Am I better off getting A+ and N+?

Timberwolf5578

I am studying to get my A+ certification, and I was wondering if I would be better off getting A+ and N+ before I look for an IT job, instead of just getting A+ and looking for a IT job? What kind of job could I get if I had both, instead of having just A+? I also have a general two-year college Associates Degree. I have no previous IT-related job experience.

Opinions?

Any responses will be appreciated.

Thanks.

nel

If your looking for your first IT job i would get both and some MS certs too. Maybe fling linux+ in too?

Which country are you from? i ask because it seems like the a+/n+ is more valued in the US than the UK

sthomas

I think you should start looking for a job right away while working on your certification(s). If you have no IT experience and you are finding it hard to find a job then consider volunteering somewhere a few hours a week to gain some experience for your resume.

Timberwolf5578

nel wrote:

If your looking for your first IT job i would get both and some MS certs too. Maybe fling linux+ in too?

Which country are you from? i ask because it seems like the a+/n+ is more valued in the US than the UK

I am in the Pacific Northwest United States.

cjthedj45

I'm in the uk and got my first job with no IT experience and the only tech qualification I had was the a+. I was working on a busy helpdesk and the emphasis was on taking calls but we were expected to first line fix as many calls as possible. This was a good starting point for me and it is where I learned a lot of the basics. Although I would say that a lot of what I learned on the a+ was not good for this role becuase I was not doing much hardware support.

I think you should be able to secure a position with the a+ and if you followed up with the network+ this would strengthen your knowledge. If you are not familar with Active Directory I would advise you to do some research because you will use this on a daily basis in many it support roles.

LifelongLearner

Timberwolf5578 wrote:

I am studying to get my A+ certification, and I was wondering if I would be better off getting A+ and N+ before I look for an IT job, instead of just getting A+ and looking for a IT job? What kind of job could I get if I had both, instead of having just A+? I also have a general two-year college Associates Degree. I have no previous IT-related job experience.

Opinions?

Any responses will be appreciated.

Thanks.

Coming from a secretarial background, I wouldn't have been confident applying for IT jobs before not even knowing what the inside of a computer looked like. I went for my a+ and net+ and then started job hunting. Found myself a job, got experienced and then started on the road to getting more certs and higher paying jobs.