Back into IT with Old certs, where to begin again

UnkleBuck

Hey Gang,

If you don't mind, I'm gonna be a kind of fly on the wall on this conversation, bc I'm also looking to upgrade my certs. I have a Fred Flintstone cert for Novell Netware 3.x, and I did take, and passed the A+ H'ware cert back in '04, but never passed the S'ware cert. So, officially I gotz nutin' honey.

Now that you've answered my initial questions of what 2-3 certs I should take first, my next questions are what's the best practice site, or test to practice with. If it's been this long for me should I bother to take a real class, or just learn from the practice tests, and if there's something I want to dig into, then study that specifically.

Thanks guys, seriously. Best of luck goobacks.

Plantwiz

The first part, please do not begin a new conversation within an existing thread. This new thread has been begun for you.

Second, do not post copyrighted material in our forum, that will include practice questions and you did in your other thread. These boards are for our members to learn about content for their respective exams, not memorize practice test answers, if you do not understand how an author wrote something, perhaps a member can assist, but this is generally why most exam topics everyone recommends at least two sources. Ex, A+ people look to Meyers AIO and the EXAM CRAM books, or MEyers and Sybex, or EXAM CRAM And passport, etc...

Where should you begin? First, What do you want to do? Why did you not complete your A+ way back when, and of course you are not certified in it, so if it is not part of your plan, you may consider skipping it and focusing on certs that matter to your job. How much experience do you have and in what capacity? A bit more about your background and experience will help members point you in a direction for certs.

Quick points -
CompTIA certs will give you an overall, vendor neutral, cert that is appreciated by some employers, but not all, though it is a recognizable cert. Doubt anyone would ever Passover your resume for listing a CompTIA Cert.
MS and Cisco - respectively these certs you want whatever you work with or will be working with. No reason to get an MSCE if you will never touch a MS network. No reason for CISCO if your employer doesn
T use CISCO hardware and/or you are not working with packet routing and such.

So, what do you do or want to do? Answering this question will help point the way.

chopsticks

Pick just one technology that interest you most (hint: Cloud and Security are on fire these days) to begin with, then slowly decide where you want to go. I started with one and I realised the more I know, the less I knew, so the more I wanted to know.

Mooseboost

I agree with Chop. And if you are unsure what you want to do study for a few certs. You don't have to pass the cert, just look at the material. I took the CCNA because it will help my career but in the end I ended up falling in love with R&S. You may find the same for another sector like security.