A+ certification

mmz87

I was in Books-a-Million the other day and saw the computer certification books. I was wondering if it's possible to get certified for something if your still in high school. Do you have to take a college course on it or can you just study and go take a test somewhere? Thanx for your input.

dryars

Yes you can take A+ if you are still in high-school, and it is a "study on your own time" type of thing. No formal education is require to take or while taking it. You should know though that A+ is not a replacement for a diploma or a degree. NOT EVEN CLOSE!! A+ these days will barely get you into a door, and usually that door will be a mom and pop computer parts shop. If you are serious about certification then I whole heartly suggest you get some formal education first (college/university), and then get your certs to COMPLIMENT your formal training. If possible get into a program that offers co-op. Let me tell you that here in Canada, having a co-op position will increase your chance of getting a job like 500%. Of course this is not full-proof however, but your chances are very high if you go co-op.

sorry I side tracked a bit, but I thought I'd provide you some insight on how I landed my IT job just 2 years after graduating from high-school.

BTW where are you from?

Flying Dutchman

It is possible to get certified in high school. I am currently working on my CCNA ceritfication through my high school. Ofcourse its a total waste of time. High school certification programs are no match for a higher education diploma. I am sure companies would prefer a college educated employee rather than a freshly certified kid out of high school.

Besides, the CCNA is very shady these days. Cheating is rampant. If I was an employer I would look twice before hiring someone with a CCNA or beyond certification.

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dryars

Yes its true that companies would prefer someone with a diploma or degree, rather than someone with just certs. As I stated before, certs are used to compliment formal education/training. They do not replace them. HOWEVER I wouldnt discount certs as they demonstrate a level of competence. Its true that the CCNA is begining (if not already) in the stages of becoming a 'paper' exam. But you have to remember that the CCNA is not the end all of exams, infact FAR from it! The CCNA is the cisco equivalent to the Microsoft MCP or the A+, except that the CCNA is a lot more highly regarded. Its one thing to be able to fake through a CCNA exam, however when it comes to CCNP and CCIE its a whole different story. Bottom line is you cant fake it, and if you do, it'll be very very hard. Besides even if you fake through all the exams and read teh braindumps, any employer can spot a phony a mile away. When I got my interview with my company, I had both a technical and HR meeting. The technical interview as you might imagine basically finds out whether or not your are full of shit.


Again im going off track here with my ramblings, however this (again) is from my personal experience.

Flying Dutchman

I think the original topic had somehting to do with high school and cerifications you cna get there. Those are very limited, and the ones that are available are nt that important. I know some people who have never read a single page of the CCNA textbook or online materials and are still getting 100's on test. The truth of the matter is that all these tests are available online. Even the CCNA. Cisco knows this and that why the CCNA certification is the equivalent of a pat on the back and a pass to the next step of ceritfication in college. So to answer mmz87, yes you can get certified in high school but that certification wont land you a great job. Maybe a summer job but I doubt you can get anything full time.

College!

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dryars

I believe u are missing a critical point here. If I.T is the direction to which he wants to follow then a CCNA is a great start for him. I think we hammered at the fact that formal education is important, so I wont go there again. But in the current job market that I see everyday, hiring descisions are based not soley on formal education, but from outside education as well. If there are 2 people with the same qualifications and academic skills, except one has a CCNA, well guess which one I'd pick. Also when you submit your resume, a lot of companies will filter for certain words, particularly things like MCSE, CCNA, Diploma, Degree etc...
Another lesson to be learned here. Im fairly positive that you are a computer-literate person, you know that, and pretty much anyone reading this posting knows that. However most people HR people in a company wont know, nor would they care. Unless these people see CCNA or MCSE tacked into your resume,they will simply bypass you. Its retarded, but its true.. everywhere you go. As a technical person, I agree that some certs dont hold the same value as they once did, but at the same time I know for a fact that without some of them, landing your foot in the door is nearly impossible. Having just that extra 'one up' on another person is critical in todays job market. I would not be so inclined to dismiss entire value of any cert.


P.S
I try to keep my posts in context, however this subject is not that simple to answer, because conveying one idea opens up another for discussion, as we have proved here already.

ckin2001

as a computer literate person - you do not want anyone from any human relations department touching your resume. ever. very few decent companies will trust hiring to someone without relevant experience towards the area they are hiring for, and most HR people (from my experience) lack this.

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Mr. Belvedere

I have zillions of certifications compared to my diploma's.

At first i thought i was doing the right thing.. Looking back ..i have had more luck with my experience in things than with those #$#@ certification papers.

Still , imho , diploma's and certifications mean squat when your career has developed even a little bit , but for starters it makes a galaxy of difference. People with diploma's and certifications quicker get a job, get paid more and can stay longer at one and the same company (investment eh).

First diploma , then if all else fails , certifications. And do certifcation while you are working for someone , saves thousands of bucks.

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cloakdoa

And sometimes certs will not give you an edge.

Here is a prime example.

Company X(I wont use any names) decides to stroll into town and interview 5 candidates. All these candidates have similar skills and most of them match with the job description. All of them are close in there certs, and have about the same level of experience. This happens on a Friday afternoon, the hiring personnel decide to eliminate 2 of the job seekers. By Sunday they have made a decision to decide who they are going to bring on board. Well here are the 3 people.
1. This person has a lot of field experience and a couple of certs, assertive and confident.
2. This next person only has one cert, very assertive and extremely confident, had management experience, but very limited technical abilities.
3. The last person has quite a few certs, very experienced, and
has talent and the drive to succeed.
Who do you think got the position. Jobseeker #2..
This actually happened to me, I was candidate #1 and my roommate was #3. We were all in line for that job. And they took the person who had management in his background. I remember getting that call, to this day the #2 person and I still talk from time to time. Now he is one of the Managers for a large company in Texas. But he got basically got thrown in the fire to learn IT stuff in a fast way. The company moved him to Texas from Florida, so he is actually well off somewhat. And they also have trained him.

But from experience, Certs will not always land you a job. Most employers or business owners will take a person who has the experience over the certifications. The only way to get an edge on someone in the computer field is learn more than the other guy/girl does and use that knowledge to get ahead. Heres a tip, the information is there if you wish to learn

Good luck after school.

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dryars

Well for most people taking the front door approach is the only way to have a chance to get in. Not everyone has connections on the inside.

CAVEMAN

If you used the front door approach and have gotten decent jobs in this field then you are very lucky. From what I have learned, degrees and certs are meaningless compared to who you know. A lot of times, its not even what you know its who you know. That's one of the main reasons why I left the industry.