wi-Fi hotspots, claims to have formed a Cybersecurity Task Force but did not reply to my inquiries earlier this month about whether the task force has in fact been formed or accomplished anything yet.)

Apple's deal with Cisco will lay out a red carpet for critical iOS apps
Buckley suggests that the FCC should allow Wi-Fi blocking at least in the interim, and then “re-open the discussion on the use of this technology and clarify when its use is practical and acceptable. Wi-Fi vendors also need to collaborate to come up with better security mechanisms in public Wi-Fi networks.” He acknowledges that the topic is complicated given that we're talking about unlicensed spectrum that's free for anyone to use.

Xirrus is especially passionate about K-12 schools being able to use WiFi blocking (rogue AP protection/mitigation) to protect students from accessing unfiltered Internet content – protections that the schools have put in place to comply with federal laws designed to safeguard children. Though Buckley says this could also apply to public access Wi-Fi environments, such as cafes, airports and public libraries where you don’t want people potentially “displaying illicit content on their devices” in full view of others.

Buckley stresses that one reason public WLAN operators need to be able to have security tools such as WiFi blocking at their disposal is because such networks can attract schemers who set up bogus hotspots to lure unsuspecting users, say those in a hotel lobby or convention center, to share sensitive personal information. One question then becomes whether a hotel not blocking WiFi could get sued for a guest getting phished after logging onto what he or she thought was the hotel’s network.

While Buckley would very much like to see further dialogue with the FCC take place, Xirrus isn’t waiting around for that to happen either. He says that in a few weeks the company is coming out with technology that will greatly bolster public WLAN network security. “WiFi blocking is another tool that can be used to protect users, but let’s not forget that security is all about defense in depth. You can’t rely on just one layer.”

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