Getting Comp-Tia A+ Certification?
by Ron Sombilon Gallery
Question by ezoh1234: Getting Comp-Tia A+ Certification?
I’m new to all this IT tech stuff although I have a lot of prior knowledge with computers. I have several questions and hoping you guys can help.
Im fifteen right now, I want to get certified because I can’t work right now but when I can having certifications would help me to get a better job. But do you guys reckon that’s its really that vital to get them now, at my age?
Is there any excellent online courses, or books you’ll recommend for certification? (Do you know how to get into Houston Community College‘s Certification course I can’t get in)
How simple would it be to study for and pass the certification exam on my own, is it even possible?
And my parents reckon that by getting these certifications I’ll end up becoming some local notebook repairman in the future, whats a degree that works in conjunction with the certifications and leads to high paying jobs?
Thankfulness,
I’m not expecting to get a fulfledged job at this age or with just that certification, this just the beginning and I was hoping that certification would lead to some jobs that are better than just working at the mall like all my classmates. The real question would be whether it’s worth it start with. It now or later. I got the whole thought from an it tech guy, and if so much rides on experience and a excellent degree wouldn’t it be best to start working on one of those now? Getting my experience.
Best answer:
Answer by fuzzylogic_y2k
You can find cert prep/course books for the A+ at most book stores. It is entirely possible to pass on your own, its not a really hard test compared to the microsoft of cisco ones.
Notebook repair men can make excellent money. But right now the real money and ease of finding jobs is in programming.
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I’m a Sr. Systems Engineer right now making a fantastic salary, and 24 years ancient. I took four years of college: two years of Notebook Networking, and a further two years of Notebook Forensics. I previously had a huge background of repairing systems and being your typical “PC tech”. I have no certifications.
When I was interviewing for jobs, the people who I interviewed with didn’t care too much in this area my specific college degrees; they were lucky to see they were notebook-correlated, but most importantly they just wanted to see that I completed four years of something. I’m not talking in this area dime-a-dozen PC Tech jobs either: I was interviewing for Systems Engineer, Network Engineer, and IT administrative careers. Many, many people working in IT knew nothing in this area their jobs in anticipation of they were trained in for their job; out of my 10 coworkers, only one other took IT classes in college. (The others were chemists and other random things.) Four years of college simply shows you have the determination and enthusiasm to learn!
When you land a job or career, you re-learn everything that the company needs you to know for that specific job role, and they simply want to see that you know the underlying notebook concepts. This is the way it is for most IT jobs out there. If you can prove you know the general concepts and you have some background to boot, and you’re friendly and humble to those you may possibly be working with, you’ve already got one foot in the door.
That said, I do plot on getting certifications eventually anyway, just to say that I have them. And here’s the secret that most people don’t know in this area: When you get an IT job, there’s nearly always a hidden part of the budget that will pay for you to take your certification tests. It might even make *more* sense to wait in anticipation of you commence a career with employers that pay for your certifications for you for this reason lonely! My company’s specific policy is that if the certification will somehow benefit the company as I work for them, they’ll pay for the whole thing. Everyone wins!
A+ is cheap though, around $ 150, so if you want to grab that up and prove your hardware expertise before you have a lot of real-planet experience, I reckon it would be a step in the right direction for you. In your teens, that certification can and will make the difference between you and someone else. You should be familiar enough with notebook terminology in general to be able to commence studying for the test based on these excellent questions you’re asking. There are many assets online to study for the A+ certification exams, so try out CompTIA’s website and look at some of their recommendations to get started in the right direction for your studying. Personally, I’ve heard excellent things in this area QuickCert, but there are many other assets available.
Excellent luck!
With that cert combined with a degree and/ or experience you will be able to land jobs in the it department of major corporations. I was able ti secure a entry lvl job with raytheon safeguard contractor and i didnt have. A+ cert. Just a degree. But know that its a very competetive market and you may need certs and degrees to be in a excellent spot on someones roster. . At your age it would be excellent info to learn but i wouldnt be to worried in this area. The cert yet. The cert lonely wont guarantee a job. Itll take more then that. It information changes alot so there might be up to date info by the time your ancient enough and qualified enough for a excellent job.
Its possible to study and pass on your own but it is a deep and somewhat hard test imo.
The Comp/TIA A+ is probably the simplest IT certification out there. It’s a very simple thing to learn, even on your own. Having that certification shows that you know how notebook hardware/software works, as well as troubleshooting, diagnosing problems, and replacing hardware and fixing software.
Getting a certification like this will be a excellent way to step into the IT field. If you do obtain the certification, I’m sure a local notebook repair shop wouldn’t mind hiring you if they had enough work for you. It would get you a feel for working on vital notebook repairs, diagnostics, talking to customers, and the other IT guys may possibly probably show you other cool things. A further excellent thing is, in some colleges if you have a System Maintenance type class, they will either give you an A for the course or just accredit you as completing the class since you are already certified. Which means you should already know the material.
Getting the A+ cert is just the beginning of IT certifications. If you’re really into the IT field there are more professional certifications, such as Microsoft IT certs, Cisco certifications, Linux Handing out, Red Hat certs, and many many more. I for myself am working on my CCNA, then going for my CCNP, or CCVP. Depending if I want to specialize in voice or not.
As far as your ability to get the cert, yes I reckon you can do it, even on your own. All you’ll need is a book and a spare notebook is a excellent thought to have. That way you can tear into stuff, get a look at things and work with it hands on. You can buy an A+ book from Amazon or other sites. If you’re really interested or not sure what you want to do, feel free to email me at [email protected] I have an e-copy of an A+ certification book that I can e-mail to you. It’s from my high teach’s Vocational teach and this exact book go my brother his A+ certification. Below is a link to an amazon A+ book if you wish to buy one instead. I believe you can do it! Best of luck to you!
http://www.amazon.com/CompTIA-Certification-Seventh-220-701-220-702/dp/0071701338/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1310139801&sr=1-1
P.S. If you have any other questions in this area the IT field or other certifications, such as what they are, what do those people do, etc. feel free again to email me at [email protected]
Your parents are more or less right. A+ does not count for very much - it is the level expected of the most junior IT tech with only three months experience. The entire CompTIA suite do not commonly add up to much. They may get you to the interview stage for junior positions but no further than that. I’d advise you to concentrate on academic qualifications for the moment. You may find you get some certs as part of your degree anyway - CCNA and MCSE are sometimes part of a computing course. While even those won’t get you further than intermediate level positions they are infinitely more challenging and repected than A+.
Ultimately industry certs are only one part of the equation - a excellent degree from a respected institution and solid experience count for much more. It seems too many people assume they can take these certs and instantly get a high-level job with only a few weeks study. If that is the case here forget it, it doesn’t work like that at all.