A+ certified Jobs

Devin McCloud · July 2006

I guess this might be posted in the wrong spot .....What are the jobs like out there guys? I am not doing it for the money. Just doing it for the knowledge since I am already trying to run 7 Microsoft server out of my apartment(MSIB setup). I am getting alot of negative flack from friends and family about what a waste the A+ certification is in the job market. Around here there might be one job a year and 400 applicants. I have family and friends that are MCSE certified and they keep telling me not to waste my money. It's ironic cause they cant find jobs with their MCSE,MCDB, and MCSA certififcations either. Is there starting to be a demand for a certified A+ tech?

Plantwiz · July 2006

Devin,

It's like most career paths, your creditenitals will likely keep your resume in the pile for prospective interviews, but your attidute and personalitly will get you back for a second interview and very possibly the job.

As far as going for an A+, if you will be working with hardware most of your day, you may find it helps to provide a benchmark of your skillset. If you are looking to become a System Admin or Engineer, security specialist, etc... invest your money in other certifications and don't merely collect certs because they 'sound good'.

I know (and have worked) with far too many people who claim to be A+ certified (yes, they have the paper), but they just don't *GET* how hardware works. They don't hear it, they don't feel it, they just want it, but it's not in them to be 'great'.

If you find memorizing historical infomraiton about hardware boring, don't bother. Focus your time on the areas you really can excel at and be great at those areas!

I'd love to see people with A+ certifications who really love what they do. Unfortunately, I know far too many people (and work with too many) who hold an A+ for the mere sake of having an A+ and cannot figure out BIOS settings and jumper settings.

As far as quality people go...I do think far too many have taken the A+ exam and do not do the credential justice. At the same time, being A+ certified isn't the final frontier of computer work, so if it's an interest for you, go for it! If you prefer Routers/switches/ CISCO type stuff...skip the A+ and concentrate on CISCO certs.

FWIW

Devin McCloud · July 2006

Even with the negetive buzzards circling my head(family and friends) I still am pursuing the certification for me. This is the reason I installed a mental firewall to block them out. I actually love computers and want to do repairs on the side. I spent the last 6 months building 6 dual 2.8 xeons rack servers from scratch with a 6 ft rack mount inclosure. I am doing this for me and only me....because it makes me happy. I guess I came off a little negetive but my intentions were good. I was merely curious if the A+ market had pickup or if it was saturated. I guess I was kinda rambling too!

Plantwiz · July 2006

I didn't take your post as 'rambling' or negative in any respect. I thought you were asking about A+ certification in relation to obtaining jobs.

I don't think having an A+ helps in many cases, but it doesn't likely hurt a candiate either.

After seeing the 'quality' of applicants who would enter the store and say they just 'earned' their A+ and then I'd interview them...they were ID10T's and basically only knew PNP stuff....big deal. I needed staff who can handle a variety of things as well as know how to look stuff up, but we couldn't afford to have someone learning 100% of their stuff on the job...they had to be efficient with their repairs and do them perfectly the first time....doesn't pay to have a client continue to return with teh same problem if the tech 'fixed' the problem, they needed to educate the client on how to avoid that same problem next time (if it was a user error) or help them watch for whent they may outgrow their system and need to upgrade.

Genearlly, Smart people and smart hard working people get jobs and get the good jobs. You can be the hardest worker, but if you cannot generate enough business to cover your wages PLUS the expense of having you occupying space....then things are not going to work out.

Holding an A+ doens't make a job applicant smarter, and from my experience doesn't make them more desirable (depending on how they earned the cert), just saying it won't hurt you either.

Some busineses 'require' an A+. The places I've worked prefer to hire smart people first, certified people who are smart are just a marketing bonus. It's pretty easy to sell your clients on trusting your staff when they do things right the first time, have a good personality, and don't overcharge for their work. Not all certified people have these skills and merely knowing how to build a computer doensn't take an engineer degree...anyone can do it today.

So, if have your heart set on obtaining the certificate, by all means go for it! It's a nice way to add some wrinkles in the grey matter

If you have hopes for becoming an MSCA/E or Cisco...then concentrate your efforts on the bigger picture. There is a place for good technicians...always room. There are plenty of bad ones in the market now, so any edge you can provide yourself to knock one of the slackers out of the way, by all means go for it.

There are companies who do not hold the A+ as the final cert for bringing on new staff as they know how many people have an A+ as well as how many just don't realize a PC can boot with a HDD and an Atapi device on the same cable (OH, yes, it has happened!!).

As I've lightly mentioned, the companies I've worked for don't make an A+ the deciding factor for hiring the person...they have to be smart and personable. Tech skills can be taught! But saying one has a cert and not knowing 'basic' tech terms, configurations, troubleshooting can make a candidate less desirable very quickly!

A+ certified Jobs

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