does studying and passing count as work experience?

KDE

Hello my name is Cliff, and I have been reading through the forums and using the practice tests and technotes to study for Net+. Great stuff btw!

It seems that to get hired you have to have alot of experience or at least am employer who is willing to take a chance on you. I was wondering if the studying for and passing a certification exam would count as experience?

I think that hands on experience is easier to learn from, but wouldn't it be feasible to say that you have to count some of the stuff that comes from books as experience. Even though hands experience is good, you can't learn everything that way. Shouldn't having a certification under your belt be worth something in the experience department?

Does non job related experience also count as experience,( such as family and friend side jobs)?

maybe I don't know what I'm talking about, or it's the coffee and MT. Dew typing, but I think it should count as something.

your ideas?

Have a nice day,
Cliff

Webmaster

It may depend on the employer, but in general certifications, studying, building/troubleshooting/'playing with' labs doesn't count as work experience. The importance of work experience is that you have prooved to be able to work in a certain environment, under certain circumstances, with certain products/technologies. The environment (real users... "people", small/large company, etc.) and the circumstances (type of company i.e. a bank, time schedules, are you implementing or troubleshooting/problem solving) are what 'make' work experience. It has little to do with gaining knowledge thru studying...

Does non job related experience also count as experience,( such as family and friend side jobs)?

If it is completely non job related, I wouldn't even mention it.... at least in most cases. When it comes to helping out family and friends with computer problems, I wouldn't count that as work experience (unless you start a company and get paid for doing the job), almost every techie helps out friends and family with PC problems

BUT, that doesn't mean you shouldn't mention it on your resume... just don't put it under work experience. Bragging a little about your home lab and personal experience with computers/IT can actually have a very good effect on a potential employer... ... if it is justified

'Filling' a resume with the little things might actually not look good. If you want a long long resume, try to get short-term jobs, perhaps even part-time, pretty much every job you can get. Keep that up for a year and you'll have a great basis for your resume... for life.

Just my nickel