My Grade: 519

Woo! A+ Certified!

I didn't think I was going to pass because:

4 Months of learning Hardware + 5 or more practice tests a day + Confidence = 515 out of a needed 515

2 Months of learning Software + Practice tests? Pffft... + Failing the few practice tests I did take + Software being harder than Hardware (IMO) + No confidence = NO CHANCE IN HELL (?) 519 out of a needed 505

I don't know how I did it, but I did it. Time to party!

First quarter our teacher told us that if we passed both parts of the A+ test that he would add on 10 points to our average and we would get an automatic 100 on both parts of the final. So now I don't need to worry about the final. Phew.

congrats?


(i have no idea what you are talking about)

Congrats! What's your next certification?

I just somewhat recently (in the last 3 months) got both my A+ and my Network+ Certifications.

On my Hardware test I got a 628 out of a necessary 515
On my OS Test I got a 743 out of a necessary 505
On my Network+ I scored a 674 out of a necessary 554

Right now I'm preparing (very slowly, but preparing none-the-less) for my MCP, then my MCSA, then the MCSE.

Hehe, A+ certification. Man, I wish it actually meant something.

[QUOTE=Dj Yoshi]Hehe, A+ certification. Man, I wish it actually meant something.[/QUOTE]

* College credit: Many colleges offer credit for students who are A+ certified. CompTIA's Website even publishes a list of colleges that offer college credit for a CompTIA certification. In addition, there are many free A+ certification Websites offering resources such as practice exams and study guides to help students to attain their certification.

* Enhanced career opportunities: Recruiters prefer certified candidates for job placements. Being A+ certified can also play a role in getting a promotion at a job. Many companies such as CompuCom, CompUSA and IBM have also made A+ certification mandatory for their service technicians.

* Better salary: Surveys consistently show better salaries for A+ certified candidates as opposed to non-certified candidates in equivalent positions.

* Credits towards other certifications: Popular certification programs such as those by Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Cisco, Novell and Certiport recognize CompTIA A+ certification in their advanced certification tracks.

* Prerequisite for trainings: Many companies require candidates to be CompTIA A+ certified to qualify for their corporate and vendor-specific training programs.

[QUOTE=Victor Van Dort]
Many companies such as CompuCom, CompUSA and IBM have also made A+ certification mandatory for their service technicians.[/QUOTE]
Way to go. You have just nullified the significance of this accomplishment.

[QUOTE=Victor Van Dort]* College credit: Many colleges offer credit for students who are A+ certified. CompTIA's Website even publishes a list of colleges that offer college credit for a CompTIA certification. In addition, there are many free A+ certification Websites offering resources such as practice exams and study guides to help students to attain their certification.[/quote]
Yet it wouldn't help me any, because A+ certification is nothing to a software engineer. And it's too damned easy.

[QUOTE=Victor Van Dort]* Enhanced career opportunities: Recruiters prefer certified candidates for job placements. Being A+ certified can also play a role in getting a promotion at a job. Many companies such as CompuCom, CompUSA and IBM have also made A+ certification mandatory for their service technicians.[/quote]
Haha, not really. Maybe if you're a technician, but I actually like getting paid for my jobs.

[QUOTE=Victor Van Dort]* Better salary: Surveys consistently show better salaries for A+ certified candidates as opposed to non-certified candidates in equivalent positions.[/quote]
Once again, only if you're a technician, and...hrmm...deja vu.

[QUOTE=Victor Van Dort]* Credits towards other certifications: Popular certification programs such as those by Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Cisco, Novell and Certiport recognize CompTIA A+ certification in their advanced certification tracks.[/quote]
And the only cert there that's worth a damn is the Cisco cert, and mainly for networking professionals/network admins. Novell is okay, but it's only useful in big business applications.

[QUOTE=Victor Van Dort]* Prerequisite for trainings: Many companies require candidates to be CompTIA A+ certified to qualify for their corporate and vendor-specific training programs.[/QUOTE]
Yeah, if you're just a technician.

Once again, I wish it were worth a damn.

Yoshi is just bitter he's not A+ certified.

Two kids passed the A+ exam last year. They both got hired over other people to work for Geek Squad. Even if it seems useless to you, it really helps on an application to places like Best Buy, Radio Shack, CompUSA etc... I'm going to college in another state, which means I need a new job. The A+ Certification is going to make getting a job a lot easier.

Well congratulations, SAJN. Ya did us proud.

Where are you heading off to Uni?

Fitchburg, MA

[QUOTE=Glyde Bane]Yoshi is just bitter he's not A+ certified.[/QUOTE]
Not really. I could care less. The only jobs it nets you are in IT, and those are 15-20k a year average starting out, maxing out at 40-50k a year, usually. While that's decent, Software Engineering (what I'm going to school for) will net me 30k a year starting out (on average). I really could care less about A+ certification, not to mention the work sucks.

[QUOTE=Victor Van Dort]Two kids passed the A+ exam last year. They both got hired over other people to work for Geek Squad. Even if it seems useless to you, it really helps on an application to places like Best Buy, Radio Shack, CompUSA etc... I'm going to college in another state, which means I need a new job. The A+ Certification is going to make getting a job a lot easier.[/QUOTE]
It doesn't seem useless to me, it IS useless to me. Note, I recognized that it helps in the IT area. I just would rather shoot myself than go to work permanently in that area. Maybe a summer job...but no, I wouldn't want to do it for the rest of my life. Or any extended period of time. Not to mention the pay sucks my wang, and look at the places you listed--Best Buy, Radio Shack, CompUSA...don't those all have something in common? Oh yeah, overpriced brick and mortar stores where the people who do work there know nothing.

A+ certification is pointless, as the actual certification doesn't teach you jack about what you need to know in today's world.

I got mine in January. I just spent awhile reading through the book and memorizing meaningless details about obsolete systems that I've never used before. *boring*

Anyway, I'd have to say I hate to work for a place that found an A+ cert impressive. I recently got a job a Geeks to the Rescue, which is a really nice local firm. They're not a mom and pop shop, but they're not so big they're filled with ignorant bureaucrats either. Hopefully this summer work experience should make next summer pretty lucrative. Still, it's kind of weird to be working with a bunch of guys who are all above 30.

Yoshi, he passed the test, he is happy about it, no need to be a dick.

I wasn't being a dick, I was expressing my opinion on the A+ certification, and hell, certifications in general. What, is that not allowed now?

Chill out.

Yeah, Yoshi.

How do you get a microsoft certified engineer off your porch?

Pay for your pizza!

Umm, Yoshi, A+ Certification looks good in just about ANY computer field. Anyone who tells you otherwise lied to you.

Sure, it won't be REQUIRED when you apply for a programming job, but I can guarantee you, if they had to pick between you, and your buddy with the same degree AND A+ Certification, they'd pick him. That's important.

[QUOTE=Dj Yoshi]Software Engineering (what I'm going to school for) will net me 30k a year starting out (on average)[/QUOTE]

RIT's SE program, which I'm in, starts a little over 50k avg. I don't know where you are going, but the difference seems huge.

I just applied for several positions around as a software engineer. NONE of the job posting listed "A+ certification" as either a requirement or a plus. If you got this to bolster your resume for becoming a SE, it'll do you little good. In fact, I wouldn't even put it down. I'd hate to be always the "go to guy" when Jack's machine from accounting has 347590348509 different pieces of spyware.

My friend was accepted for a co-op with P&G because of his A+ certification over someone else.

Congrats bro, the force is strong with you

[QUOTE=Cool Matty]Umm, Yoshi, A+ Certification looks good in just about ANY computer field. Anyone who tells you otherwise lied to you.

Sure, it won't be REQUIRED when you apply for a programming job, but I can guarantee you, if they had to pick between you, and your buddy with the same degree AND A+ Certification, they'd pick him. That's important.[/QUOTE]
Not really, not in programming fields. Because A+ is only geared towards IT and maybe network admin or something of that sort. Really, it's geared towards the lowest paying computer jobs available.


Last I checked it was 30k a year, must be up.

[QUOTE=Cool Matty]My friend was accepted for a co-op with P&G because of his A+ certification over someone else.[/QUOTE]
A what? What is a "co-op" ?

It's basically a job through the college. It's usually ***** work.

Like an internship you get through a college with local businesses.

[quote=Dj Yoshi]Yet it wouldn't help me any, because A+ certification is nothing to a software engineer. And it's too damned easy.[/quote]

[quote=Dj Yoshi]Haha, not really. Maybe if you're a technician, but I actually like getting paid for my jobs.[/quote]

[QUOTE=Dj Yoshi]I wasn't being a dick[/QUOTE]

lawl

Oh, and

[quote=Dj Yoshi]Software Engineering (what I'm going to school for) will net me 30k a year starting out (on average)[/quote]

lawl. Try 50k there bud.

Oh I see.

And what position did you friend get? Programmer? Software Engineer?

Note: Programmer != Software Engineer

None of which are dick comments. It's just the truth.

No, actually at least one of them is wrong. Technicians get paid.

Congrats, SAJN, I'm sure you'll be replacing faulty CD drives with the best of them in no time.

Ok guys. Enough bagging on him. We've all had our say on the subject on whether A+ cert is meaningful.

The only thing I don't understand is the fact that he's making a big deal out of places like Comp USA requiring the cert to be one of their techs and the techs at Comp USA are about two notches away from being declared legally retarded.

This leads me to believe it is about as significant as scoring a 15 on your ACT test and being admitted into a community college.

Yeah, 15k a year. I'm sorry, but I like living above the poverty line...seriously.

Geez Yoshi, go ahead and go into IT. Then follow through and shoot yourself for it. Do us all a favor!

The only favor to be had is for you to stop posting. Permanently this time.

A+ is hardware related. It's not going to help much for software engineering. It's such a basic certification anyways, that at this point it's negligible.

A+ is very useful. I get an automatic 100 on my final. :p

It isn't even that I'm trying to make it sound amazing. It's just the fact that I learned all the information I needed in a very small ammount of time. The A+ book we had was about 1000 pages. We learned all of it in about 6 months total. That's actually only like 3 months, because I have Electronics every other week. To me, it's an accomplishment, to you guys it's a waste of time. Either way, I'm glad I took it, and I'm glad I was one of the TWO kids in my entire class to pass both Hardware and Software.



It's half hardware and half software.

[QUOTE=Victor Van Dort]A+ is very useful. I get an automatic 100 on my final. :p

It isn't even that I'm trying to make it sound amazing. It's just the fact that I learned all the information I needed in a very small ammount of time. The A+ book we had was about 1000 pages. We learned all of it in about 6 months total. That's actually only like 3 months, because I have Electronics every other week. To me, it's an accomplishment, to you guys it's a waste of time. Either way, I'm glad I took it, and I'm glad I was one of the TWO kids in my entire class to pass both Hardware and Software.



It's half hardware and half software.[/QUOTE]

Naw congrats man. I also think it sounds like an accomplishment. It's always nice when the work you put into something pays off.

[QUOTE=Victor Van Dort]It's half hardware and half software.[/QUOTE]
And 100% useless.

I'm done.