Typical newbie questions

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.

I know this has been answered numerous times but the sheer amount of different routes is mind boggling! I currently have a BTEC national diploma for I.T. practitioners (Level 3) and have 5-6 years experience as a betting shop manager (Started whilst at college), I have applied for various I.T. support/1st line/2nd line roles and have heard nothing back, literally over 100 jobs easy! I can do most desktop/server set-ups/problem solving and do for friends and family on a regular basis, however employers want experience in the job environment. Now to my question, baring in mind what I know and have I am looking at getting my certs to boost my cv. The Comptia A+ seems the place to start but I don't know if its worth doing (because of my BND and the fact its very easy) or going down the 70-680 (MCSA/MCITP) route? I don't want to waste time and money on the A+ if I could go straight onto the MCSA or even something else. I just need a bit of guidance from someone who knows more than I do or has been down the same road.

Thanks,
Reece

 

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.

Hi and welcome to CF!

Have you familiarised yourself with the A+ syllabus? If not, you may find that it's not as easy as you think. Without work-environment experience, I still think the A+ is the place to start.
I'd definitely start by getting a good A+ book and making sure you're happy with everything before moving on. No reason why you can't be studying for the 680 also, as you know that you want to tackle this one anyway.
You don't necessarily need to take any CompTIA exams but they're a very good place to start looking at what is 'expected' knowledge.

HTH.

 

Welcome to the forum, the A+ is definately a good starting point and will furnish you with all the groundwork you need for a 1st line/repair shop role. If it is easy and you've cover ALL the material then just take the exams and slap it on your CV. The new MCSA/MCSE or the now old MCITP's will actually harm your CV if you obtain those and put them on your cv without the required workplace experience to go with it.

TBH I wouldn't look at 2nd line roles at the moment as its probably a waste of time applying then hoping. Maybe have another look at your CV and compare it to the many different templates on offer on the net, perhaps the reason you are not getting your foot in the door is your CV. Dont forget that your CV is the only thing that recruiters/companies have to get an idea on if you are suitable or not, most CV's get about 1 minutes worth of attention at best before being put in the read a bit more pile or in the shredder.

 

Thanks guys exactly what I needed. By easy I mean I bought the Comptia A+ book and read through it, understanding all of it (Knew most of it already) but I suppose I might as well do the A+ first then move on. Hopefully a new job crops up in the meantime, job hunting has got to be the singlehanded most frustrating thing I have ever done!

Thanks again guys,
Reece

 

I knew the majority of the A+ and it was just a case of remembering alot of facts of the top of my head for the exam, I would still say it was worthwhile doing though and did fill in some blanks and prepare me for life in a enterprise environment such as the need for documentation.

Good luck!