Comptia Certs?

I currently now hold a A+ and planning on taking network+ in two days. I was wondering if it would be possible to find a entry level job with just these 2 COMPTIA certs.

No experiences at all working anywhere but the 2012 elections.

What would be the best way to go about finding work? Posting my Resume on websites like Monster? or Actually Searching through Craigslist/DICE/etc and sending them my resume?

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Comments

Michael2

Sure, it would be possible to find a job. It will just take a long time. I wouldn't recommend posting on Monster. You'll just get passed up by the I.T companies since you don't have experience. CraigsList would be better.

YFZblu

Michael2 wrote: »

I wouldn't recommend posting on Monster. You'll just get passed up by the I.T companies since you don't have experience. CraigsList would be better.

Disagree completely. The OP should not be limiting his search in such a fashion.

OP: A+ and Net+ is a nice start, I would pursue all avenues that you know of - Including CareerBuilder, Dice, Monster, Craigslist, etc etc. Good luck!

Divine Kismet

I just got my first job ever a couple of days ago. I have no job experience, let alone IT. But, I landed an entry level job with just my A+ and an MTA cert. So yes, it's possible. I would also recommend Craigslist.

ThePawofRizzo

I have to agree with YFZblu not to limit yourself. We all started in IT with no experience at some point. In my case, my first boss told me he hired me for a desktop support job because he could tell I could handle the customer service aspects of the job very well, although I'd not worked in desktop support. I had experience in healthcare, did have a Bachelor of Arts, but also an AAS in Computer Science, still no direct computer support experience.

Also, I've gotten calls in the past for weekend project type jobs, like a restaurant change adding a switch and needing someone to just be at the site to mount the equipment and be on the phone. So, you may even get some quick easy money opportunities that could give you some other experience until you land that full time job.

A lot of jobs I hear about are also contract for several weeks or months. If you've not worked in IT, those jobs may work really well for you to get some great experience, begin to get to know folks in the business, etc.

stiltner

The key today to seperating yourself is the same key its always been.

Proven experience and knowledge.

Also, as many others have said, why limit yourself. Another option, and a great
way to get some buffer on a resume, is to do contracting work off places like
Onforce and the like.

You get the chance to show you're capable of following instructions, doing paperwork
submission and working independently on projects that will be in line with entry level IT.
And you get paid, sometimes very good.

Never ignore a resource if that resource is a step to the next step.

N2IT

A+ and N+ can assist with getting a new position. I would recommend posting your resume up on Dice, Indeed, etc.

Valsacar

If you can, I'd try and add at least a MS cert on there (desktop support/config related). Or if you're looking more back-end try for CCNA (much harder exam) or even Server+ (probably not as valuable as the MS or Linux versions). Sec+ is always a good choice as well.

Get some experience with contracting work, as recommended above, or even some volunteer stuff. I started out with an unpaid internship, I just walked into the office (small company) one night and introduced myself. A few days later I had a desk and got some great experience out of the deal.

Polynomial

I'm not sure how relevant N+ is. I'd rather go straight for CCENT.

swisschris104

Thank you all, I am improving my resume now, just got my n+ cause i already had voucher for it, problem with e getting my ccna and ms certifications is since i dont got a job i dont got money to pay for

TheCudder

Polynomial wrote: »

I'm not sure how relevant N+ is. I'd rather go straight for CCENT.

Network+ & CCENT are basically equal, CCENT is just vendor specific to Cisco. There's no reason to bother getting CCENT. At entry level (especially help desk) you're better of with Network+. Not that CCENT is not good from a knowledge standpoint, but CCNA and higher are probably the only Cisco certs worth getting if you're looking to grab someones attention with your resume.

glenn_33

You can definitely land an entry level position with those two certs, I did!

Roguetadhg

A+ and Net+ got me this position.

New2IT

Roguetadhg wrote: »

A+ and Net+ got me this position.

Do you recommend getting at least the A+ before the CCENT? I see many entry level job listings asking for A+ and network knowledge.

WafflesAndRootbeer

CompTIA certs are more or less mandatory. If you don't have the A+ AND Server+/Network+/Security+/Linux+ within 90's days of being hired, you will not likely be retained as an employee. That's standard policy for most companies. Some companies will just require the A+ at minimum but many require the A+ and at least one of the other certs that I just listed above.

CodeBlox

I got my first IT job with ONLY A+. I was required as stated by WafflesAndRootBeer (what a name! haha) to get Security+ within 60 days of starting. It all worked out too.

N2IT

Honestly A+ is all you need for service desk. Then from there you can move forward and decide which direction you want to go into. Networking, Security, Systems, Etc.

Valsacar

N2IT wrote: »

Honestly A+ is all you need for service desk. Then from there you can move forward and decide which direction you want to go into. Networking, Security, Systems, Etc.

That depends on the company, at mine most service desk have far beyond A+ (including one CISSP). They are also far more than secretaries, they have a 90% first line closure rate (easily over 100k tickets a year) and can handle up to basic switch/router configuration issues.

programmer24

how long does it take to study for a+

CodeBlox

Valsacar wrote: »

That depends on the company, at mine most service desk have far beyond A+ (including one CISSP). They are also far more than secretaries, they have a 90% first line closure rate (easily over 100k tickets a year) and can handle up to basic switch/router configuration issues.

I don't believe you on the 100k tickets thing / year... They would be closing about 420 tickets a day. Unless the stuff is extremely easy (and there are a ton of duplicate tickets) I doubt anyone is that fast.

Programmer24,

I studied for about a month and a half.

W Stewart

WafflesAndRootbeer wrote: »

CompTIA certs are more or less mandatory. If you don't have the A+ AND Server+/Network+/Security+/Linux+ within 90's days of being hired, you will not likely be retained as an employee. That's standard policy for most companies. Some companies will just require the A+ at minimum but many require the A+ and at least one of the other certs that I just listed above.

What and where are you talking about? I work as a Jr Systems admin and certifications have never been a requirement for any job I've held. Plenty of job ads say that certain certifications are preferred but none of the jobs I have ever worked at have made you get or maintain a certification to be hired or retained as an employee. A+ and Security+ may be required in government jobs and but I haven't seen many jobs that make A+ a hard requirement.

Edit: Just looked at your location as well as another poster. My guess is this may be more common in Virgina since the DMV area is full of IT jobs and probably government IT jobs as well. It's nowhere near standard in Tampa Florida though. Certifications down here are just one of those nice to have things for employers.

W Stewart

CodeBlox wrote: »

I don't believe you on the 100k tickets thing / year... They would be closing about 420 tickets a day. Unless the stuff is extremely easy (and there are a ton of duplicate tickets) I doubt anyone is that fast.

Programmer24,

I studied for about a month and a half.

Yea if it's a complicated issue that requires any kind of advanced cert than it's probably going to take awhile to close the ticket and 420 a day is a lot even for easy tickets. It would be a waste of a good CISSP to be closing 420 tickets a day but then my experience in the security realm is limited.

WafflesAndRootbeer

W Stewart wrote: »

What and where are you talking about? I work as a Jr Systems admin and certifications have never been a requirement for any job I've held. Plenty of job ads say that certain certifications are preferred but none of the jobs I have ever worked at have made you get or maintain a certification to be hired or retained as an employee. A+ and Security+ may be required in government jobs and but I haven't seen many jobs that make A+ a hard requirement.

Edit: Just looked at your location as well as another poster. My guess is this may be more common in Virgina since the DMV area is full of IT jobs and probably government IT jobs as well. It's nowhere near standard in Tampa Florida though. Certifications down here are just one of those nice to have things for employers.

It's part of the "best practices" stuff. ALL of the big names in IT service and support implement it and follow it as do many of the medium and smaller sized companies who do contract work. Fifteen years ago, nobody really needed certs from the get-go because you learned on the job and could get certified after a few years of experience, which is how certs are meant to work and how they are still designed to this day, specifically the CompTIA, Microsoft, and Cisco certs. These days, because of "best practices", companies generally do not hire uncertified IT workers or workers who are not certified in specific technical areas relating to the work they are hiring for or workers who are not certified at a minimum level that is satisfactory to them. When a company makes industry certifications mandatory, be it CompTIA, Microsoft, Cisco, Oracle, whatever, and they have a large pool of certified workers, then they get recognized for it - a certification of the company as a "Gold Partner" or some other such thing - then they are more likely to get work and it makes the company look good. Back in the day, if you had your certs, it was because you knew what you were doing and had learned how to do it reasonably well. Now, it's just test cramming and memorization. That's why certs have gotten a bad rap these days.

Valsacar

CodeBlox wrote: »

I don't believe you on the 100k tickets thing / year... They would be closing about 420 tickets a day. Unless the stuff is extremely easy (and there are a ton of duplicate tickets) I doubt anyone is that fast.

Programmer24,

I studied for about a month and a half.

Sorry, guess I left out a key detail there. Military network (two of them actually) that spans an entire country, a little bit bigger than your average corporate network. We have a number of custom made tools that make things a lot easier than it normally would (at least the troubleshooting part). Ranges from a password reset, to a port reset, change vlans, router down, account creation (few thousand a year), etc.