I know this is probably the most generic question EVER in this board, but I've recently took it upon myself to get my A+ certification and try to get out of the hourly wage grind. I have almost NONE experience with computers (save surfing the internet and how to type). I have a big old book I purchased from Borders (my local library system only has one copy of it, a friend recommended it and is far more computer literate/tech savvy than I) by a guy named Mike Meyers, and so far so good, so much as I can tell.
Long and short, any pointers for a novice who's eager and trying to learn? Even if it doesn't lead to a better tax bracket (luckily, Northern VA needs plenty of techs), I do want to build my Frankenstein PC (so far I know a 64 bit proc and at least 16 gigs of RAM, probably a water cooling system) any and all advice would be awesome.
"Laugh and the world laughs with you. Frown and the world laughs at you." -Me.
What specific area are you looking to get into (or do you know)? The tech realm is pretty broad, so you might want to narrow your choices to hardware/networking, software development, database administration, web services, etc.
If you're in nothern VA, you're probably in a good location to take a few courses and with the help of some pretty good text books (Microsoft publishes those which are designed specifically for your desired certification, if you choose to go the MS route), you can learn pretty fast.
I took an A+ Cert class from Horizon learning some years back and took the test and passed no problem.
Concentrate on the networking, routers, switches, cabling and all that a lot. Including network sub masking. There were tough questions on the test on that,
I have my manual from New Horizon here from back in the day, let's see what the chapters were
Basic Network Theory - Definitions, models, connectivity, addressing and signalling
Network Connectivity - Data package, establishing a connection, reliability, noise control, connection devices
Advanced Network Theory - OSI, Ethernet, Resources, FDDI and wireless
Common Network protocols
TCP/IP services
Alternate network protocols
Infrastructure - Routers, Routing tables, Router Discovery, VLANS, WAN Connectivity devices, VOIP
Remote networking
Security
Disaster recovery
Advanced Data storage techniques
Network troubleshooting
Network operating systems
Guess this one was mostly networking
We'll be back right after order has been restored here in the Omni Center.
That the universe was formed by a fortuitous concourse of atoms, I will no more believe than that the accidental jumbling of the alphabet would fall into a most ingenious treatise of philosophy - Swift
Do you recall if that was pre N+? They may have moved some of that to that test.
My advice is - read the books, learn what you can apply in your life, and then test if you feel like it. The certs really aren't that valuable - people can learn the test questions and pass them.
I would not recommend helpdesk to anyone, though. If I were starting fresh right now, I would get a big book on Excel and read it cover to cover - then learn Power Pivot for Excel. You can get on in an analyst/reporting roll in a lot of places with good Excel skills, and Powerpivot is the new hot tech from MS.
I took A+ Essentials and A+ Remote Tech and found them quite easy.
- The essentials are exactly that; essentials. A broad range of stuff. When I took the test in 2007 there was no OSI model to be found, which makes me wonder if Awa took Network+ or took something other than Essentials.
- You can find practice exams online, might be an idea to look at those.
After a (very) long hiatus, I have begun to write again. And this time, I'm not alone!
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It was indeed the Network plus book I listed. I told you it was a while back :)
We'll be back right after order has been restored here in the Omni Center.
That the universe was formed by a fortuitous concourse of atoms, I will no more believe than that the accidental jumbling of the alphabet would fall into a most ingenious treatise of philosophy - Swift
Nope, the controls are on the headphones. Meaning you can only use their headphones or third-party ones made for the new Shuffle... at least until the adapter comes out. Although at that point, you'd be out $110.
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