CompTIA, is the abbreviation for Computing Technology Industry Association, is an organization that offers certifications to IT specialists. The certification is divided into four areas; core, infrastructure, cybersecurity, and additional professional. Each area consists of several certifications. Among all these certifications, one of the best is CompTIA A+ Certification.
Overview of CompTIA A+ Certifications
The CompTIA A+ Certification is a beginner’s program for IT technicians. The certification is designed to certify the ability of the professionals in installing, sustaining, modifying, and functioning computers.
Skills learned with CompTIA A+ Certification
Even though the certification is designed for beginners, the certification enhances many skills of IT technicians. Let’s find out about the skills that are polished with the CompTIA A+ Certification program.
Identifying Hardware Components
The CompTIA A+ Certification polishes the skill to identify the hardware components of a computer and connecting them to run the system.
Hardware and Network Troubleshooting
The certification enables the technicians to understand the troubleshooting errors caused during the integration of components and networks.
Operating System
IT technicians gain knowledge of different operating systems and learn to install and support these systems.
Software Troubleshooting
The IT technicians learn to solve software troubleshooting; this includes application security support.
Awareness of different Networks
The CompTIA A+ Certification helps the developers to learn about the different types of networks and connections; these include IP, Wi-fi, and Soho, etc.
Security
IT professionals learn to identify and protect uncertainties associated with the network and connections by the installation of processors and programs.
Developing Mobile Devices
Developing other IT systems such as laptops and mobile devices and installing operating systems to support the devices.
Cloud Computing and Virtualization
Another skill developed through CompTIA A+ Certification is setting up virtualization for the user by comparing it with cloud computing. Virtualization is a process of using the various operating systems on a computer system concurrently.
Abiding with the Operational Practices
One of the most valuable skills that are developed among certified CompTIA A+ technicians is professionalism. The certification assists the CompTIA practitioners to abide by practices that are best for the environment, taking high safety measures, and communicate professionally.
Job Titles, Roles and Responsibilities
The CompTIA A+ Certification opens various job opportunities for IT technicians in the market. Below is the list of famous job roles and responsibilities for certified CompTIA A+ candidates.
Service Desk Analyst
Service desk analyst, also known as help desk analyst, is an IT related job in which the analyst resolves the problems of computer hardware and software that clients face. The service desk analysts also work for other departments in the organization and support the tasks that are according to their skills.
Role and Responsibilities of Service Desk Analyst
The roles and responsibilities of a service desk analyst vary from business to business; however, some of the core duties that every service desk analyst performs are mentioned below.
- Effectively handling and entertaining inbound queries of the users. Communicating with clients and taking the necessary steps to resolve their issues.
- Queries that require expert help are forwarded to the higher-level support specialists with the details of the problem and measures taken to fix it.
- Maintain record regarding the issues faced by clients and provide data to the IT department about the repeated issues. The record book helps to fix problems in a lesser amount of time in the future.
- To update users’ systems, prevent the issues from happening in the future again, and check for more errors.
- To prepare and distribute IT documents that can help users resolve issues by following simple procedures.
Salary
The salary of a Service desk analyst is $52,160 per year.
Technical Support Specialist
The technical support specialist is mainly responsible for installing, organizing, fixing, and update the systems in the organization.
Role and Responsibilities of Technical support specialist
The following are the basic duties of a Technical support specialist.
- Responsible for installing new technologies.
- They maintain the current hardware and IT systems of a company.
- They assist the company employees to resolve tech issues.
- They resolve troubleshooting systems.
Salary
The salary offered to a Technical support specialist is $40,000. However, the average salary is $57,200, which can increase up to $80,000 per annum.
Field Service Technician
A field service technician is an IT specialist who travels to sites for resolving troubleshoots related to a piece of equipment.
Role and Responsibilities of Field Service Technician
- Align the workflow with a schedule.
- Control the tasks of installation, maintenance, and test of on-site systems.
- Identifying technical issues and resolving them through a proper procedure.
- Prepare detailed reports of the issues and solutions found in the on-site systems.
- They abide by the protocols of the enterprise.
- Communicate with the IT team and resolve matters collectively.
- Understand the requirements of the customer and recommend effective solutions.
Salary
The average salary of a Field Service Technician is $47,128 per year.
Data Support Technician
The data support technician is responsible for gathering and documenting business information. The information is revised, managed and stored in a system for analysis with the IT managers.
Role and Responsibilities of Data Support Technician
- Assists the clients and functions help desk emails.
- Communicate with teams to resolve issues, fulfill the need for software, procedure, and services.
- Support the analyst by recording the data in a spreadsheet file.
- Execute operations by using the data visualization software method.
- Identifying technical issues of hardware and software involving internet connectivity, emails, IPTV, and VOIP, etc.
- Assist with resolving troubleshoots and workstations.
- Creates new software and hardware systems and resolving technical issues during a project.
- Forwarding issues to suitable resources.
- Analyze and prioritize issues according to their intensity.
- Resolves to troubleshoot through remote access.
Salary
The salary offered to a Data Support Technician is around $54,076 per annum, which can increase up to 100k or more depending on the experience and skills of the technician.