Quick certs question

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CiscoInside

Gawd
Joined
Mar 26, 2010
Messages
546
With the new year, I am planning on taking my CCNA before July. I was originally going to take my A+ last year, after studing and all that but events came up and pushed it off, to the point where I lost the damn voucher I paid for. Its my fault for pushing it.

Anyways, I have come to the decision that I want to gain my ccna as I am more network driven, and would especially like to have it before my 1 year anniversary at my job in July. My original plan was A+ then CCNA then CCNA voice and then continue with cisco and also maybe vmware. Is anyone seeing an importance with the A+ anymore? Especially since now its a 3 year cert? Yea if I could of got it while it was lifetime then sure, but now, meh?

Worse case I will get it after my CCNA, but would really like to start Cisco.

Any thoughts?
 
If you plan on applying to any large business or the US government, it's going to be a requirement to have A+ to get by the HR screening. HR personal have zero knowledge of what the job entails when looking at what kind of cert is required. This reason alone is why you will see jobs for MCSE that require a A+ as well.
 
ElvisG said:
If you plan on applying to any large business or the US government, it's going to be a requirement to have A+ to get by the HR screening. HR personal have zero knowledge of what the job entails when looking at what kind of cert is required. This reason alone is why you will see jobs for MCSE that require a A+ as well.
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You won't need the A+. If an MCSE spot wants A+ it's usually a support position, not a real sysadmin spot. Just pick your jobs wisely. If you get bored one day go ahead and do the A+ but if you're choosing your time right now between it and the CCNA do the CCNA.
 
There are ways to satisfy CompTIA's recertify policy besides taking the test over again, including gaining other certs like MCP (Microsoft) and I believe Cisco's as well. A+ will probably be easy for you and a support desk position is always something you can look to fall back on if anything happens to your company.

On second thought though, you may be taking a different career path with your CCNA rather then A+ -> Network+ -> MCP -> MCITP Administration.. so it's your call.

As for A+ helping with screening, certification can help but most positions have and/or requirements. a Microsoft or Network+ cert will help you almost the same depending on how much hardware you'll be working on. Heck nowadays it can be hard to get a support position with only an A+ it's definitely only a beginning.
 
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A+ doesn't really hold it's weight like it did back in the day. Its' definitely a different career path than a cisco cert. In the end though, getting a new cert is better than none. If you can get both, then that is better too. i got my A+ back in 2002. I'm actually about to start applying for a new job, and i'm including my A+ on my resume.(along with microsoft and cisco certs too)
 
MavsX said:
A+ doesn't really hold it's weight like it did back in the day. Its' definitely a different career path than a cisco cert. In the end though, getting a new cert is better than none. If you can get both, then that is better too. i got my A+ back in 2002. I'm actually about to start applying for a new job, and i'm including my A+ on my resume.(along with microsoft and cisco certs too)
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Agreed, back a few years ago it seemed to be more important when talking about certs and jobs. Currently I am in a college program with the end result which hopefully will be me getting my CCNA and CCNP down the road. I don't think I would go for the A+ cert unless I had some free spare time to do it.

I remember comptia's Net+ cert, seemed to be important a few years ago but now with cisco programs out there to help get people educated and certified, Net+ seems to have dissapeared.
 
keep the DoD 8570 in mind.

if you decide to work for the gov or a gov contractor on their IT systems it is required that you take get one of these approved certs. if it need it, i would just pound out the net+. if you can pass the ccna then net+ should be a breeze.

http://www.giac.org/8570/
 
mycomputersucks said:
keep the DoD 8570 in mind.

if you decide to work for the gov or a gov contractor on their IT systems it is required that you take get one of these approved certs. if it need it, i would just pound out the net+. if you can pass the ccna then net+ should be a breeze.

http://www.giac.org/8570/
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In that case Security+ would be another cert you should get. It has some overlap with A+ & N+ so shouldn't be too hard.
 
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