A+ Certification

[Crexx]

I was wandering how many people here are A+ certified? And is it worth me taking the exam?

[nephilim]

I am, it is a good foundation point, has solid principles, however you can study yourself and pay for the exams rather than paying the £300-500 it costs to do the course.

[Little-Miss]

Me. Am I correct in thinking that something changed with it recently?

[Sirbendy]

I did the course, in an evening course scenario via distance learning, but something screwed up with the organisation and I don't recall sitting the exam, or if I did, I never got the official recognition. It was interesting, especially the "dirty keyboards go in dishwasher" question, although I personally wouldn't have said that WAS the correct answer in a first line support scenario. More "change the unit for a spare to enable the user, and then engage in repairing the old one".

Yes, I'm quite serious. That was in it. It made me chuckle.

[ButterflyMoon]

I am

[DMcGuigan]

Me. Am I correct in thinking that something changed with it recently?

I think they changed it the year I did it, or the year before.. one of the two. Not quite sure what they did though.

I think they swapped to the CE method or something, so your qualification expired after 3 years if you don't do certain exams to renew it, or pay a subscription yearly to avoid it. Don't quote me on that though


I did mine through Zenos, now Pearson Academy or something like that. Didn't have to pay for it as it was part of the apprenticeship course.

[L3OUGH]

Picked my certificate up for it a few weeks ago! ;D

[WithoutMotive]

A+ certified here (or just "certified" depending on how well you know me).
Mine was done through the job centre when I first started in IT some years ago. It's probably changed a bit since then.

[Dom_]

I am, have been for about 7 years, first job interview I went after getting the qualification had never heard of it though !

[aerospacemango]

I'm also certified.

I was advised, when I wanted to change career, that this was a good starting point... and they weren't wrong. It allowed me a foot in the door for my first job... my enthusiasm did the rest.

Keep meaning to do Network+ but never seem to get the time...

[tmcd35]

I've thought of doing it several times but have now out grown both that and the Network+. Seriously, I think my CV and experience is worth more than these qualifications. I keep thinking about MCSE but cost and time are always against me. I did do VMWare v3 a few year back. Cost me £1500 and I now run a Hyper-V network, go figure!

Personally, I'm not convinced of the worth of any of these qualifications. When ever I interview I'm always focusing on hands on experience over bits of paper. Maybe that's whats holding me back? (not that I want to go anywhere - I like being a NM).

[nephilim]

At the end of the day all they show is that you are able to pass an exam. They have solid principles within then but not much beyond that.

Vendor specific certs show you can do things the way they want you to do it. Weigh up pros and cons. I personally would hire someone that has 5 years of experience over 5 years of certificate gaining.

[gtg93]

I think they changed it the year I did it, or the year before.. one of the two. Not quite sure what they did though.

I think they swapped to the CE method or something, so your qualification expired after 3 years if you don't do certain exams to renew it, or pay a subscription yearly to avoid it. Don't quote me on that though


I did mine through Zenos, now Pearson Academy or something like that. Didn't have to pay for it as it was part of the apprenticeship course.

I did mine the same as you - via zenos - but you're correct in what you're saying:

If you did your A+ exam before 2011, then you're certified for life, but if you certified in 2011 or later, you must take a refresher exam every 3 years or you're not technically certified anymore:

CompTIA A+ Certification

Personally, I think it's a good starting point but it is very basic - everything within this course I already knew before taking the course, but it's just a matter of knowing it how they want you to know it. Although as has been mentioned, there are some questionable answers within the exam, but there's no reason you couldn't self teach.

[zag]

Our technician just did it, he found it very useful if a little easy.

I tried the test exam and got a good score although didnt know how many pins a SCSI cable had!!

Both exams cost about 150 quid I think and you just buy a voucher then book into an exam center. There is no real need to do any training if you've been doing the job for a while and are reasonably technically competent.

[tmcd35]

I tried the test exam and got a good score although didnt know how many pins a SCSI cable had!!

That's a little unfair question since I'm sure I could give at least 3 right answers!