A+ Certification?

Is A+ Certification all its cracked up to be? I was just curious how I go
about making myself marketable in the Network Manager field.

My degree is in Accounting Information Systems and I'd like to start working
more in Network admininstration and installation realm.

Any info would be appreciated.
-Parley

Parley wrote:
> Is A+ Certification all its cracked up to be? I was just curious how
> I go about making myself marketable in the Network Manager field.
>
> My degree is in Accounting Information Systems and I'd like to start
> working more in Network admininstration and installation realm.

I think its very good at what it does, but its a basic computer hardware and
basic systems kind of thing, which is, like I said, great as far as it goes,
but it doesn't really address the job of a network administrator.

It doesn't address network admin skills.

With the job market as tight as it is (at least in my area), I know of
hiring managers who use A+ as a criteria to reduce the stack of resumes that
they receive.

"Robert Moir" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Parley wrote:
> > Is A+ Certification all its cracked up to be? I was just curious how
> > I go about making myself marketable in the Network Manager field.
> >
> > My degree is in Accounting Information Systems and I'd like to start
> > working more in Network admininstration and installation realm.
>
> I think its very good at what it does, but its a basic computer hardware
and
> basic systems kind of thing, which is, like I said, great as far as it
goes,
> but it doesn't really address the job of a network administrator.
>
>

On Wed, 3 Mar 2004 20:40:32 -0500, "Rob Elder, MVP-Networking"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>It doesn't address network admin skills.

Plus it signifies the knowledge that six months in the field should
give you, extremely entry level.

>With the job market as tight as it is (at least in my area), I know of
>hiring managers who use A+ as a criteria to reduce the stack of resumes that
>they receive.

Extremely common. But a Net+, CCNA or MCSE would be much better at
bubbling your resume up in the stack for a network position. Keep in
mind that a hiring manager will be looking at experience, so someone
with no experience and a certification really only beats out the guy
with no experience and no certification.

Jeff

>"Robert Moir" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Parley wrote:
>> > Is A+ Certification all its cracked up to be? I was just curious how
>> > I go about making myself marketable in the Network Manager field.
>> >
>> > My degree is in Accounting Information Systems and I'd like to start
>> > working more in Network admininstration and installation realm.
>>
>> I think its very good at what it does, but its a basic computer hardware
>and
>> basic systems kind of thing, which is, like I said, great as far as it
>goes,
>> but it doesn't really address the job of a network administrator.
>>
>>
>

> Extremely common. But a Net+, CCNA or MCSE would be much better at
> bubbling your resume up in the stack for a network position. Keep in
> mind that a hiring manager will be looking at experience, so someone
> with no experience and a certification really only beats out the guy
> with no experience and no certification.
>
> Jeff


I so wish that were the case, most HR people I run across hire the idiot who
has the certification and little to no experience. So then you get stuck
helping a moron who was book smart and test smart but never truly fixed a
server with a blue screen of death. Our novel guy had novel certs, but had
to call novel support constantly when the servers went down. Knew how to
pass the tests but didn't really know how to fix the servers. But then I
guess the bean counters missed how much support costs went up, and we can
saw we have a certified Novell person on staff, yea right...

I have my A+ but it was only a stepping stone toward better certification
like the Net+ or CCNA.

Well,
This is what I feared. How do you get experience? Do I have to find an
idiot in HR somewhere to hire me? I would even be willing to work in a
part-time internship. In your experience have you seen companies that
actually do that?

TIA
Parley

"Jeremy" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> > Extremely common. But a Net+, CCNA or MCSE would be much better at
> > bubbling your resume up in the stack for a network position. Keep in
> > mind that a hiring manager will be looking at experience, so someone
> > with no experience and a certification really only beats out the guy
> > with no experience and no certification.
> >
> > Jeff
>
>
> I so wish that were the case, most HR people I run across hire the idiot
who
> has the certification and little to no experience. So then you get stuck
> helping a moron who was book smart and test smart but never truly fixed a
> server with a blue screen of death. Our novel guy had novel certs, but
had
> to call novel support constantly when the servers went down. Knew how to
> pass the tests but didn't really know how to fix the servers. But then I
> guess the bean counters missed how much support costs went up, and we can
> saw we have a certified Novell person on staff, yea right...
>
> I have my A+ but it was only a stepping stone toward better certification
> like the Net+ or CCNA.
>
>

>This is what I feared. How do you get experience?

The same way everyone else did - marry the boss's daughter.

>Do I have to find an
>idiot in HR somewhere to hire me? I would even be willing to work in a
>part-time internship. In your experience have you seen companies that
>actually do that?

Internships usually go to college (sometimes high school) students who
can get credit for them. Volunteer work is a great way to get
experience, installing a LAN for your church is the same as installing
a LAN for your employer as far as experience goes. Another great way
in is to work for the company in a differtne capacity and migrate to
the IT department.

Jeff

"Jeff Cochran" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> >This is what I feared. How do you get experience?
>
> The same way everyone else did - marry the boss's daughter.

I don't think my wife would appreciate that. `-)

>
> >Do I have to find an
> >idiot in HR somewhere to hire me? I would even be willing to work in a
> >part-time internship. In your experience have you seen companies that
> >actually do that?
>
> Internships usually go to college (sometimes high school) students who
> can get credit for them. Volunteer work is a great way to get
> experience, installing a LAN for your church is the same as installing
> a LAN for your employer as far as experience goes. Another great way
> in is to work for the company in a differtne capacity and migrate to
> the IT department.
>
> Jeff

Parley wrote:
> Well,
> This is what I feared. How do you get experience? Do I have to find
> an idiot in HR somewhere to hire me? I would even be willing to work
> in a part-time internship. In your experience have you seen
> companies that actually do that?

In my area there are jobs that are suitable for people who are entering the
trade. I think as long as jobs like that exist then you can look for one of
those and not have to pretend to be something you are not, and because the
hiring company know what they are getting you can hopefully expect to be
given opportunities and time to improve and formalise your skills.

In fact we do this quite often where I work. We interviewed every "paper
MCSE" who applied for the job but hired a guy who had no certs but a lot of
motivation and who is now part way through a computer science degree and
hoping to do a MCSE, sponored by us, as well.

(and before anyone asks, we're not hiring at the moment)

--
--
Rob Moir, Microsoft MVP for servers & security
Website - http://www.robertmoir.co.uk
Virtual PC 2004 FAQ - http://www.robertmoir.co.uk/win/VirtualPC2004FAQ.html

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