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Comptia A+/other cert study guide?
CangoFett
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Hey folks, you may remember me from the computertraining.com thread, were we learned that computertraining.com is a rip off, and a smart fellow like me can get my own darn certs.
Im looking for something that I can study, take the test, get the cert, put it on a resume, and get a crappy entry level job somewhere in the IT field that while still crappy, is better than putting bananas onto shelves like I do now.
Is A+ the way to go? Or would I have better chances with something like a MCITP
I saw a few books at borders, but got nervous when one of them was using WIN98 for its examples. Any suggestions as to what guide/brand of guides to aim for/avoid?
Im looking for something that I can study, take the test, get the cert, put it on a resume, and get a crappy entry level job somewhere in the IT field that while still crappy, is better than putting bananas onto shelves like I do now.
Is A+ the way to go? Or would I have better chances with something like a MCITP
I saw a few books at borders, but got nervous when one of them was using WIN98 for its examples. Any suggestions as to what guide/brand of guides to aim for/avoid?
CangoFett on
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The entry level MS specific certifications may carry more weight these days (I'm a Linux guy, so I've got no idea, really) than A+ and Network+. Again, back in the day, you used to be able to count A+ or Network+ (maybe both, I forget... I'm getting old) towards your MS certifications that required multiple tests. This allowed you to have more shiny entry to mid-level certifications to put on your resume for a roughly equal amount of work and money. Keep in mind that too many certifications without the experience to back them up rarely does any good and sometimes hurts, but I don't think A+, Network+, and a low level MS cert would put you in that boat.
A+ up until 2006 (I believe) was useless but it has since been updated to remove a big chunk of the bullshit that isnt appliciable anymore (DOS, windows 3.1 etc) if you are looking into doing more of the hardware side of things I would recommend it as it has some interesting stuff in it.
Server + which I took last year was kind of a waste, I think it was just updated but I cant confirm that, when I did it it had shit that nobody uses anymore, SCSI terminators, RAID that isnt 1+0, 5 or 6 and a bunch of old stuff that isnt appliciable anymore. There is some fundimentals that are still in practice but overall wait until its updated (or if it is then go ahead and take it)
since I do hardware work specifically, server + and A+ were prereqs for alot of the vendors I support. I havent bothered with any of the Microsoft Courses because I have no interest in going back into the software side of things.
If I ever wanted to I would take a Microsoft Server course, maybe exchange server.
I guess what it comes down to is what interests you in the IT sector, hardware? go the route I have above,
Server, the above helps as well but throw in some networking and storage certs as well.
network, well network + would be a good baseline then I would suggest a CCNA then maybe work up from there.
Storage? well server + , network and vendor specific (I like NetApp myself)
Phone grunt Deskside support jockey, microsoft certs are nice as well as an A+
For study guides check out Testking (which is pretty much word for word copies of the exams you will be writting complete with answer and usually a reason why its the answer)
Testking is a "study guide" for cheaters. You are a cheater if you use Testking to "study" for a cert test. Do not listen to anyone who tells you to use Testking as a study guide because he is likely a cheater too.
Totally agree.
Also, now is not the time to be getting into IT. I'm about to graduate, I love IT, but if I could magically change my degree I would. IT market is completely absymal now, especially for people looking to enter. All the people that got laid off are taking the entry level jobs. From what I've seen even an entry job like Help desk now requires a 2-4 year and some certs or experience. Before you go into IT look at the job market in your area and look at how many entry level jobs there actually are. I don't think IT is going to "rebound" either. The skills and requirements for all positions are going up across the board while the pay goes down.
I know when I was in high school there was A LOT of false advertising with BS like 50K+ starting with a 2yr! That shit is total nonsense. I think it may have been true during the dot com bubble, but their sales pitches have not been updated to what is true as of today. I know for last years graduates at the local 2 year tech school half are not in anything IT, the best job any of them got was a Help Desk intership. The only exceptions with good IT jobs had them before they went to school.
I'd definitely recommend going into something healthcare related instead. I know a lot of geeks and nerds get socially pulled to IT, but in all honesty if you want good pay, benefits, and job security IT is not competitive. IT is great for people at the top and only a few are going to get there.
tldr: Someone with experience always get the job over the guy without experience and in IT it takes experience to get experience.
I've been working in IT for 8 years now and I haven't been able to advance past desktop/field technician for universities and private schools.* Advancement in IT these days is nigh impossible because people with more experience are taking the lower level jobs. Stay out of IT if you can, this profession really isn't worth being in any more.
* I have certs and I have experience to back it up; it's just that hard to move up and make money.
meh, it was helpful when I took my A+ but I had already been in the industry for 8 years and A+ became a prequesite for some of the certs I needed.
I dont see anything particulary terrible about using Testking if you have the skills to back it up. If you just use testking to memorize the answers when you have no knowledge or experience or actual understanding of what the material is then you will hit a serious fucking wall if you get hired because you really will know nothing.
I have met too many paper engineers to put my faith in certifications and the methods for achieving them, they are nice to have but actual practical experience is far more valuble.
Honestly, I can't say what I want to without getting banned, so I'll just quote what certguard has to say about it instead.
http://www.certguard.com/braindumps.asp
Never heard of "Certguard" nor do I really care if someone "cheats" to get there certification as it will be there own ass in the fire if they cannot perform. If they get hired purely on certs then you have a shitty hiring manager.
To the OP, don't use brain dumps to study for cert exams. There are plenty of legitimate study aids that will help you earn your certs without having to cheat.
If you use it as your only means of getting the certification yes you are right. If you have the knowledge and the experience to go along with looking at a brain dump to acheive the cert then imo thats just another resource for studying.
Sorry if you disagree with me on that, I am not going to change my opinion as I know those who just use dumps to get certs get fucked over in the end because they cant do the job or they fail during the technical portion of the interview (assuming your hiring manager isnt a fuckwit)
Its there ass in the end if they cant back it up. If the company suffers because they hire one of these guys then they need to readdress there own hiring practices. A cert gets your resume noticed, but its your actual knowledge and experience that should get you hired.
If you already have the experience to back up the cert, why are you reading a braindump to get all of the questions and answers beforehand?
It's not another resource for studying. It's flat out cheating because knowing exactly what questions are on the test and what the answers are before you take the exam is cheating. People like you are the problem with the IT certification industry.
If I study for a test 200hours and then later cheat, guess what, you cheated on the test. It's not a matter of opinion here, it's undeniable, this isn't a debate or a matter of degrees, it's a purely binary value. Now you're trying to say people cheating on these tests doesn't have an impact on IT, and again this is absolutely not true. It has had an undeniable impact that isn't a matter of opinion. In fact if it wasn't for these cheaters the OP might have a shot getting a decent entry level job by proving himself through passing various certifications, but today most likely he will just be assumed to be a braindumper and have his resume deleted.
The problems with the certifications existed long before I came along.
I'll be honest here, I dont like Comptia.
Other exams like microsoft, vendor specifics exams are useful and are updated and maintained regularly. That is useful, that is important especially how fast technology moves. Comptia on the other hand is not, it took them years to update A+, Server + and a few other exams.
While some of the basic information is still relevant, there was alot that just doesnt apply anymore, the recent update was good but still contained alot of stuff that most techs arent going to run into anymore, except maybe in a production/manufacturing enviroment and even then they are going to have there own old stuff that isnt even mentioned in A+ so its moot (As400, RACF mainframes, Cobol etc)
I find Comptia to be more of a money grab than anything. Shit PDI+ which unfortunately is being adopted as a standard certification for anyone doing printer and imaging support just came out. Vendors already have there own certs that you still need to get to be able to support the equipment but now you need to get another cert at 200+ bucks to do what you are already doing? I have a problem with that.
(I dont do printer support btw)
That is why I feel the way I do about Comptia certs, and thats why I dont feel much remorse if someone uses a braindump. People are funny, we can be confident as all shit about our abilities, right up until someones say pay me 200 bucks to write a test. Then we worry. Then we look at the test and see they have fricking questions about windows NT and 98 still on it.
And they wonder why people use braindumps.
now your stretching, yes braindumps have made all certifications null and void.
So it's okay to cheat because you don't like the company that owns the certification (or how they run their exams)?
I'll ask this again, since you haven't bothered to answer it:
Why are you memorizing a braindump if you can back up everything on the exam with experience and knowledge?
I was confident as shit when I took my certification tests because I put in the time and studied the material, so I fail to see any point you're trying to make.
I took my A+ when I was making $9 an hour and living on my own and barely had two quarters to rub together. I bought the book for $50, studied during my overnight shifts working as a night auditor at a hotel and paid for the exam with my credit card. I passed it, and having that certification was one of the big reasons I landed my first IT job as an intern. That intern job allowed me to go back to school. If it wasn't for certifications like these I wouldn't have been able to claw my way out of the shithole I was living in. So when I see people cheating on certs and talking about who cares, so what, it's not cheating, whatever BS excuse - it pisses me off, because if there were more of these people the person who interviewed me wouldn't of thought my self study showed initiative and a desire to learn, he would of thought I just brain dumped it, and I might still be working at that hotel.
I'm going to be taking the CCNA at the end of this month, and I'm hoping it will lead to finally moving into networking. If there are too many CCNA braindumpers it won't and I'll be stuck where I am right now. When I eventually get to be a level 1 networking guy I'll be working on my CCNP and so on.
The stated (and achieved) goal of the program was to give me a firm grasp of the current most common software and hardware being used in the majority of companies, how to set it up, maintain it, and problem solve, basically so I could slip into any IT department using a fairly standard setup/best practices and have an idea of what they're doing. Every IT job I've had (I'm on my third) has had a slight learning curve. The first day or two is pretty intimidating, until you sort of figure out that this network is, at it's core, the same as the one you spent the previous three years working on.
Now, in addendum to the fact that it's my third job, I must also put in my 2 cents on braindumpers, or what my college colleagues and I call "Paper MCSE's" or "Paper CCNA's", etc. They're "Certified" individuals who managed to get their papers without actually being "Qualified".
Yes, there's a difference, a person can be qualified but uncertified, or both qualified and certified, and unfortunately, some people manage to get certified without being qualified.
All of the jobs I've had I've had to deal with the leftovers of my predecessors, who were the certified but not qualified type. An example of each:
First Job: Only domain controller was also the only SQL server and file server, for 50+ employees running a pharmacy database app that put the SQL server under heavy use. The server was configured with a software RAID1 array, even though the motherboard supported hardware RAID1 or 5. Also the Hard drives were EIDE. The guy who set this up was supposedly A+ certified and a Microsoft MCP in Server 2000.
Second Job: 50 User MS SBS2003 was setup on some decent poweredge servers, Active Directory/File Server on one, SQL on another, and Exchange on the third. All user accounts were being used (75 user limit), as the previous administrator created new accounts as aliases for existing users. Exchange mailbox limit was 2GB, and no send/receive message size limits. Mailstore was crashing daily due to it being 16GB and exchange being unpatched. Supposedly setup/configured/administered by an MCSE.
Third Job: Domain network, 95% of users share username/password with at least three other users. While main printers are added, shared, and listed in Active Directory, most users have Local TCP/IP ports and drivers anyway. Also all users have local admin privileges, and today I had to show one how to print a sheet of mailing labels. Supposedly this network was setup by an MCSE.
I started on a help desk, moved my way into hardware, and then into LAN Admin. From there I moved into networks, and finally into Information Security (where I currently work). While they are not starting areas, I would recommend info sec and privacy as growth areas (depending on where you live) - I work in government and the current gov't is outsourcing techie jobs at a phenomenal rate but privacy and info sec are rarely outsourced.
OP: So while I don't think this has been helpful for your question, once you do get into IT start looking around at specialties - generalists get outsourced :-) Also don't forget the soft skills - techie stuff can be taught but if you don't work well in a team it will be much harder to get hired. Also, look at what skills you already have - I was teaching volunteer dog walkers at my local SPCA, and building on that skill part of my current responsibilities is teaching info sec basics courses to other employees.
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