IT Certs

T

turb0

Gawd
Joined
Aug 20, 2004
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636
This feels like a noob'ish question but here's my deal. I've been out of college for almost 10 years now, been at the same job for almost 8 years, and feel like I'm in a little bit of a slump.

I have discussed continuing education and training with my superiors and they like the idea of me getting my head in the game again. I spent most of the morning playing around with some interactive A+ 10 question tests and some Net+ tests.

So my main question is... with all these options out there, which company is the best to look at for getting these tests done? What tests are really worth it?

I was looking at the CompTIA A+ and Net+ stuff and a company called Prometric offers the basic tests for a reasonable $168. Are there any better deals?

The company is going to foot the bill and I don't think I'll even need to really go by a study guide... the stuff is pretty basic unless the example questions are just a hook & bait scheme to get you in the door and sucker you in. :D

Please feel free to share any experiences or comments.

Side Note: This is getting me in the door to get my mojo back for studying tech stuff. I'll prolly do these A+ and Net+ tests soon and work my way up to the MSITP and MSSA stuff later this year in the fall or winter.
 
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In my experiences, the A+, Net+, and iNet+ are the certification equivalent to passing middle school. They might be a good primer to get you thinking about certs, and provide an easy way to get you into the testing/studying frame-of-mind, but don't expect them to add any value to your resume.
 
Go for the Net+. If you can pass Net+ without too much issue, there is no point in taking A+. from there, head on over and maybe snag Sec+.

CCNA, MCSA, Linux+ or RHCE maybe?
 
I'll just share my experience of what I have accomplished this year so far and what I plan on accomplishing by the end of this year.

My goal is work as a system admin for the government. Since I have friends that work both in the civilian and military field doing what I want to do this is what they told me. I am going to need the Security+ and MCSA/MCSE. I have zero experience working in the IT field. I do, however, have a lot of experience with computers/networking. This experience is solely based on buying Cisco gear, using VMware, and reading IT books like women read romance novels. I started this past January.

From January to today, I got A+ in January, Network+ in February, and Security+ in April. I'm about to take the 72/620 (Vista Configuring) next week. Then I'll take the 72/290, 72/291, 72/293, 72/294, and/or 72/297, 72/298 by August. After that, I plan on taking the CCNA by December of this year. If you don't know what the 72 is, don't worry. I'm about to get to that.

The reason of why I'm taking the 620 (Vista) instead of the 270 (XP) test is because the 270 doesn't count toward MCITP:EA. Plus the government doesn't plan on upgrading their servers from 2003 to 2008 for a while anyway. Besides, if you are MCSE no one is going to care what client exam you took.

Back in January, when I looked at the CompTIA website, I searched for a local test center. The closest and only one was a local Community College. Anyone could can take the Prometric test but you have to pay full test price. But, if you are student (doesn't matter if you are part/full time) you get all of the CompTIA test at 50% off. So I pay for a .5 credit class every semester and I'm qualified as a student. The Microsoft test cost me $60 a piece. This is where the 72 part comes in. This just says that you have a student voucher.

Now for how I passed all my CompTIA test first try. Go to Preplogic and purchase their mega guides for $1 / $4 when they go on sale. They are regularly $34 a piece but they have sales multiple times a year which is either the $1 or $4 a piece. The Preplogic guides are the best resource I've seen for any Prometric test (CompTIA, MS, Cisco, etc). Then I go to techexams.net and use that as main source for what book to purchase and guides. I just look over the objectives per test and make sure I know it.

The A+ test is very simply with common sense questions. You really only need the Preplogic guide to pass it. The Network+ test was pretty simply and I only used the downloaded guide from techexams.net and Preplogic. The Security+ test was a lot harder and I had to use multiple sources. I spent 6 weeks preparing for that test and passed with a 885/900.

The CompTIA test are multiple choice only. But, the Microsoft and Cisco test have simulations in it so you are going to need to use VMware for the MS test. I already have the Cisco gear for the CCNA but you can download simulation software if you wish.
 
ElvisG said:
Now for how I passed all my CompTIA test first try. Go to Preplogic and purchase their mega guides for $1 / $4 when they go on sale. They are regularly $34 a piece but they have sales multiple times a year which is either the $1 or $4 a piece.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip, I've bookmarked their site and will check their regularly to see about the $1 sales.
 
Personally, I'd get the A+ anyway. Just to have as a foundation kinda thing. If the company is going to pay for it why not? I'd then look at a CCNA which is imo opinion far more worthwhile then a Net+
 
my suggestion would be for you to decide in which part of the industry you would like to work, then for you to try and gain experience in this part, and whilst gaining experience also look to get the certs that go with it. for example, wouldnt be much point in you going and doing a cert about installing vista if you want to work on cisco routers for a living. im in a similar position to you, in that i've been working at the same place for a long while now, and im interesting in *everything*...so sometimes i find it hard to focus on what route to take. i'm currently working in i.t. security, and i have decided that it is definately the field i want to continue to work in, but one of the downfalls of security is that it touches *every* area of i.t., so i'm in a bit of a catch 22 situation. i've recently passed my ccna, looking to do my juniper certs (work with netscreen firewalls day in day out), and i'm also starting to work on microsoft and red hat stuff...whilst also trying to learn checkpoint and asa firewalls too. as you can see, quite a lot on...but all loosely focussed towards my goal of continuing to work in security. at some point i'm also going to have to dip my toe into programming...which i haven't done since college...rusty! i think my final piece of advice is to avoid getting stuck in a catch 22 like i have, try and decide where you want to be, break it down into small chunks, and then go after each of those small chunks in order. and, very important, try and get some experience along the way...just having certs wont automatically get you a super job somewhere. good luck! :)
 
the it school i attend they recommend taking a+ and net+as core certs. can do security+ also. then you can branch off from there go cisco or more mcsa or mcse. some jobs want you to do it all...........wear multiple hats if you will. they want you to be able to fix computers........trouble shoot log on problems .........do active directory and they want you to be the network go to guy. so saying not to take a+ i think is a bad idea. work is work. try to get some experience along the way.
 
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