So my friend is being promoted at his job in Charlotte and his company is hiring and he said he could put in a good word for me and possibly get me some entry level job there. I turned in a resume and having no formal computer experience or certifications they said they would keep it on file :| But, he said that if I got some easy certs or something then it would make my resume look a lot better. Anything to show that I am not completely computer illiterate. A+ might even be enough to get an interview with his reference. My friend was by no means a computer whiz and he is excelling in this job. I have no doubt that I could do it with a little bit of training.

My question is, where can I take certification tests? Everywhere I look it seems like there is a class attached to the test and I would really rather not pay for a class when I'm pretty sure the test is easy enough to pass with some independent studying. Is that even an option?

3/25/2011 5:43:51 PM

My luck was for any company over around 25 people you basically have to have A+ to even be considered as a candidate. And from what I've seen the test is not that hard, it's just expensive

Very similar to the SAT in that it only signifies you're competent, but it's waaay expensive.

[Edited on March 25, 2011 at 5:46 PM. Reason : there are thousands of test centers, no class needed. Check the A+ website.]

3/25/2011 5:45:46 PM

I passed the SAS Base Cert exam with basically a month of SAS experience and studying. If you are still a student you would have access to the web based trainings that, while boring, would teach you everything you need to know. It is one of the most in demand certifications right now, not sure if it would be valuable for this job or not though.

3/25/2011 9:06:46 PM

From what I understand, he manages communication servers through Microsoft Exchange. I've read up a little bit on it, but not enough to understand a lot of technical stuff yet.

My other friend from high school has been doing this awhile and is getting hired by Microsoft for like 90k a year soon so there's definitely potential for advancement.

3/25/2011 9:09:07 PM

There's a couple threads on SA discussing the pros and cons to the different certifications. I was lucky in that experience (started with entry level helpdesk hookup at 17) got my foot in the door with a smaller company after I moved to Greenville. After 2 years one of our bigger clients offered me a full time position based on the work I'd done for them in the past year.

I wrestle with the idea of studying and getting some certs for the knowledge and future potential, but these days a lot of people just get braindumps, SAT cram, pass and then forget everything. I'd say it may help you get an interview, but if you don't halfway know your shit then they'll see right through it. (BobbyDigital has commented on this even with CCNA hires).

One day I was bored and decided to take a practice A+ test online. It look 45 minutes or so and I passed it, but most of the questions were so fucking antiquated and pointless it was extremely annoying. There's even a "For Dummies" book that would probably give you enough prep to pass it. I think the more respected CompTIA certs are Sec+ and Net+.

3/26/2011 3:38:10 AM