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I had an A+ certified technician tell me that "it's impossible to put an IDE cable on wrong" WTF is he smoking??
So, I don't think that an A+ cert means much.... however, as stated above, some employers require certs...
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We can't all be heroes because somebody has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by.
--Will Rogers
"What questions would you ask or would be tough enough that if someone passed the test you believe they would know there 'stuff'???"
How about grammar...ie: "know their stuff??"
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I'm an IT tech with almost 6 years under my belt and I am studying for my A+ because my employer, CompUSA Field services requires it. I see what is called the 80/20 rule. 20 percent of my knowledge is used 80% of the time. Most of what is in the A+ exam is handy to know but not necessary. Getting knew deep in the software has done far more for my career than studying what IRQ my Mouse uses. Get the paper because it gives HR a way to see you can pretend you know what you are doing
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"Nyquil, nyquil , nyquil, we love you, you giant fu@#ing Q !! "
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Hi!
A+ gave me a clue,but not much of one.Learned terminology mostly.I'm a 44 year old female who went back to school at 41.
Graduated technology school,got my A+ ,and
started job searching. ha
I was ready. I'm an A+ certified computer technician on the go.when I finally got hired by a company(I'm sure, because I was certified) I walked in the place and I didn't have a clue.I've been here 14 months
now and can pretty much handle most things that come in,but I am still learning everyday,and probably always will be.Bottom line.....A+ will get your foot in the door(most of the time)its up to you to do the rest.
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Dixiechick
I work for a large global IT company and A+ is required for entrant level tech. My Manager 'forgot' about it and promoted me up a level, saying "who needs to know". I have enough trouble remembering the chipsets and product lines i support to remember which io address defaults to lpt1 (378 i think). Diagnostic skills and first visit fix are more important.
Tom.
we eat, drink, sleep this stuff
I would say ditch multiple choice and go with essay. Here's the problem, here's the circumstances, here's some extra info that may or may not help you. How would you troubleshoot this problem, reasoning behind each item you troubleshot to find the solution if there is a solution? Then have the final essay question be a phone support question. Here's what the customer says to you on the phone in broken english using incorrect computer terminalogy. The problem is actually quite simple, but sadly, so is the customer. Knowing that this is an easy fix what do you think the problem is and what the solution is.
That would be my A+ exam, all essay.
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I'd rather be riding my motorcycle
IF you are going to take the A+ test, DO NOT pay 1200 bucks to some idiot to teach you this stuff in a class. Get a book and read it and read it till you know it. The test is simple, very simple. I got my A+ cert. just to open doors. I have over 10yrs of real hands on been there done that experience and when it comes down to it, that is what people want. Where I work you could have all the certs in the world but if you don't have real hands on experience then see ya cause we do not have the time to baby sit and hand hold anyone. Now someone made the comment of I would rather have the non-A+ guy instead should really think for a moment. Just because I am A+ cert. doesn't mean I know what I am doing. When I used to hire people I gave them my own test and if you passed that then you moved on to the ok, fix this. I'll never forget the guy how replied to this question. I asked.
What is Socket 8?
His reply - A parallel port on the back of a computer.
This guy did not get the job. Remember anyone can talk a good story, not everyone can fix a computer.
Got Skills?
I Do
Like they told me in college. The degree, certificate, whatever piece of paper only tells the companies that you are "trainable" it doesnt mean that you know everything. I know there are people out there that cant pass the A+ that are extremly bright, and there knowledge of computers is outstanding. Just look at Darren Wilson https://forums.windrivers.com/ And then there are people that have the certs., degrees, and such that know absolutely nothing. In my honest opinion, the A+ can get your foot in the door of alot of places, but it doesnt mean that you "know all about computers". The company I work for will only hire a tech if they are certified, because most of the manufactures will only pay our company if the technician is A+ certified. Its a shame, they have turned away some really good technicians because of this.
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A+ means nothing if you have the experience.
At least that is the way it should be.
I have been in the industry for over 8 years, and I still find it hard to get a job.
Funny thing is, I have known people who have a cert, like Novell CNA (a joke as well) and the company doesn't have Novell, just migrated away from it... and they still hired him. He had less expertise with anything MS than the joker that comes into your tech shop taking about his new pentium 6 with windows 8 on it.
Oh well, maybe those SPAM messeges saying "University Diploma's" are worth looking into.
I will have a doctorate in bull****ting.
I don't have so much a problem with the Cert. or the test for it per se. What I have a problem with is the number of places that teach you how to take the test and not give you the knowledge to back it up. I have recently been asked by my company to go back to school (at their expense) to get A+, Net+, MCP, CNA, and MCSE certified. The classes I have taken so far for A+ have been geared toward how to take the test, not what I should know to do the job.
Now granted, I've been working with computers for 20+years and they haven't yet shown me anything I didn't know. But, there's a lot the "kids" in this class should know that they aren't teaching them. They'll pass the test with flying colors. but when they get hired for their "knowledge based on that certification, they are gonna be disappointed at getting fired for not knowing something simple like setting up a desktop shortcut for a DOS program in WIN98.
I have a tech working for me now who admitted to sleeping through the A+ course at his High School. And didn't know simple comands like winipcfg, a good command when troubleshooting a networked workstation. I have seen others that put all the cards in the first four expansin slots and then wonder why they have resource conflicts. Or worse, just have a messed up machine and have no clue why.
Sorry for the rant, I've just been dealing with both sides of this one for a couple months and it gets to me.
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Well... I say... Nuke the unborn baby gay whales!
I've delt with the cert/nocert debate for a long time. While I support certifications and feel that they do benefit, the people who have certs and no exeperience usually don't have a clue. I had four years of bench tech experience going into the A+ cert. I happened to be taking a college course that used the A+ cert book as the text. I honestly have to say that I was not prepared for the amount and the depth of the material in the text. And the manner that the instructor presented and tested was rather difficult. The certification itself was a breeze.
However on the other side of the token, I had been a bench tech for about two years at my previous job when the boss brought in another technician. This person was direct from a national support group with about a dozen certifications and degrees behind her. My boss pulled me aside and told me about the wealth of knowledge that this person possessed. He continued to rant about how I could learn so much from her and that once I made her familiar with the company she would be taking over the tech department. Being as I had only been in the business for two years I was excitied about having a person I could consider a mentor and learn from. Until.....the first day on the job she had to ask me how to "work that DOS thing". I spent the next eight months holding her hand all day everyday before the boss finally let her go. For the first month of it the boss insisted that this woman was a great asset to the company. https://forums.windrivers.com/
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And for days we survived on nothing but food and water...
I agree with most of the above. The tests are out dated. They lack the need to have real world experience. As far as bench tech's ?? Well I'm not a bench tech...ooooohhhh they must have an abundance of knowledge! Unfortunately most bench techs I deal with are limited to say the least. As I have noticed by most of the posts angry too. Just because you can;'t pas the test doesn't mean it's weak. I am a Network Administrator for my company and started out doing desktop support and I WOULD take a newbie A+ Tech to work for me. At the very least they show the drive to succeed and the willingness to try and ultimately acclompplish something! unlike arrogant wannabe's who claim to be Guru's. I don't mean to offend the masses who post here but....The industry requires certs and if you get passed over for someone with a cert than DON"T COMPLAIN you are all aware and most of you have been warned by your employers to get your certs. Everyone here sounds like all those LOSERS who complain about paper MCSE's. They claim that the cert has no value....well I say you get the cert too and increase it's value.....after all you have all this wisdom. Unfortunately you waste evryone's time with your whining because.
A. Your lazy
B. You aren't capable of passing the test.
C. You lack the skills
D. Your stuck in a deadend and are afraid to do something.
So for everyone trying to get certified. Ignore these nay sayers. One day you'll be there boss.
My 2 cents.
I agree with most of the above. The tests are out dated. They lack the need to have real world experience. As far as bench tech's ?? Well I'm not a bench tech...ooooohhhh they must have an abundance of knowledge! Unfortunately most bench techs I deal with are limited to say the least. As I have noticed by most of the posts angry too. Just because you can;'t pas the test doesn't mean it's weak. I am a Network Administrator for my company and started out doing desktop support and I WOULD take a newbie A+ Tech to work for me. At the very least they show the drive to succeed and the willingness to try and ultimately acclompplish something! unlike arrogant wannabe's who claim to be Guru's. I don't mean to offend the masses who post here but....The industry requires certs and if you get passed over for someone with a cert than DON"T COMPLAIN you are all aware and most of you have been warned by your employers to get your certs. Everyone here sounds like all those LOSERS who complain about paper MCSE's. They claim that the cert has no value....well I say you get the cert too and increase it's value.....after all you have all this wisdom. Unfortunately you waste evryone's time with your whining because.
A. Your lazy
B. You aren't capable of passing the test.
C. You lack the skills
D. Your stuck in a deadend and are afraid to do something.
So for everyone trying to get certified. Ignore these nay sayers. One day you'll be there boss.
My 2 cents.
A+ is an Entry level exam - It's good as is.
I would like to see more issues of NT/2000 other than Win3.11 Questions (they were present two years ago when I passed the Exam.)
It's fair questions but the price is high.
I would like to see more FDISK/DOS/BIOS Questions rather than Asking too many questions abot Laser printers.
Well, This is my opinion
Gabriel
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It Works Better if you Plug it in, It Works far better if you Turn it ON!
When I took the test, I found that it examined alot of areas that I never even used. Such as voltages, Windows 3.1x, and anything relating to ancient computer hardware. When I started my tech job (4/98), I never encountered any of that stuff. It was all Windows 95 - current, newer age hardware (Intel P2's & AMD K6's), and I never once needed to know what the voltage of a resistor would be on an internal modem. But when I took the test for the first time, I found that it asked many questions in which I have never seen or heard of. https://forums.windrivers.com/
I was doing tech support in the shop for almost 6 months before I decided to go take the test and the stuff it asked just blew my mind. I instantly knew that it finds the stuff you don't know and beats the crap outta you to find out exactly how much you really don't know about it and exploits it. As soon as you get to questions you know, you'll get like 3 or 4 of them. When you get to stuff you don't know, it'll give you about a dozen of them. https://forums.windrivers.com/
Personally I didn't think it was a very good representation on the stuff you actually know, it just makes you feel stupid because it shows you what you don't know and I don't feel that it's a very good test. https://forums.windrivers.com/
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"Damn the man. Save the Empire" Mark - Empire Records