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Training / Certificates

-Phil--Phil- Registered User regular
edited February 2009 in Help / Advice Forum
Hello all! I posted in the Tech Tavern but have had no responses as of yet. Hopefully, someone here can maybe help me out.

So, I recently applied for a technical support analyst position within my company. I will be having the interview for the job in a few weeks and will hopefully get the job. I would consider myself above average when dealing with computers. I have good working knowledge of most of the systems that will be needed for the job. However, I would like to get some sort of certifications that will help me with my future progress. The below list contains the job functions (I narrowed them down to the tech ones), can you please provide me with and suggestions on courses or certifications I should be going for?

- Meets with division or section heads to review nature of request as it relates to microcomputer application or geographic information systems or other technical systems.

- Analyzes and reviews existing software and hardware capabilities; recommends new or alternative methods to meet requirements.

- May design, develop and operate relational data bases to produce complex statistical information needed in the production of graphs, charts and maps as supportive data and professional visual presentation.

- Provides software and hardware support to microcomputer terminal users; analyzes and develops department’s automation requirements.

- Reviews and implements microcomputer and mainframe interface requirements.

PS - I currently have a degree in Business Administration (Finance).

Thanks for any help that you can provide/

[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
-Phil- on

Posts

  • Shorn Scrotum ManShorn Scrotum Man Registered User regular
    edited February 2009
    A+ certainly never hurts. The rest would depend on what exact systems you'd like to deal with. If you're doing Microsoft SQL Server databases, then MCTS: SQL Server would be good. What software are you using for the graphs/charts/etc? My work uses Crystal and Xcelsius for some of those things, if your company uses such programs then the relevant Business Objects/SAP certs would definitely be useful.

    Shorn Scrotum Man on
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  • -Phil--Phil- Registered User regular
    edited February 2009
    We use Crystal for information that is uploaded onto the web based version. I have a pretty good working knowledge of the program and have a great reference guide that I fall back on. For the more simple stuff, I simply export the information into excel and work from that.

    -Phil- on
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  • Shorn Scrotum ManShorn Scrotum Man Registered User regular
    edited February 2009
    Well, then definitely look at getting a Business Objects Certified Professional - Crystal Objects. That's pretty much the starting point for everything Business Objects related. Watch out though, the tests suck :P

    Shorn Scrotum Man on
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  • -Phil--Phil- Registered User regular
    edited February 2009
    For the A+ certificate, can it be done through independent study? Or would you suggest attending a class for that?

    -Phil- on
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  • Shorn Scrotum ManShorn Scrotum Man Registered User regular
    edited February 2009
    You probably could study on your own, but the nice thing about taking classes is that the teacher can steer you towards what he/she thinks will be most vital for you.

    Here is kind of an overview: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/A%2B_Certification

    Shorn Scrotum Man on
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  • TomantaTomanta Registered User regular
    edited February 2009
    Can you build your own computer? If yes, there is no real reason to take a class for A+, grab a book or two and self study should be fine.

    Tomanta on
  • ThomamelasThomamelas Only one man can kill this many Russians. Bring his guitar to me! Registered User regular
    edited February 2009
    Tomanta wrote: »
    Can you build your own computer? If yes, there is no real reason to take a class for A+, grab a book or two and self study should be fine.

    Pretty much. They've dropped a decent amount of the obscure shit from the A+ exam. When I took it, it still had questions about token ring networks on it.

    Thomamelas on
  • -Phil--Phil- Registered User regular
    edited February 2009
    Yeah, I can pretty much build my own computer. I have changed out parts on my parents computer as well. I think Im just going to pick up a study guide, go through it, and take the test.

    -Phil- on
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  • Shorn Scrotum ManShorn Scrotum Man Registered User regular
    edited February 2009
    Yeah, there is basic networking stuff, and printing, like anybody cares about that. And you have to know a bunch of stuff about operating systems that nobody uses anymore. Fun fun.

    Shorn Scrotum Man on
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