[ALEXIS_DH]

so, i got my hands on this A+ certification book, and i got curious about this certifications.

A+ seems pretty basic stuff to be worth of a certification.
i've been wondering lately. am moving this january to the US (going back to finish school), so i'd probably need a job.

am a car-mechanic by education. i'll probably have to get ASE certified when i move up there tho.

although is never bad to get extra certifications, and am also not sure what kinda of job i'd like to get once up there.
basically i'd need a very easy schedule, probably 15-20 hours a week or something like that. convinience is the name of the game, so it got me thinking into having other doors (besides cars) open...

my job here has kinda pushed me a bit towards IT stuff, some light database manipulation and lan-nanny, so i'm wondering how green is the grass further down that line...

what about the MSDBA, or the MSCE? what kinda of posibilities that open?
how the market up there?

 

[binary visions]

The PC support industry is going down the sh*tter in the US. It's not totally there yet, but that's the direction it's headed.

Everyone is outsourcing, and certs are very prevelant so there's a little bit of a glut of qualified people needing jobs.

A+ is an easy certification to obtain though, and tells an employer that you have not only a basic level of skill but enough initiative to go out and do some optional studying and take an optional test. Never a bad thing.

You may have a tough time finding part time computer support work unless you apply at a big business such as Best Buy and do general computer service. That's not necessarily a bad thing to do, it's just my experience that the more desirable businesses want full time help, and there are enough people around that they can get it.

If it were me, I wouldn't dabble in multiple fields. Expanding your horizons is great, but if you're job hunting, you can either tell a lot of interviewers, "Um... Yeah... I have some experience in this" or you can tell a few interviewers that you know your sh*t cold. The latter is a more favorable impression. Did you like your database work? Learn more about it. Do you like networking? Dive in.

MS certs are good like the A+ cert... It's just an added boost. Two people with equivalent resumes, one has certifications, well there's the one to pick. Especially with no schooling that's computer related.

I'm not a hiring expert, just my perspective from the application side.

 

[ALEXIS_DH]

The PC support industry is going down the sh*tter in the US.

Everyone is outsourcing, and certs are very prevelant so there's a little bit of a glut of qualified people needing jobs.

the irony, i work at an outsourced company here (not IT though, CS)...

yeah, am just wondering you know.
i already know my mechanics stuff around bimmers.... but its never bad to think what else lays around.... specially since sometimes it can take like 3 showers to get the grease smell out if you are doing the wrenching...

how much do a best buy kinda job pays? how much a mechanic job pays?

 

[binary visions]

It's going to depend on the area you're moving to. I don't know how much mechanics get paid, but the Best Buy job I was offered down here paid around $10/hour. Not enough

 

[Ridemonkey]

I haven't been in that biz for a few years, but when I was MCSEs were almost a dime a dozen, and I expect it's gotten much more saturated since. Personally, I don't put a lot of weight on certs as many of the MCSEs I've met were pretty much useless anyway....but I wasn't hiring them either.

 

[Ciaran]

I Just got out of the biz. It's much the same...EVERYONE has certs. Well, except the genius geeks... they either have degrees or no education at all.

When our office hired we didn't even bother with the education portion of the resume. We looked at the experience. That got them in the door. Once inside we grilled the hell out of them. It became readily apparant whether or not someone knew their stuff.

To give you an idea about salaries I can tell you that at the company I worked for (Kaiser Permanente) the HELP DESK monkies got started at 35 - 40 K per year with full bennies. Not too bad for answering the phone, letting someone vent, and then telling them to reboot.

 

[johnbryanpeters]

I got MCSE and MCSD certs early on, but have found no reason to maintain them. Studying eats up a stupid amount of time and our company stopped giving meaningful bonuses for the certs.

The study-to-the-test culture also sucks.

 

[Tenchiro]

A+ is only a stepping stone to Network+ and/or Security+. It is pretty worthless otherwise. Even MCSE's are a dime a dozen these days, mostly due to the prevelence of boot camps. Cisco certs are still quite valuable though.

I read a news article recently saying that for the first time experience is worth more to employers than certifications.

 

[Ciaran]

A+ is only a stepping stone to Network+ and/or Security+. It is pretty worthless otherwise. Even MCSE's are a dime a dozen these days, mostly due to the prevelence of boot camps. Cisco certs are still quite valuable though.

I read a news article recently saying that for the first time experience is worth more to employers than certifications.

I think the news article is just catching up. IMO experience (and being able to PROVE that you know your ****e) has been more important than certs for a long time.

 

[Tenchiro]

I think the news article is just catching up. IMO experience (and being able to PROVE that you know your ****e) has been more important than certs for a long time.

Personally I would like to get Security+ along with the CEH and move to IT Security. I think this winter I may start on those.

But I havent had a problem without any certs, and have been employed for most of the last 10 years in some sort of IT field.