Hello from an ambitious newb...

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Hi Guys,

Have seen this forum before in searches, but thought it's about time I signed up...

Anyway I'm Mike, from Cardiff, and same as many people I want to get in the IT industry, sick of what I do at the moment (work in a courier company) and I'm hoping I'm not too old at 26! I have used computers all my life, I am pretty experienced I'd say at problem solving with windows XP but no real experience with Server (only basic usage), but unfortunately I have never worked in IT so I've decided to get as many certificates as possible and keep on applying for jobs...

Anyway I'm starting with the MCDST, from what I can tell its 70-271 and 70-272, and another exam? I'm currently working my way through the 70-270 book, as I think this counts towards my MCSA / MCSE eventually?

But as usual with my luck, as soon as i got the idea for this, they decided to change over exclusively to Thomson Prometric, and my nearest from what I've read is Swindon! About an hour & a half drive and very awkward opening times...

Anyway, enough waffle, just wanted to say hello, and please, any advice you can give me, especially as to where to start looking for jobs etc, would be more than welcome!

 

Hi Mikeyboy and welcome to Cert Forums.

Your best bet, re: certification, is to start with Comptia A+, N+, and then move onto the MCDST. For the A+ you'll need to invest in Mike Meyer's all-in-one Exam Guide Sixth Edition. This book can be bought on Amazon for about £30. Once you've read through that book move onto James Pyle's Street Smarts. Again, this book can be purchased on Amazon for around about half the price of the Mike Meyer's book.

After you've completed all of these entry level certifications you'll have much more of a feel of which areas you'd like to specialize in. So many people join these forums and say things like "I want to be a programmer" and then you ask them if they've ever wrote a programme and they tell you no. The point is, how can you know you want to be a programmer if you've never programmed?

On the issue of jobs, I'm not too sure which websites are worth visiting on-line. I'd certainly recommend that you take a look at the jobs section in your local paper. Also find out what the IT businesses are in your area. Send them your CV with a covering letter and if you don't hear back from them within a month, follow it up with a phone call. It demonstrates initiative and will likely make a good impression. It might also be worth looking into doing some voluntary work. That way you're getting some real world IT experience and to a potential employer it shows that you're committed.

Anyway, I'm glad that you've joined the forums, it's a great community and we'll help out whenever we can. Best of luck with your studies and be sure to pop in once in a while and let us know how you're getting on.

Bye for now.

Alex

 

As Alex said start of with A+ and N+ if you have been working in the biz for a while or even if you havent those two certs will give you a good grounding before tackling MCDST. Also the A+ and N+ count toward electives for the MCSA

 

Hi & welcome

As what the others said, you will find it easier doing A+ & N+ first!

 

Hi Guys,

What exactly are these A+ and N+ you speak of... Obviously I am happy to do as many certificates as I can, more the merrier as I see it
I know what you mean about what field of IT I would like to get into, to be honest I think I'm leaning more towards the support side of things, as I do enjoy problem solving, I know XP inside out but I am working through every chapter in my 70-270 book, no point being cocky about it!

Alas, I am already halfway through this book so I will probably carry on and sit this exam anyway, what equipment would I need for the A+ and N+? I got myself a nice Dell laptop to practise on, but I have plenty of other computers lying about if need be...

I did look at computer programming, my plan was to just get whatever basic job in IT I could find, and keep on learning more and more to spread my wings as I go - I have a friend who is a successful contractor, he works mainly in SQL so I looked at this, I have also taught myself HTML, CSS and Javascript but I decided to leave those on the back burner while I get some certificates under my belt.

I'm not naive, I dont expect to suddenly get a job earning triple what I'm on now (would be nice though wouldn't it ), I am prepared to work very hard to get somewhere, but I just don't want to waste my time any more!

Again thanks to all who have replied so far, I can see this being a handy place to frequent

 

http://certification.comptia.org/a/default.aspx

http://certification.comptia.org/network/default.aspx

These will tell you all about A+ and N+

 

hi m8,

i started on the MCDST and i think it helped me get a good base of understanding of XP (i thought i knew it inside out too then learned much much more whilst studying the exam)

enjoy

 

Welcome to CF

 

Hi guys thanks again for the welcome

I agree with you about finding out new stuff, I have been using XP for a while so the troubleshooting stuff I am happy with, stuff like unattended installations and recovery console etc are all new to me, so its great learning all things I'd previously avoided or left to my brother

How many of you took certificates as a way into IT? As opposed to already working in IT?

 

Thats why I am hoping my A+ will help me get a foot in door, but bare in mind just because you have a qualification does not mean you will get a job, you could only look slightly more appealing than someone with no certs and no experience.

Unfortunatley experience in the real world is what counts.

 

I have no certs but recently landed my first job in IT. I applied for an entry level position and managed to excel at the interview. I asked my employer on landing the job what made her pick me ahead of the other candidates and she said that it was my "attitude, willingness to learn (I'm currently self-studying towards A+ certification and also attending college once a week to study for a computing degree), and above all sincerity.

Certification alone won't land you a job, but once you're in the door it will help you stand out from your competition. For example, if an employer is interviewing for a junior tech position and there's only two serious candidates both of a similar skill set and one of the candidates is A+ certified and the other not, then the employer is likely to be more inclined to offer the position to the candidate that's certified as the A+ proves that the candidate can do basic 'techie' tasks such as: repairing a printer, installing a hard drive, upgrading a device driver etc etc etc.

There are many, many, examples of people that have managed to forge extremely successful careers in IT with little or no certifications which proves that it's not the "be-all-and-end-all", but with the way the industry is going today I think that forging a successful career in IT without certification would be extremely challenging to say the least.

Just my 2p worth!

AW

 

Hello mate,

As already state the A+ & N+ give a great base of understanding to build your career on.

26 is nothing mate, i started my A+ at 26 and a year later i've been working 1st line support for 10 months.

good luck in your studies

 

Wow well done that's fantastic, so you landed your job after 2 months of studying your A+?

I will definitely get started on learning these too, are these ones Prometric or Pearson Vue?

 

Hi there and welcome

 

Actually, it's not good to just pile on certifications willy-nilly... so "the more the merrier" is not always true.

The advice provided here is solid: start looking for an entry-level job NOW, while you're studying for the A+. If you get it before you find an entry-level IT job, put it on your CV and keep looking, and start studying the Network+ and/or MCDST. You shouldn't consider the MCSA or MCSE till later in your career.

Welcome!

 

BosonMichael,

Thanks for your advice. I am going to carry on studying for my MCDST, and I will also go for the CompTIA certificates aswell, now all I need to do is find an appropriate job...