Walking The Talk Of CompTIA A+ Certification(2)

. . . was a good morale booster when it came to advancing my education and career. Part of my curriculum revolved around the Microsoft Networking track and not only did I graduate with a 3.8 GPA, I re-entered the career search with an Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator card. MCSA at the time was a new offering from Microsoft and the A+ certification wasn’t being applied toward the exams. That’s 4 MCP tests (I passed them all on the first try).

With my new found Degree and a fancy $400 MCSA card in my wallet I left Compaq in search of the ultimate CIO position. This is where it gets tough. With a failing economy and the corporate initiative to save a dollar, outsourcing was at its peak. Even with my extensive hardware background, I was still considered a “paper” MCSA due to the fact that I had no actual “real-world” experience managing a medium to large size network.

I used my skills as a field service representative for a computer repair company, but fixing Mary Jane’s USB printer still wasn’t the CIO position I had hoped for. Possessing the A+ certification did however lead to having a great advantage over other non-certified technicians who had applied for the position. I must say though, the face-to-face interaction with clients in the field was priceless experience for my next position. Inbound technical support for Earthlink was definitely challenging. When you get a call from “blind” Sue and she has to yell your directions to deaf “George”, you know you have made it into the real trenches of the IT world. My previous hardware and field service experience led to me being offered another “special-projects” mission with Earthlink. (I could tell you, but I’d have to kill you LOL)

Then one day I called an old friend just to chit-chat and he said “Hey, Do you want to build my website?”. Why not? I wasn’t really doing anything in the evenings anyway. I discovered, upon logging into the web site control panel, that the hosting provider was using this thing called PHP/MySQL. I had tinkered with Access and Oracle, but I still had no real knowledge of scripting (PHP), short of good old MS DOS batch files. And I definitely had no knowledge of databases.

GOOGLE to the rescue! I spent the next 5 days huddled in my little corner trying to get a hold on my friends website. The “if at first you don’t succeed” motto paid off. On the sixth day I had a working PHP/MySQL content management system. It seems I had the developing bug. After 2 more years of hammering PHP/MySQL, I landed my first professional contract with the largest newspaper in the city. After eight weeks of intense PHP/SybaseSQL coding, with some XML thrown in for good measure, I had completed my contract on time and on budget.

Here I am, 4 years later; an A+ certified computer technician with an Associates degree in computer science and an MCSA. I’m doing web development and am involved with content creation for ProProfs A+ certification school. It just goes to show that you never know which direction your IT career is going to go.And that is the story of my career path. My experience with employers in regards to the A+ certification thus far has been that most employers know what the certification is and relish the fact that you have one. While this is a 50/50 coin toss, I can say from my experience that having the CompTIA A+ certification is an advantage. Not only is it a great entry-level moral booster when preparing for further educational and career moves, it will always put ahead of your non-certified competitors in the job market.

ProProfs A+ Certification School provides free study aids for the A+ exam such as study guides, practice exams, practice questions and testing software are located at http://www.testpassport.com/CompTIA/more certifications...1K0-002, 9L0-509, A00-212 , E20-520 , 1z0-043 , ct0-101 ...