“CompTIA certifications are very attractive to us as training providers and also to our customers because they are internationally recognized. This assures companies that their IT employees around the globe share the same level of knowledge.”
GFN AG offers training and certification for IT specialists at 13 locations throughout Germany as well as at branches in Turkey and Spain. Participants are mainly service specialists, network administrators, and software developers. GFN AG has been successfully training professionals in a range of IT fields for a number of years.
GFN AG found that many career changers and newcomers to the IT industry didn’t have the extensive previous knowledge for vendor-specific certifications. They wanted to offer entry-level courses to help people make their first step into the IT industry and they wanted to ensure these led to universally recognized certifications.
GFN AG worked with leading IT companies to develop a catalog of requirements that the new basic courses would have to fulfill. In their search for a suitable, universally recognized certification, GFN AG soon found exactly what they were looking for: The CompTIA A+ and CompTIA Network+ certifications.
Universally Recognized Entry-Level Knowledge with CompTIA
The CompTIA A+ and CompTIA Network+ certifications validate entry-level, vendor-neutral knowledge in the areas of PC support and network support. Rather than focusing on particular hardware or software, they provide skills that can be used for across the technology spectrum. They provide the skills needed to start a career in IT as well as the ideal foundation for acquiring in-depth specialist knowledge of one or more vendor products in the future.
CompTIA certifications are always practice-oriented and cover a broad spectrum of IT knowledge and practical approaches. The specific content of the certifications is developed by the non-profit organization in partnership with companies from the IT industry. The success of this certification is global – no other vendor-neutral IT certification is more widely distributed and recognized than CompTIA’s.
Based on the content of the CompTIA A+ and CompTIA Network+ certification examinations, GFN AG developed the “IT Service Specialist” course. During the six-month period of specialist training, participants, who are often jobseekers, learn the skills required to establish themselves in the IT area. Participants also have the option to obtain the CompTIA Linux+ certification during the course.
CompTIA Partnership: A Profitable Investment
As a CompTIA Academy partner, GFN AG has access to a pool of highly-qualified salaried trainers and freelance instructors. In addition to their teaching qualifications, these trainers also have the required technical CompTIA certifications themselves, and they ensure that learners are optimally prepared for the relevant examinations.
The concept works: GFN AG has already gained a range of new customers, and 80 percent of graduates find employment in the private or public sector. This success has also convinced GFN AG. Plans are already underway to integrate the CompTIA Security+ and Server+ certifications into further GFN courses. In the future, the nationwide IT training organization also aims to support companies in providing further training to their employees based on CompTIA certification. Training content can be integrated into open training courses, company seminars, weekend training courses, bootcamps, and evening events, as well as the e-learning and blended learning formats already offered by GFN AG.
"CompTIA certifications are very attractive to us as training providers and also to our customers because they are internationally recognized," said Manfred Winter, Chairman of GFN AG. "This assures companies that their IT employees around the globe share the same level of knowledge."
