Once the A+ has been passed?

Discussion in 'A+' started by Shred_teh_blooz, Sep 21, 2008.

  1. Shred_teh_blooz

    Shred_teh_blooz Bit Poster

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    Ok, so I've booked my essentials exam for the beginning of December (any decent cram sheet suggestions would be great!) and I was just wondering, once it's been passed are there any other courses/exams/certifications/qualifications that are nice and easy for someone at that level (or below I guess) which could 'thicken' up a guy's CV?

    Basically, I'd LOVE to be an IT technician for a high-school. It never occured to me what a good idea it would be until a few months back and I'm 100% determined that's the route I want to go down. The way I see it:

    1. You get great holidays... perfect for doing more self-study to go further in the future

    2. It gives me an opportunity to look after a network of 30-40 computers which will put me in good stead for moving on to larger networks and also help me along with the N+

    3. And this is the main one... integrating myself into the school's community. I've a ton of interests that would be useful in that environment (sports clubs, music tuition, etc.) Also the fact that when I was at school there was only one guy that I felt I could talk to if there was ever a problem and a lot of other kids felt the same way. I want to be *that* guy. Going through school is hard enough as a teenager and sometimes although you've got your friends it certainly helps to have someone with experience there to help guide you. So yeah, it's not just about the work itself, it's about being happy, contributing and influencing people in a positive way.

    There are a ton of other positive reasons for wanting to go down that route but those 3 sum it up pretty well.

    So that is the route I want to go down. I've got experience that I can put on the CV but really I want to it to look like I'm a little more 'well travelled' for lack of a better term. Any ideas? And further, any ideas that's relate to the direction I'd like to head in?

    Thanks in advance :biggrin
     
    Certifications: 100 metres swimming badge
    WIP: A+/N+
  2. Kitkatninja
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    Kitkatninja aka me, myself & I Moderator

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    Ok mate, I think you've got the wrong end of what supporting high-schools/secondary schools are like. Unless you're going to get a position part-time/part-year (and get a low salary to reflect it), you're going to have about 20 days holiday per year (with about 5 of them already allocated to the Christmas holiday). As for 30-40 PC's, now unless you're lookin at a school that's still stuck in the middle of the dark ages (even the primary schools in my are have more than that), you're going to be looking at a few hundred (at our place we have 550 PC's/laptops, 16 servers, the IP security camera system, the phone system, approx 1350 users, etc). And unless you get into a "rich" school, your dept will be streched. In fact with the amount of machines and users alot of schools are now out of the SMB category and into the medium to large category. The holidays are the busiest time of the year for us, with project work, rebuilds, etc.

    The good thing about working in education is you get to play with alot of software and technology that you wouldn't normally get a chance to play with. Because it's Government, the pension is great.

    And as for number 3, you'll change after repairing all the vandalised equipment again and again. And whenever you attend a club/gathering/get-together you'll get nothing but IT requests. I've actually stopped going to these types of events because of this, and it's not an isolated thing, it has happened in different educational organisations and to various IT pro's in the educational setting.

    Plus also there's the BSF...

    -Ken
     
    Certifications: MSc, PGDip, PGCert, BSc, HNC, LCGI, MBCS CITP, MCP, MCSA, MCSE, MCE, A+, N+, S+, Server+
    WIP: MSc Cyber Security
  3. Sparky
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    Sparky Zettabyte Poster Moderator

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    Probably best to go down the A+, Network+ and then MCDST route and see how it goes mate.

    As for the job plan perhaps try and not limit yourself to applying for IT positions at schools? Getting that first IT job can be very difficult so apply for *any* IT job that you feel you are suitable for to get some IT experience.
     
    Certifications: MSc MCSE MCSA:M MCSA:S MCITP:EA MCTS(x5) MS-900 AZ-900 Security+ Network+ A+
    WIP: Microsoft Certs
  4. Kitkatninja
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    Kitkatninja aka me, myself & I Moderator

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    Once you've got the full A+, you may want to look at the ETA-i CST rollover certificate to help bulk up your CV. As well as the rest of the certifications what Sparky has said :)

    Another thing that you may want to do is join a professional IT association, like the BCS or Comptia's ITPro. Joining a professional membership has it advantages (discussed in another thread) and you can put it down on your CV.

    True, true.

    You say that you have got experience, what kind of experience are you talking about? Real world experience? Or just doing "IT" as a hobby? Getting your first real IT is one of the hardest things to do :)

    -Ken
     
    Certifications: MSc, PGDip, PGCert, BSc, HNC, LCGI, MBCS CITP, MCP, MCSA, MCSE, MCE, A+, N+, S+, Server+
    WIP: MSc Cyber Security
  5. Shred_teh_blooz

    Shred_teh_blooz Bit Poster

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    Ah, 30-40 was going off a job description I saw which gave me the idea. I know this sounds like an arsehole thing to say, but so long as it's not minimum wage then salary really isn't too much of a worry because I've been good with my pennies over the years. This would be a stop-gap for a few years whilst I got stuck in and got some other courses passed.

    I didn't realise that the holidays were like that, but really that does make a lot of sense and I'm glad you pointed it out which was the reason I told you guys about what I wanted to do with it, so that I'd have a 'real' idea of what would be necessary.

    On the being bugged for requests thing, I get that already! Loads! :biggrin The cool thing is I'm a positive guy and can handle it, though when/if it does start to bug me I'd like to think that I'd be well on my way with the rest of my work.

    Thanks for the info though, it's given me something to think about though it's far better than what I'm doing now. Any tips for qualifications? And what's BSF?

    Actually, I do have experience, I did a year fixing computers for a local shop years ago but stopped because of the whole over-worked/under-paid thing. Plus the owner was dodgy. Currently I work part-time for an outsource partner of BT going to customers houses and fixing their problems. I HATE it though, they send me to places where the actual BT guys don't want to go. I also work part-time at a pub and study in-between. Thanks for the tip :)
     
    Certifications: 100 metres swimming badge
    WIP: A+/N+
  6. Shred_teh_blooz

    Shred_teh_blooz Bit Poster

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    Cool thanks


    Just saw this after what i posted above.
     
    Certifications: 100 metres swimming badge
    WIP: A+/N+
  7. Kitkatninja
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    Kitkatninja aka me, myself & I Moderator

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    Qualifications/Certifications... Like Sparky already said the A+. Network+ & the MCDST are great certs to have and build upon. Some schools use software like RM to help manage their windows network, see here for one of their certs. Some schools use Citrix, so basic knowledge of that may be useful. Some schools like ours have a vanila network (for the most part) with some machines on Ranger (we're currently moving thoughts PC's off it). Alot of schools buy Dell PC's, if you're a customer of Dell you can do their online certification program (DCSE). But certs & quals aren't the be all and end all, I have known IT pro's that have gotten jobs in the school's IT Dept with no professional certs.

    As for BSF, it stands for Building Schools for the Future, you can see Edugeek, which is another forum but gear up mainly for IT Tech's in the education sector. I'll let you read about it, me personally, I'm not worried.

    No worries :)

    -Ken
     
    Certifications: MSc, PGDip, PGCert, BSc, HNC, LCGI, MBCS CITP, MCP, MCSA, MCSE, MCE, A+, N+, S+, Server+
    WIP: MSc Cyber Security

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