A+ Certification

[aschmidt]

I was going to get a job at a local computer repair shop that also sells WiFi intarweb, when the guy asked me if I had my A+ I literally just laughed at him. I just explained to him why that cert was a joke and I am not going to waste my time or money to take it (Although I did read the book cover to cover in HS).

Anyways after a bit of talking he realized I wasn't a complete idiot when it came to computers (although I also realized he was). He asks me if I knew windows 2003 (this was back when it was maybe a year old), I said I know a lot of 2000 and it shouldn't be that difficult to figure out whats going on. So he takes me back to his "server" to look at, and asks me what "Battlefield 1942 Crackz0r" is (or something like that). If you deal with a lot of stolen software like me you know what a legit program looks like and what a stolen one looks like. I had to explain to him how his current tech guy is running a stolen version of BF1942 server on this guys 2003 server. Then he blatantly told me he is going to fire his current tech.

By this point I knew this guy was dumb as a box of rocks, and I also noticed that the WEP key for the wifi was on a post-it note on the wall...

Yeah, I didn't even bother showing up for the "2nd" interview to actually get the job.

rofl, oh well...as long as I'm getting better pay, I'll be happy. It won't be half bad since I'll be able to work around computers instead of my current lame part time job.

[Jscotty]

Getting that A+ would be a good thing for your friend's business because it enables him to advertise that all of his technicians are A+ certified. But from personal experience, being A+ certified does not get you anywhere in the industry.

I took the A+ back in 1999 and it was mostly software.. the 7 layers of the OSI networking model and windows 98. Also there were a few questions on the POST beeps.. where one long beep and 3 short beeps mean something while one long beep alone means something else..and a short beep means everything is working fine.

One thing that I found about the certs is that they really don't mean much other than an indication for an HR person to determine whether you can go to the next interview or if you will get a rejection letter. When I was in the IT industry, there were so many "paper" MCSE certified people who didnt know anything.. while I knew the hardware and software inside and out without my full MCSE. So I would lie on my resume to get the job. Once I got in the interveiw with the IT manager, he didn't seem to care about certs one way or the other.

[Ryan Stewart]

Pretty much. They are proof you can take a test, that is it.