A+ - confused :(

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Evening all!

I've been surfing around the net and this site for a good few days now and am becoming more confused!

Basically, I thought I had settled on doing the MCDST course at a cost of £400 from ICS. I went away on holiday, came back and was on the verge of booking the course when Skills Train called me (following an email enquiry I sent).

A sales woman from Skills Train came out and chatted to me for over 2 hours. She was very helpful and nearly signed me up to do the A+/N+ and MCSE course at a cost of £3500. I luckily decided to sleep on it and from reading posts on here, decided against it.

Another reason I chose not to pursue the MCSE is due to the fact I do not see myself supporting networks and servers in the future - although the sales woman did steer me to thinking that was what I wanted to do! VERY clever sales tactic!

Anyhow, the A+ did look to be a very good place for me to start and this course has a lot of recommendation on here. My current preferred career is to build PC's to spec, install and support them as necessary to private customers. Also to provide a low level support service. I love trouble shooting and am pretty good at fixing most niggly problems, however I appreciate I have an awful lot to learn still.

It's late, Im waffling - please bear with me!

Right, so I think I have decided on the A+ course. Some people here recommend the Meyers book, which can be picked up for around £30. Then there's the exam fees (2x£105 I believe). If this is possible, why then would I pay around £1000 for the A+ course from people such as Computeach?!

Are the courses from Computeach and the like just a spoken version of the book?!

Skills Train want £2500 for A+ and N+ combined, however they provide an element of hands on experience.

So in conclusion, Im a little lost. In need of advice and a rather large vodka!

Karen

 

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hi karen. i was kinda in the same boat as you last month.
computeach had almost signed me up for a+,n+,sec+ and mcsa/mcse. quite a workload i now realise. but they asked for £5200 and quick as prices were "going up" soon.

anyhoo,ive decided to self study and e-bay is a great place to get cheap books. i got the meyers and sybex books for about £15.

the other thing i realised was that if i did manage to pass my mcse thru the training provider, i wouldn't actually have any experience to back it up and as such would be wasting it for a few years trying to.

although its hard self studying as ive always just been talked at in classrooms, the guys here are very helpful and it is your own pace.

good luck with whatever you choose tho. now who's waffling....im going for a jd.....

EDIT:sorry, forgot. i do believe that they deliver their own books based on the same format as meyers/sybex. ie, big book, some cd's and "live" (?) tutor chat.

 

Hello Karen44:

If you want to build computers, then A+ is an excellent
certification to have(in my opinion).

I am going to be a computer technician myself, so that
certification is very important to me.

 

Thanks Moominboy and Veteran's Son - both very helpful replies.

Im glad Im not the only one confused with all the options! The internet is a great place to get info - however sometimes you can get too much!!

I too like to study at my own pace, which is normally faster than your average classroom student, hence the desire to learn from home! I took the entire ECDL course in 3 weeks and aced all the tests (not that they were hard!). Not really sure why I took ECDL to be honest, but seemed a good place to start my studying lol!

So, a Meyers book then down to my local Prometric centre to take the exams? Is that the best way to go do you think??

Enjoy the JD!

 

Your exam study plans sound good to me.
Irish whiskey is good too, though!

 

Thanks Mike

Off to Ebay now to find me some books! It's late, but who cares!

K

 

Hi Karen, I too have had both the computeach & ICS people round (although when they called I stated I just wanted general info). They insisted that they could better do that on a face-to-face basis.

I agreed, a guy came round talking total shite...

Not wanting to be rude, I said I was a bit strapped for cash. How fortunate for me that he had a loan form for a Carreer Development Loan on his person (the computeach guy)..

Again I declined to commit. I think he was a bit pissed off when he left. Sort of 'you shite, you're a time waster'

Anyway, & I think it's a subject we could all waffle on , the A+ exams cost about £115 each (there are two)* And as stated ebay offers some great materials.

May I also suggest you look at learndirect? They offer some A+ endorsed courses. I'm about to finish a basic networking course & think they are a great training provider.

* I've heard about vouchers. Worth checking

All the best in your studies.

 

Hi Aureilius

Thanks for the reply.

I took my ECDL with Learndirect. I didn't need their help at all so cannot comment on that, however the staff were really nice and friendly, which is always a bonus! I'll drop them an email to see what they offer, as not all branches offer the same courses apparently.

Good luck with your A+

Karen

 

I have done all of the A+ courses that Learndirect offer, the company I work for offer Learndirect, so they have made all technicians do all of the LD teccy courses, which is extra money for the company.

I can't say I was that impressed with the quality of the courses to be honest. They weren't bad as such, but I didn't feel they were very well focused on the objectives. Well one of the three I did wasn't.

They would be a good compliment to say going through the Mike Meyers book and of course, they are a hell of a lot cheaper than traditional private training providers as Learndirect is government subsidised. You would be provided with an online tutor as well which does mean you have someone to help you when you get stuck etc.. which you can't get from a a book.

 

I'm sure that you could post any problems you have on these forums, as many people around here will be able to help.

It's much the same as emailing your tutor would be anyway.

 

Hope this helps you choose. Remember, do what is best for you.

 

Thanks for your comments Modey - it's good to hear about the Learn Direct courses.

Hi Boyce
Thanks for the well thought out reply. It's seems although it was late, I did make some sense!

I've found the Meyers book on Ebay which includes the 2003 revisions, so am just waiting for the auction end to near.....then I'll be on my way and back on here a lot more often!!

I love the Smirnoff bottle! That certainly is a very large vodka indeed!

Thanks again,
Karen

 

No probs, hope you win the book, it really is a cracker.

Best of luck.

 

Lol...........what else to add??????mmm..
Self study is fine, but i needed and got through the A+ alot easier by experience. 1st by just doing it and helping people, learning by saying, yeh i can fix that..... didnt have a clue, but made myself find out...Net, books, other people. The best way i think, i learned so much that way, it sort of forced me to learn it, which seems to stick in the old box...Lol..
I then got a volunteer position with a local registered charity. Real people, real probs that books cant tell ya!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hope things work out for ya Karen.
Kat

 

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