Established twenty-eight years ago, the Computing Technology Industry Association (or 'CompTIA' for short) is a non profit institution. The company offers vendor-neutral accreditations that have made it a world number one in its industry. This fundamentally means they're free to independently create and monitor exams & accreditations which are needed by the IT industry, irrespective of a specific business' commercial interests. With the current move to inter connectivity & systems convergence, this is seen as a welcome step for the I.T. trainee, as it provides cross platform learning & an understanding of 'integration'. Each time a new exam is being developed (or a previous one up-graded), CompTIA consults with leading associates of the professional and academic world in order to provide balanced and very relevant material.

Any individual looking to establish themselves in IT will profit from programs & certifications produced by CompTIA. In general, trainees who are interested in careers in Networking, Servers, Systems, Security, Communications & Support should probably start out with CompTIA, but in fact students in any sector would find a 'CompTIA' accreditation a worthwhile component of their Curriculum Vitae. CompTIA are also now promoting STRATA accreditations : these are not especially for people employed in the I.T. sector, but for people whose careers need a basic understanding of computers.

Essentially the most well known of all of the CompTIA accreditations are without doubt the 'A+' and Network+. Both of them, as a pair, create the foundation for many current I.T. career tracks - & for good reason. The 'CompTIA' 'A+' qualification covers the basics of computer maintenance, installation, support, security, fault finding and repair. What's more, the A+ teaches certain relationship building abilities to help you communicate much better with others. The 'CompTIA' N+ certification extends this teaching to a deeper grasp of networking, servers and routers, & just how they connect together. Security is naturally extremely important, and wireless technology is dealt with to some extent. The two certifications go with one another nicely, & collectively provide a very good starting platform for additional exam packages, or a solid career in IT support.

In 2009 each program under-went updates, and new examinations are now to be found for each of them. Globally the 2006/2007 editions of 'A+' (with exam pre-fix numbers '600') will be retired over the next twelve months. In the United Kingdom, they cease being offered on 31.08.2010. As '2009' examinations (version 700) are currently available at test-centres across the country, the newer learning programs would be a more practical choice for anyone just getting started. The individual A+ 2009 examinations have become: 'CompTIA' A+ Essentials (exam 220-701) and CompTIA A+ Practical Application (exam 220-702.) The most crucial changes were a complete re-structuring of the past four exams into just 2 examinations, and the inclusion of some information on newer relevant technologies. Formerly, the 'A+' was split into 4 exams: one essential and 3 'elective' specialisations. During the last four years, the marketplace has progressed to the point where all four examinations have become regarded as necessary - hence the re-formatting in to two required examinations. Anybody who has formerly taken the 600 examination can bring their accreditation up to date by taking a bridging examination : BR/003. Successfully passing the up-grade examination will generally need more study, although it shouldn't be especially difficult for those who formerly studied all four. Sufficient training time really should be factored in for the newer technology elements however.

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