|
|
 FAQ
 Search
 Memberlist
 Usergroups
 Register
 Profile
 Private messages
 Log in
|
|
| Author |
Message |
LoXodonte
Guest
|
 Posted: Tue Jul 11, 2006 12:58 am Post subject: Can't find work with A+ |
 |
|
I passed both my A+ exams back in May, and am having a hell of a time
getting a job. I really feel as though the A+ cert prepares you for the
local computer shob job, but theirs only a hand full of those where I
live, I've called each of them at least twice, and have dropped in my
Resume in person to them all. I've interviewed for a couple of phone
based tech support jobs, but they prefer customer service over technical
skills.
I don't have a lot computer related job experience, and even though the
A+ is supposed to emulatr 6 months experience, I still can't find work.
Are their any online sites, or methods of finding a computer job that
some of you would kindly recommend? Would another Cert greatly enhance
my chances of landing a good job? |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
|
|
Patty
Guest
|
| Posted: Tue Jul 11, 2006 2:34 am Post subject: Re: Can't find work with A+ |
|
|
On Mon, 10 Jul 2006 20:58:21 GMT, LoXodonte wrote:
| Quote: | I don't have a lot computer related job experience, and even though the
A+ is supposed to emulatr 6 months experience, I still can't find work.
Are their any online sites, or methods of finding a computer job that
some of you would kindly recommend? Would another Cert greatly enhance
my chances of landing a good job?
|
Best Buy's Geek Squad only requires that you have an A+ Cert. It's a
possible place to get on-job experience.
Patty |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
SBFan2000
Guest
|
| Posted: Tue Jul 11, 2006 4:41 am Post subject: Re: Can't find work with A+ |
|
|
One thing that I learned, by accident, is that you might want to try office
supply places. I was in the same situation as you and I needed a job so I
sent a resume to an office supply place looking for a basic office or
warehouse job to tide me through until I could find something. They got
right back to me and said they were looking for a Copier Service Tech.
Copiers, like everything else, are now more computers then just the plain
old analog copiers. I had two interviews and was hired right away.
Just another place to look!
Glenn
"LoXodonte" <noway@nohow.nt> wrote in message
news:Nbzsg.129191$dW3.102405@newssvr21.news.prodigy.com...
| Quote: | I passed both my A+ exams back in May, and am having a hell of a time
getting a job. I really feel as though the A+ cert prepares you for the
local computer shob job, but theirs only a hand full of those where I
live, I've called each of them at least twice, and have dropped in my
Resume in person to them all. I've interviewed for a couple of phone
based tech support jobs, but they prefer customer service over technical
skills.
I don't have a lot computer related job experience, and even though the
A+ is supposed to emulatr 6 months experience, I still can't find work.
Are their any online sites, or methods of finding a computer job that
some of you would kindly recommend? Would another Cert greatly enhance
my chances of landing a good job? |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Glenn
Guest
|
| Posted: Tue Jul 11, 2006 10:01 pm Post subject: Re: Can't find work with A+ |
|
|
I won't hire anyone with just an A+ or a Z+. the ONLY ones making
ANYTHING of those "tests" are the ones selling you the $300 tickets to
take it. I want to know if you can fix anything. To hell with the tests.
LoXodonte wrote:
| Quote: | I passed both my A+ exams back in May, and am having a hell of a time
getting a job. I really feel as though the A+ cert prepares you for the
local computer shob job, but theirs only a hand full of those where I
live, I've called each of them at least twice, and have dropped in my
Resume in person to them all. I've interviewed for a couple of phone
based tech support jobs, but they prefer customer service over technical
skills.
I don't have a lot computer related job experience, and even though the
A+ is supposed to emulatr 6 months experience, I still can't find work.
Are their any online sites, or methods of finding a computer job that
some of you would kindly recommend? Would another Cert greatly enhance
my chances of landing a good job? |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Michael A. Terrell
Guest
|
| Posted: Tue Jul 11, 2006 11:25 pm Post subject: Re: Can't find work with A+ |
|
|
Glenn wrote:
| Quote: |
I won't hire anyone with just an A+ or a Z+. the ONLY ones making
ANYTHING of those "tests" are the ones selling you the $300 tickets to
take it. I want to know if you can fix anything. To hell with the tests.
|
I was talking to a friend about a month ago. He called me to tell me
that he was shutting down the retail store and going strictly to all on
call business support. He told me he had lots of people waving their A+
in his face, but they couldn't diagnose even simple OS problems on the
bench without resorting to reinstalling the operating system. They
could quote lots of the questions from the test material, but they had
no hands on experience so he just threw in the towel. Its sad, because
he had the nicest computer store in the county, and the best
reputation. I hauled away four pickup truck loads of 44 computers, some
monitors and printers, and other leftovers that he donated to my
"Computers for Disabled Veterans" project. I like the idea of
certification but you need real, hands on experience to be good at your
job.
--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.
Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Patty
Guest
|
| Posted: Wed Jul 12, 2006 12:36 am Post subject: Re: Can't find work with A+ |
|
|
On Tue, 11 Jul 2006 19:25:26 GMT, Michael A. Terrell wrote:
| Quote: | I was talking to a friend about a month ago. He called me to tell me
that he was shutting down the retail store and going strictly to all on
call business support. He told me he had lots of people waving their A+
in his face, but they couldn't diagnose even simple OS problems on the
bench without resorting to reinstalling the operating system. They
could quote lots of the questions from the test material, but they had
no hands on experience so he just threw in the towel. Its sad, because
he had the nicest computer store in the county, and the best
reputation. I hauled away four pickup truck loads of 44 computers, some
monitors and printers, and other leftovers that he donated to my
"Computers for Disabled Veterans" project. I like the idea of
certification but you need real, hands on experience to be good at your
job.
|
That's true of all jobs. However, in the real world, most employers today
want a college education for people they hire. I find it interesting that
my daughter has a degree in Computer Information Systems, however, when she
first graduated from college, she had little clue about actually working
with computers. She got her current job because of that piece of paper
from the university (and her great personality, heh heh). They would not
have even considered hiring someone like me who has years of experience
building and repairing computer systems and cleaning out all the viruses
and malware you can name. In fact, I found it humorous when my daughter
would call me from work to ask me a hardware question. She's much better at
it now, though. Guess it helps to have a mom who is somewhat of a geekette.
;)
I have found, in my experience, that there are lots of people who are very
good with book knowledge, but lack common sense to put it into practice.
However, where I come from, employers still want that piece of paper first.
Patty |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Patty
Guest
|
| Posted: Wed Jul 12, 2006 2:30 am Post subject: Re: Can't find work with A+ |
|
|
On Tue, 11 Jul 2006 16:36:29 -0400, Patty wrote:
| Quote: | I have found, in my experience, that there are lots of people who are very
good with book knowledge, but lack common sense to put it into practice.
However, where I come from, employers still want that piece of paper first.
|
Case in point. Google just announced they will open a new facility in Ann
Arbor, Michigan and hire 1,000 people. The quote from the paper? "We
worry less about experience than raw talent," Fischer said. "We've had
tremendous success hiring people straight out of universities, with majors
from enginerring to art history."
So, get those pieces of paper folks.
Patty |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
James
Guest
|
| Posted: Wed Jul 12, 2006 11:10 pm Post subject: Re: Can't find work with A+ |
|
|
I have A+, Network+, MCP, MCSA, 2 Year Computer System Tech Diploma, and a
couple years experience.
I'm also finding it very hard to get any work...other then the most basic of
phone support jobs...
Good luck to you!
"LoXodonte" <noway@nohow.nt> wrote in message
news:Nbzsg.129191$dW3.102405@newssvr21.news.prodigy.com...
| Quote: | I passed both my A+ exams back in May, and am having a hell of a time
getting a job. I really feel as though the A+ cert prepares you for the
local computer shob job, but theirs only a hand full of those where I live,
I've called each of them at least twice, and have dropped in my Resume in
person to them all. I've interviewed for a couple of phone based tech
support jobs, but they prefer customer service over technical skills.
I don't have a lot computer related job experience, and even though the A+
is supposed to emulatr 6 months experience, I still can't find work. Are
their any online sites, or methods of finding a computer job that some of
you would kindly recommend? Would another Cert greatly enhance my chances
of landing a good job? |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Gary
Guest
|
| Posted: Sat Jul 15, 2006 12:10 pm Post subject: Re: Can't find work with A+ |
|
|
On Wed, 12 Jul 2006 22:52:18 GMT, "James" <Private@email.com> wrote:
| Quote: | I have A+, Network+, MCP, MCSA, 2 Year Computer System Tech Diploma, and a
couple years experience.
I'm also finding it very hard to get any work...other then the most basic of
phone support jobs...
Good luck to you!
You definitely have lots of wallpaper but how much actual experience? My advice is to take as much temp work as possible such as rollouts etc. tiill people get to know you. It worked for me and now I'm a technology specialist for a school district. Keep in mind computer support is 80% customer service. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Mark J
Guest
|
| Posted: Sun Jul 16, 2006 1:10 am Post subject: Re: Can't find work with A+ |
|
|
I don't have any certs yet, still trying to get the money together to get
them, but I am only 4 months away from obtaining my AAS degree, so I expect
to get something good after I graduate.
I definitely agree on the stress on customer service, as the last two IT
jobs I had (telecom/data technician and PC bench tech) stressed customer
service skills as well as tech skills. Currently am working at a call
center as a temp during rollout of new laptops for company field salespeople
and you definitely have to use both skills to be a success.
"Gary" <havinfun69nospam@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:u1jhb2tnhd55rvqjr0lmqroiqsvm4k863u@4ax.com...
| Quote: | On Wed, 12 Jul 2006 22:52:18 GMT, "James" <Private@email.com> wrote:
I have A+, Network+, MCP, MCSA, 2 Year Computer System Tech Diploma, and a
couple years experience.
I'm also finding it very hard to get any work...other then the most basic
of
phone support jobs...
Good luck to you!
You definitely have lots of wallpaper but how much actual experience? My
advice is to take as much temp work as possible such as rollouts etc.
tiill people get to know you. It worked for me and now I'm a technology
specialist for a school district. Keep in mind computer support is 80%
customer service.
|
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Kathy
Guest
|
| Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2006 5:10 am Post subject: Re: Can't find work with A+ |
|
|
Patty wrote:
| Quote: | On Tue, 11 Jul 2006 19:25:26 GMT, Michael A. Terrell wrote:
I was talking to a friend about a month ago. He called me to tell me
that he was shutting down the retail store and going strictly to all on
call business support. He told me he had lots of people waving their A+
in his face, but they couldn't diagnose even simple OS problems on the
bench without resorting to reinstalling the operating system. They
could quote lots of the questions from the test material, but they had
no hands on experience so he just threw in the towel. Its sad, because
he had the nicest computer store in the county, and the best
reputation. I hauled away four pickup truck loads of 44 computers, some
monitors and printers, and other leftovers that he donated to my
"Computers for Disabled Veterans" project. I like the idea of
certification but you need real, hands on experience to be good at your
job.
That's true of all jobs. However, in the real world, most employers today
want a college education for people they hire. I find it interesting that
|
I really have to agree with that one - most want college educated
people. Believe me, I've been looking for a Tech job and it's not easy
especially for someone like me that has no college education in CIS.
I'm tempted to just get out my business cards and see what that brings -
if not a success, than I might start thinking of going to college - yeah
right, I'm too old for that now ;-)
| Quote: | my daughter has a degree in Computer Information Systems, however, when she
first graduated from college, she had little clue about actually working
with computers. She got her current job because of that piece of paper
from the university (and her great personality, heh heh). They would not
have even considered hiring someone like me who has years of experience
building and repairing computer systems and cleaning out all the viruses
and malware you can name. In fact, I found it humorous when my daughter
would call me from work to ask me a hardware question. She's much better at
it now, though. Guess it helps to have a mom who is somewhat of a geekette.
;)
I have found, in my experience, that there are lots of people who are very
good with book knowledge, but lack common sense to put it into practice.
However, where I come from, employers still want that piece of paper first.
Patty |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Michael A. Terrell
Guest
|
| Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2006 6:34 am Post subject: Re: Can't find work with A+ |
|
|
Patty wrote:
| Quote: |
On Tue, 11 Jul 2006 19:25:26 GMT, Michael A. Terrell wrote:
I was talking to a friend about a month ago. He called me to tell me
that he was shutting down the retail store and going strictly to all on
call business support. He told me he had lots of people waving their A+
in his face, but they couldn't diagnose even simple OS problems on the
bench without resorting to reinstalling the operating system. They
could quote lots of the questions from the test material, but they had
no hands on experience so he just threw in the towel. Its sad, because
he had the nicest computer store in the county, and the best
reputation. I hauled away four pickup truck loads of 44 computers, some
monitors and printers, and other leftovers that he donated to my
"Computers for Disabled Veterans" project. I like the idea of
certification but you need real, hands on experience to be good at your
job.
That's true of all jobs. However, in the real world, most employers today
want a college education for people they hire. I find it interesting that
my daughter has a degree in Computer Information Systems, however, when she
first graduated from college, she had little clue about actually working
with computers. She got her current job because of that piece of paper
from the university (and her great personality, heh heh). They would not
have even considered hiring someone like me who has years of experience
building and repairing computer systems and cleaning out all the viruses
and malware you can name. In fact, I found it humorous when my daughter
would call me from work to ask me a hardware question. She's much better at
it now, though. Guess it helps to have a mom who is somewhat of a geekette.
;)
I have found, in my experience, that there are lots of people who are very
good with book knowledge, but lack common sense to put it into practice.
However, where I come from, employers still want that piece of paper first.
Patty
|
Apparently he had hired several different people with "The paper" who
couldn't do anything right, so he threw in the towel. I've worked in
electronic manufacturing and some of the best workers had no formal
education in electronics, yet they understood how the equipment worked
and could locate a single defective component out of thousands in just a
few minutes work.
I have worked as a broadcast engineer at three TV stations and
several radio stations with no certification. designed Cable TV systems,
and owned a two way radio and commercial sound business. A few years
ago I applied for a job at a local college to manage their networks, but
I didn't have a college degree so they hired some bozo. Not long after
that, they built a new branch campus. The architect had made major
mistakes in the specifications for the network wiring, but he brushed me
off and told me he was smarter than me so I built the network according
to the written specs with RG58 and soldered on BNC connectors looped
from one box to the next inside the concrete block walls. The state
accepted it during the punch list inspection along with the security
system, commercial fire alarm and MATV wiring i did as a subcontractor.
Then he called me and was screaming that he couldn't use the network I
installed, and that he wanted me to change it to Cat 5. I reminded him
of the calls I had made the month before and told him it wasn't my
problem because he had refused to make the changes with the architect
when he had the chance. They ended up opening the new campus with Cat 5
wire dropped along the walls from the drop tile ceiling.
Some local companies will hire ten to twenty people out of college on
probation and hope to find one that can be trained to do the job. Their
reason? They advertise that "X%" of their employees have college
degrees, even though some are doing simple assembly work, or even
sweeping the floors. Its like defense contractors who insist on hiring
as many veterans as they can to look good to the government when they
bid on contracts.
I am all in favor of degreed workers and certification, as long as it
really means something. Unfortunately, they seem to mean less and less
in the real world.
--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.
Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Thumper
Guest
|
| Posted: Thu Jul 20, 2006 8:29 pm Post subject: Re: Can't find work with A+ |
|
|
On Wed, 19 Jul 2006 02:34:42 GMT, "Michael A. Terrell"
<mike.terrell@earthlink.net> wrote:
| Quote: | Patty wrote:
On Tue, 11 Jul 2006 19:25:26 GMT, Michael A. Terrell wrote:
I was talking to a friend about a month ago. He called me to tell me
that he was shutting down the retail store and going strictly to all on
call business support. He told me he had lots of people waving their A+
in his face, but they couldn't diagnose even simple OS problems on the
bench without resorting to reinstalling the operating system. They
could quote lots of the questions from the test material, but they had
no hands on experience so he just threw in the towel. Its sad, because
he had the nicest computer store in the county, and the best
reputation. I hauled away four pickup truck loads of 44 computers, some
monitors and printers, and other leftovers that he donated to my
"Computers for Disabled Veterans" project. I like the idea of
certification but you need real, hands on experience to be good at your
job.
That's true of all jobs. However, in the real world, most employers today
want a college education for people they hire. I find it interesting that
my daughter has a degree in Computer Information Systems, however, when she
first graduated from college, she had little clue about actually working
with computers. She got her current job because of that piece of paper
from the university (and her great personality, heh heh). They would not
have even considered hiring someone like me who has years of experience
building and repairing computer systems and cleaning out all the viruses
and malware you can name. In fact, I found it humorous when my daughter
would call me from work to ask me a hardware question. She's much better at
it now, though. Guess it helps to have a mom who is somewhat of a geekette.
;)
I have found, in my experience, that there are lots of people who are very
good with book knowledge, but lack common sense to put it into practice.
However, where I come from, employers still want that piece of paper first.
Patty
Apparently he had hired several different people with "The paper" who
couldn't do anything right, so he threw in the towel. I've worked in
electronic manufacturing and some of the best workers had no formal
education in electronics, yet they understood how the equipment worked
and could locate a single defective component out of thousands in just a
few minutes work.
I have worked as a broadcast engineer at three TV stations and
several radio stations with no certification. designed Cable TV systems,
and owned a two way radio and commercial sound business. A few years
ago I applied for a job at a local college to manage their networks, but
I didn't have a college degree so they hired some bozo. Not long after
that, they built a new branch campus. The architect had made major
mistakes in the specifications for the network wiring, but he brushed me
off and told me he was smarter than me so I built the network according
to the written specs with RG58 and soldered on BNC connectors looped
from one box to the next inside the concrete block walls. The state
accepted it during the punch list inspection along with the security
system, commercial fire alarm and MATV wiring i did as a subcontractor.
Then he called me and was screaming that he couldn't use the network I
installed, and that he wanted me to change it to Cat 5. I reminded him
of the calls I had made the month before and told him it wasn't my
problem because he had refused to make the changes with the architect
when he had the chance. They ended up opening the new campus with Cat 5
wire dropped along the walls from the drop tile ceiling.
Some local companies will hire ten to twenty people out of college on
probation and hope to find one that can be trained to do the job. Their
reason? They advertise that "X%" of their employees have college
degrees, even though some are doing simple assembly work, or even
sweeping the floors. Its like defense contractors who insist on hiring
as many veterans as they can to look good to the government when they
bid on contracts.
I am all in favor of degreed workers and certification, as long as it
really means something. Unfortunately, they seem to mean less and less
in the real world.
|
That's not at all true. In the real world you cannot get your foot in
most doors without a degree and it's getting to be more that way every
day.
Thumper |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Patty
Guest
|
| Posted: Fri Jul 21, 2006 3:42 am Post subject: Re: Can't find work with A+ |
|
|
On Thu, 20 Jul 2006 12:29:07 -0400, Thumper wrote:
| Quote: | On Wed, 19 Jul 2006 02:34:42 GMT, "Michael A. Terrell"
mike.terrell@earthlink.net> wrote:
Patty wrote:
On Tue, 11 Jul 2006 19:25:26 GMT, Michael A. Terrell wrote:
I was talking to a friend about a month ago. He called me to tell me
that he was shutting down the retail store and going strictly to all on
call business support. He told me he had lots of people waving their A+
in his face, but they couldn't diagnose even simple OS problems on the
bench without resorting to reinstalling the operating system. They
could quote lots of the questions from the test material, but they had
no hands on experience so he just threw in the towel. Its sad, because
he had the nicest computer store in the county, and the best
reputation. I hauled away four pickup truck loads of 44 computers, some
monitors and printers, and other leftovers that he donated to my
"Computers for Disabled Veterans" project. I like the idea of
certification but you need real, hands on experience to be good at your
job.
That's true of all jobs. However, in the real world, most employers today
want a college education for people they hire. I find it interesting that
my daughter has a degree in Computer Information Systems, however, when she
first graduated from college, she had little clue about actually working
with computers. She got her current job because of that piece of paper
from the university (and her great personality, heh heh). They would not
have even considered hiring someone like me who has years of experience
building and repairing computer systems and cleaning out all the viruses
and malware you can name. In fact, I found it humorous when my daughter
would call me from work to ask me a hardware question. She's much better at
it now, though. Guess it helps to have a mom who is somewhat of a geekette.
;)
I have found, in my experience, that there are lots of people who are very
good with book knowledge, but lack common sense to put it into practice.
However, where I come from, employers still want that piece of paper first.
Patty
Apparently he had hired several different people with "The paper" who
couldn't do anything right, so he threw in the towel. I've worked in
electronic manufacturing and some of the best workers had no formal
education in electronics, yet they understood how the equipment worked
and could locate a single defective component out of thousands in just a
few minutes work.
I have worked as a broadcast engineer at three TV stations and
several radio stations with no certification. designed Cable TV systems,
and owned a two way radio and commercial sound business. A few years
ago I applied for a job at a local college to manage their networks, but
I didn't have a college degree so they hired some bozo. Not long after
that, they built a new branch campus. The architect had made major
mistakes in the specifications for the network wiring, but he brushed me
off and told me he was smarter than me so I built the network according
to the written specs with RG58 and soldered on BNC connectors looped
from one box to the next inside the concrete block walls. The state
accepted it during the punch list inspection along with the security
system, commercial fire alarm and MATV wiring i did as a subcontractor.
Then he called me and was screaming that he couldn't use the network I
installed, and that he wanted me to change it to Cat 5. I reminded him
of the calls I had made the month before and told him it wasn't my
problem because he had refused to make the changes with the architect
when he had the chance. They ended up opening the new campus with Cat 5
wire dropped along the walls from the drop tile ceiling.
Some local companies will hire ten to twenty people out of college on
probation and hope to find one that can be trained to do the job. Their
reason? They advertise that "X%" of their employees have college
degrees, even though some are doing simple assembly work, or even
sweeping the floors. Its like defense contractors who insist on hiring
as many veterans as they can to look good to the government when they
bid on contracts.
I am all in favor of degreed workers and certification, as long as it
really means something. Unfortunately, they seem to mean less and less
in the real world.
That's not at all true. In the real world you cannot get your foot in
most doors without a degree and it's getting to be more that way every
day.
Thumper
|
I agree. Like it or not, the "real" world wants degrees.
Patty |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
Michael A. Terrell
Guest
|
| Posted: Fri Jul 21, 2006 8:54 pm Post subject: Re: Can't find work with A+ |
|
|
Patty wrote:
| Quote: |
On Thu, 20 Jul 2006 12:29:07 -0400, Thumper wrote:
That's not at all true. In the real world you cannot get your foot in
most doors without a degree and it's getting to be more that way every
day.
Thumper
I agree. Like it or not, the "real" world wants degrees.
Patty
|
Like it or not, a degree only proves that you can pass a particular
test. When a business really needs the job done right, they don't care
about the wallpaper. The degree gets you in the door when all they want
is a warm body to fill a job but when money is tight they want proven
performance.
I've been in the job market for over 40 years and only twice has not
having some certificate kept me from being hired. In some cases I was
hired instead of a person with plenty of certification. You have to
realize that some people only hire what they consider less qualified
employees so they don't lose their job to them.
I wasn't hired at Ch 22 TV in Dayton Ohio for this reason. A friend of
mine who was working there told me the chief engineer was afraid he
would be replaced by me within a couple months because I knew more about
the equipment the station used than he did. My only "Certification" for
broadcast engineering was a letter of commendation from the US Army.
The certification is only one part of getting hired. There is also
personality, appearance, how well you can communicate with people, your
writing skills and a hundred other little items that make a good
employee.
--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.
Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
