| How To Get The A+ Certification |
One of the funnier questions Tcat Houser gets is, "why would I want to get A+ certification?" Clearly, the inquiry is why wouldn't I spend more time on a more glamorous sort of certification then to get A+ certification? Without a doubt I can tell you, you need to get A+ certification, period, end of story. Now I'm going to tell you why.
In 1997 Tcat was already an MCSE+I, CTT and a MCT. Of course, certification alone doesn't do anything for you without experience. And while Tcat had decades of experience, things in the IT game can change fast. So he's always looking for short-term contract jobs to do to keep your skills honed.
Tcat was offered and jumped at the chance to go to IBM's PSE schooling. To even get into the program candidates had to be either an MCSE or CNE. The five-day course was tough and required passing several tests. Okay, mission accomplished.
So he gets a phone call from a recruiter. This recruiter, after asking a little bit about experience, asks if he has any certifications? His response is why yes, “I'm an IBM PSE.”
The literal response from the recruiter was” “that's great! Got A+?” To that Tcat responded, "Man! Isn't that like asking the ASE Master Mechanic. If you can the change oil of a car?”
Clearly, the recruiter had no idea of the different levels that certifications entail. All this person knew was a bunch of letters. This is a Friday afternoon. Infuriated, Tcat realized the hopelessness of recruiters. So he picked up the phone and scheduled his tests for Monday morning to get A+ certification so he could put it on his resume. Or should he be asked again, he can simply say yes.
The moral to the story is you need to get A+ certification. With all the resumes flying around out there, candidates are picked for human reading by scanning for keywords. If you don't get A+ certification, you could be passed up. Even though you're an IBM PSE or Compaq ACE.
Certainly, either of the certifications far exceed what it takes to get A+ certification. And the human resources Department is not an expert of our alphabet soup of certifications. So while it might seem a waste of time to get A+ certification, the question becomes, how many job opportunities will pass you by, because key word search does not see the magic letters.
If you're an experienced individual, it will be no challenge to get A+ certification. If you're new to the IT game, without a doubt, begin your career with a good start. Get A+ certification. Sure, it sounds kind of dumb. And it's just how the world works. Save yourself a lot of grief. Get your CompTIA certifications done. Get your A+ certification, then get your Network + certification. Add to that Security+. Then you can get on with the certifications you really want.
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