College Offers New Hardware Courses For Upcoming Semester

The Workforce Development and the Lifelong Learning program will be offering CompTIA A+ Hardware courses for the upcoming Fall semester, an opportunity for students to learn about Hardware, Cloud Computing, Troubleshooting, and more. It is also said the following hardware components will be taught, such as Motherboard, Central Processing Unit, Hard Drive, and Video Card.

According to the Middlesex College website, the CompTIA courses will give students to prepare for their CompTIA A+ Certification Exam 220-1001, which covers hardware, virtualization, cloud computing, mobile devices, networking technology, and troubleshooting.

The Director of the Workforce Development and Lifelong Learning, Tracey Montani, said the In the CompTIA A+ Hardware Preparation Course, students will gain the understanding of networking basics and apply basic cybersecurity methods to mitigate threats.

“Apply troubleshooting skills and provide customer support using appropriate communication skills and understand the basics of scripting, cloud technologies, virtualization, and multi-OS deployments in corporate environments,” Montani said.

Earth Science major, Jessica Davis, said, “I believe this program is a huge advancement and will provide people with skills and information needed to gain ground in their careers as many jobs in several if not all fields operate with computers extensively.”

“I also think this will be great for people who might want a career in this type of field,” Jessica Davis said. “I would definitely recommend this to colleagues because you never know who might need this in the future or just want to advance their computer skills.”

As a CompTIA Member, Montani said they are eligible for complimentary and discounted industry wide credential examinations, array of IT business resources and networks, access to industry research outcomes, and public policy discussions.

When students first begin to attend the course, Montani said individuals should have basic computer skills when enrolling in this class.

“The following hardware components will be taught; install the appropriate RAM; select and install storage devices; install and configure motherboards, central processing units (CPUs), and add-on cards; install or replace the appropriate power supply, deploy and configure multifunction devices/printers and settings; install and replace printer consumables; and troubleshoot the best practice methodology to resolve hardware problems,” Montani said.

CompTIA Courses are running with start dates in May and June. Montani said that each course is 40 hours and meets two evenings each week from 6:30 pm – 9 p.m.

Allied Health major, Oscar Rojos, said, “The CompTIA program seems like a great opportunity to explore the complexity of computing technology and the environment online.”

“It’s even better that the Workforce Development and Lifelong Learning department is offering this course because students can easily enroll,” Oscar said. “If you think about it, not many people get opportunities like this at their feet.”

“Our Spring Courses will include CompTIA A+ Hardware Preparation Course, CompTIA A+ Software Preparation Course, CompTIA Network+ Preparation Course, and CompTIA Security+ Preparation Course,” Montani said.

At the completion of CompTIA A+ Hardware Preparation Course, Montani said students will be eligible to sit for the CompTIA A+ 220-1101.

“It consists of up to 90 multiple choice questions, drag and drops and performance based,” Montani said. “After they are successful, they can begin the Core II Class, CompTIA A+ Software Preparation Course.”

Montani said the CompTIA A+ Certification prepares students for a Career in Service Desk Analyst, Help Desk Technician, Technical Support Specialist, Field Service Technician, to name a few.

“These computer user support specialists have a median annual wage of $53,000,” Montani said. “The IT Field expects a 28{38557cf0372cd7f85c91e7e33cff125558f1277b36a8edbab0100de866181896} increase of open IT positions by 2026.”

A Philosophy major student, Sheilin Garcia, said, “Based on the information given, I think it’s a very insightful program for any and all students to go ahead and learn skills that will be lifelong learning skills that can be used out and during school and make for leaders.”