Lost in a Sea of certs

Oh man! Ad-blocking software has been detected! :'(

This website is run by the community, for the community... and it needs advertisements in order to keep running. Blocking our ads means your killing our stats!
Please disable your ad-block, or become a premium member to hide all advertisements and this notice.

Ive been using and building computers at home for years now and im finaly decided i need to make a career out of it, ive been looking up the different certs i can get to make myself attractive to employers and its getting a bit confusing.
I want basicly to focus on building and formating computers from scratch as this is what i understand how to do best at the moment, so i was thinking of getting an MCP for xp and A+ as i think i will have a good understanding of whats going on in the courses but i have some questions i need answered before i hand over any cash for training....

are these certs the right choice?
will i struggle to enter into this area with just experience from personal intrest?
are the intence 7 day courses a scam?
how much should i expect to pay?
do you have any good links to training providers/colleges in london?

Thanx for your help, i dont want to screw this up!

 

Oh man! Ad-blocking software has been detected! :'(

This website is run by the community, for the community... and it needs advertisements in order to keep running. Blocking our ads means your killing our stats!
Please disable your ad-block, or become a premium member to hide all advertisements and this notice.

1. Yes, they are a good starting point.

2. It all depends. Some employers will give quite a bit of weight to years of building computers on your own. Other's won't. But, the A+ as a documentation of your skills will help.

3. I think they are.

4. I wouldn't pay any training organization for training. If you've been building computers for years then you have the basic understanding needed that it takes to teach yourself. Why pay someone else to do what you can do for yourself?

5. Nothing.

6. No. I live in the US.

One more word of advice. Learn Linux. Knowledge of Linux is becoming more valuable all the time. Learning Linux by using distributions such as Debian, Slackware, and Gentoo will greatly increase your knowledge of computers and how they work.

I've learned more about computing in general in a year and a half of working with Linux on my own with no set goal in mind other than to make myself competent in Linux administration than I did working through an MCSE and an MCDBA. Having the Windows knowledge as a background helped, but Linux will teach more, faster, than Windows ever will because Windows actually isolates you from the computer. Linux allows you to experience the computer.

 

I think Freddy said it all nicely.

 

Greetings, Newbie. I agree with ffreeloader that with your background, I don't think you'll need to access a training provider for the certs you mention. Just grab a copy of THIS (clickable link) book and have at it. Chances are you could also easily self-study for the 70-270 exam which covers XP and earn your MCP. As you advance in a particular certification path, it would help to be working in IT and gaining experience.

 

Thank's for the advice guys, i hadent thought of just reading up and sitting the exams, you may have saved me alot of time and money
I'll let you know how i get on

 

Hi there

All the best with your IT studies.
My advice would be to obtain the A+ first. It
is an entry-level certification but would
be an excellent IT foundation(in my opinion).

 

Yes it seems that success = experiance and cert's!

Your personal experiance along side taking the A+ (the perfect starting place!) maybe in addition (it may ne hard) do some temping or vol. work for your C.V?