To recertify, or not to recertify...

So I am planning a cross country move with my wife, and I absolutely refuse to be stuck out there without a job, if I can avoid it. I have been working in a cell phone tech support company for over 4 years now, and moving would mean losing that since they do not have HQ where I'm moving, nor any affiliated sites where an internal transfer can be done (contrary to what I was first told). I definitely feel like I've had the rug pulled out from under me on this one.

I've also looked and thus far not found a position comparable to the one I have now. The only jobs I could see myself taking and be able to hit the ground running would be a desktop support position. Problem is after having troubleshot phones and cellular networks, resolved customer account and billing issues, and practiced up-selling for 4 years I am woefully out of practice.

My A+ certification expired in 2017, and I am eventually going for my MCSA once I'm there, but higher certs are a bit out of the question now. This is for lack of time, since we are aiming to be out of this state by mid October. So, for the moment, given the wide breadth of material that the current version of A+ covers, would it be worth the time investment to study the material and get recertified? Or for a foot-in-the-door Desktop Support Technician, would there be something more geared towards achieving that?

All suggestions welcome, and thank you!

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SteveLavoie

Start by searching the job board where you will move, see what kind of position is open and what do they seek.

JDMurray

Also note how many jobs now require 100% telework, which makes where you actually live not matter as much.

Deadpan_Incredulous

I've decided to go for recert. It's one of those things that I figure I'm going to need regardless, whether I work remote or on site. I did happen to browse the job boards, and there are a lot of positions over there that require just that.

Even those who have a majority of their workforce stationed at home need to have someone maintaining equipment on site, I'm sure. Wherever I end up will more often than not be just a stopgap job that I'll toil in while studying for MCSA. Not sure whether to go for systems admin, network admin, or security after that, but I do see Security being quite hot at the moment, and for the foreseeable future.

I'm in debt to pretty much everyone here.

ecuison

Deadpan_Incredulous said:

I've decided to go for recert. It's one of those things that I figure I'm going to need regardless, whether I work remote or on site. I did happen to browse the job boards, and there are a lot of positions over there that require just that.

Even those who have a majority of their workforce stationed at home need to have someone maintaining equipment on site, I'm sure. Wherever I end up will more often than not be just a stopgap job that I'll toil in while studying for MCSA. Not sure whether to go for systems admin, network admin, or security after that, but I do see Security being quite hot at the moment, and for the foreseeable future.

I'm in debt to pretty much everyone here.

Security isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Good look regardless of what direction you decide on!

E Double U

Even though all of the certifications on my resume are current, not once have I been on an interview where someone asked if my certs were still valid. I choose to leave expired certs off of my resume because they are no longer relevant for the roles that I aim for, but if they were I would leave them on. I think someone viewing your resume cares more about your experience than certs so if you get invited for an interview then I doubt they care if the cert remains valid unless it's a role that specifically requires that you keep it valid.

My vote is against re-certification.