A+ Certification Introduction

[ArticleBot]

Originally Posted by ArticleBot

If you are an IT professional, or are planning for an IT career, chances are that you must have acquired a certification, or may be preparing for one. Ever since the IT revolution began, there has been a proliferation of computer education institutions the world over, and these institutions churn out millions of so-called IT professionals every year.

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[Kyuu]

Yup - despite a B.S. in C.S. - I still don't feel credible.

[Bryce W]

As you probably know, I work as a freelance computer technician. Only about 5 people in the last 5 years have asked what my qualifications are.
If you are working for a company then you will probably need a good qualification under your belt just so the person hiring feels more comfortable.

With your BS in CS, I would try looking for jobs with businesses and see how you do. If you keep getting rejected due to lack of qualifications then you can study for them and try again.

The good thing is if you do get a job with your BS of CS, many companies will pay for you to learn other qualifications.

[posterscorner]

Originally Posted by Knuckles10

As you probably know, I work as a freelance computer technician.

I am working towards doing the same. What qualifications do you have? I've found that most people are willing to trust you based on word of mouth more than anything else.

[breadtrk]

MCDST > Probably the most relevant Cert a PC Tech can get. I also really reccommend joining up with Microsoft's Connect and take advantage of the webcasts, articles, and forums.

I must say that when I'm interviewing someone for my helpdesk, I almost give no creedence to Certs, I look at job history and ultimatly really just rely on the personal interview.

[greggh]

I have zero certs and no college. Most of the people I know with A+ arent anywhere near as good as the ones I know who are self tought.

[Alden]

Personally, after reviewing the A+ 2003 objectives... I didn't see the value or relevance of the material. Everything seemed outdated. Of all the techs I've hired over the years, I'd have to say that less than 30% of them were certified. My bottom line is experience.

A very small percentage of folks ask my qualifications or experience before scheduling and more often it comes up in small talk while I'm working on their system. Seems to me that the average person has never heard of Comptia.

I recently decided to pursue several certs and found the A+2006 objectives to be more relevant to what I experience in the field. I've actually picked up a few things that are helping me. Moving forward... I'm seriously considering asking new hired techs to make a 90 day commitment to obtaining their cert if they're not already.

I got a good deal on the training material. One years access to the training materials for $700 broken down to $50 monthly payments. They included their entire Comptia library which includes:

CompTIA A+ 2003 Core
CompTIA A+ 2003 Core and OS
CompTIA A+ 2003 OS
CompTIA A+ Essentials
CompTIA A+ Specialist
CompTIA CDIA+
CompTIA i-Net+
CompTIA Network+ 2005
CompTIA Security+ 2005
CompTIA Server+ 2005
PMP and Project+

They do 40 hrs of video lectures and a bunch of questions in their cert simulator. I found what claimed to be “an independent third party review” of a bunch of cert training companies and they said it wasn’t a brain dump deal. It’s supposed to take a month but, I’m finished 75% within a week, took a week off and hopefully will be done within another week or so. I’m really excited to shoot for all these certs in a years time!

[gunslinger]

Originally Posted by greggh

I have zero certs and no college. Most of the people I know with A+ arent anywhere near as good as the ones I know who are self tought.

You beat me to it, i was going to say the same thing. I also work as a freelance computer technician, and have been doing so for years. I have an AS in CS and i'm working for my A+. No one has ever asked to see any certs.I think experience is the most important thing by far. In fact there is a guy i went to college with that lives close, he called me around this time last year in a panic because he thought he nuked his PC when installing ram. I looked at it and it was pretty clear what the problem was, the ram was not even seated in its slot. After doing this all was good. This guy has the same certs i do. the only difference? I have been working with computers about 10 years longer than he has.

[greggh]

I ran into a guy on a job 3 weeks ago who was A+ and N+ certified. The N+ of course is for networking. The network we were on was segregated into two separate subnets. The first thing he asks me is to explain subnets again, he had forgotten what exactly they were.

Sadly, this is the level of knowledge I have come to expect from people who tell me "i have cert X and Y" before I even really know them.

[Bryce W]

The sad thing is, employment companies use them as a way to filter out the prospects. The problem is that they are probably filtering out most of the people who actually know something.