Data-Hawk
I have no strings on me.
How much are they now? When I took the A+, it was around $125-$150. But that was about 9 years ago....
IT Certifications and Careers (Official Discussion Thread)
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How much are they now? When I took the A+, it was around $125-$150. But that was about 9 years ago....
aXiom
Maximized Potential
Been a lil over a month since I passed my CCENT... real life got in the way plus I got lazy and started slacking... would've had my CCNA by now had I kept on pushing.. bout to hop back on the wagon to day and grab this shyt by June.
Those of you with security+ ..how long did it take you to study?
Those of you with security+ ..how long did it take you to study?
D1renegade
All Star
Right now I would need to pay $173 for each exam, so this is going to set me back $350 for the 801&802How much are they now? When I took the A+, it was around $125-$150. But that was about 9 years ago....
I don't want to pay that much.
Data-Hawk
I have no strings on me.
Right now I would need to pay $173 for each exam, so this is going to set me back $350 for the 801&802
I don't want to pay that much.
I feel you breh. When I took the A+, I was just fired from a warehouse job
and had to borrow $150 from my mother for the OS part. me being fired from a low paying ass job lit a fire of motivation.
. You really have to think of it as an investment. Even though its an entry level certification, it'll help land an entry level job( Help Desk or Desktop support ). Once you land your first IT job. It's all up to you from there 
A week and a half. Just read Darril Gibson's book and take the test.
aXiom
Maximized Potential
So a nikka could have gotten this shyt done last month..
I'm about to knock this shyt out as soon I'm through with this ccna.
I'm reading thru this thread right now, but am I to assume that everyone here already had prior knowledge??? I keep seeing, "I'm working on my CCNA, I'm working on this and that" etc, but I can't tell if this is all brand new to you all or what
Some of us did. Some of us didn't. I.T. is a field that can be more about desire and interest than education/knowledge. I've worked with plenty of people who were former accountants, artists, musicians, mechanics, car salesmen etc. They got tired of their old jobs, took a few community college courses, studied for a certification or two and got started. It also doesn't hurt to have connects in high places to bring you on as well.
At the end of the day, don't be too concerned over what you don't know. All that matters is what you want to know, and how bad you want to know it. A lot of employers and prospective co-workers look for desire and whether or not they feel they can work with you.
Cool. I was speaking with someone the other day in the field and I told him how I'm leaning towards the A+ and he said I should go straight for the CCENT, but that's apparently not the case, right??? Given that I have no experience
You can go straight for the CCENT. The CCENT is one half of the CCNA which is more highly regarded than the A+. If the CCENT material seems too hard to grasp than you can fall back to the A+ plus. You can check out youtube for videos on both certs or check out the forums at techexams.net to get a little more info. Visiting techexams can give you a gauge of how you stack up to other people in your situation.
I will also say that the CCENT/CCNA is geared toward those looking to get into networking (routers/switches/firewalls), while the A+, Microsoft certs, Linux certs, etc are more geared toward those looking to deal with end users PCs and Servers and software applications in general. You may want to take some time to think about which direction interests you more.
Bet. I'm looking into both as we speak, I haven't seen it stated explicitly yet, but networking sounds a bit more hands on, is that right? If so, that's def where I wanna be. Childhood shyt. My pops worked for Texas Instruments and other shyts so I had a habit of tinkering around but it was at really young age, so I never learned anything.
My main concern is job outlook though... from what I'm seeing, it's not all to likely to move directly into networking. If need be, I'll get the A+, put in the work while going for the CCENT and continue from there. I'm just trying to figure what my prospects are. Preciate all the help breh, I love the coli. It's been too damn long
Data-Hawk
I have no strings on me.
Bet. I'm looking into both as we speak, I haven't seen it stated explicitly yet, but networking sounds a bit more hands on, is that right? If so, that's def where I wanna be. Childhood shyt. My pops worked for Texas Instruments and other shyts so I had a habit of tinkering around but it was at really young age, so I never learned anything.
My main concern is job outlook though... from what I'm seeing, it's not all to likely to move directly into networking. If need be, I'll get the A+, put in the work while going for the CCENT and continue from there. I'm just trying to figure what my prospects are. Preciate all the help breh, I love the coli. It's been too damn long
Yeah man, unless you are coming from a top college or have connects. You will most likely have to start at the help desk/desktop. Nobody is going to let you touch critical pieces of their network with no experience at all.
On the bright side,The help desk will definitely help you improve your communications skill. For example I just received a promotion, not for my programming skills this time, but because I'm the voice of my department. I communicate with all of our customers and other teams. They all know me, plus my emails are read by Directors and AVP's. So my promotion was easily approved.
Now if you decie to go into programming you won't have to deal with the help desk route.. Lol there's nothing at the help desk level that will help you prepare for programming.
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havoc
Superstar
If you are a student of a state college, contact your program adviser to request a voucher for the exam. In my school, I got a voucher for 801 and 802. Each exam cost $86.00 with the voucher. Here is a good advise to save money for the exam: Take the 801 exam, after you pass the test take your score back to your program adviser if your school has a reimbursement program. If your school has a reimbursement program, you can save money by using the money that will be reimbursed to you for the 802 exam.
Thanks breh
I don't mind putting in the work at all, it's understandable 
What's the outlook with programming? Truthfully, I really want to go into that, but the cert route feels a lot more pragmatic. To clarify, I say that because I have ideas in mind I'd like to create, and sure-- I might program them perfectly but who's to say people would be interested in them? You know? I know it's the newbie in me but I can't help but see programming as the place for entrepreneurs.
Thanks breh
What's the outlook with programming? Truthfully, I really want to go into that, but the cert route feels a lot more pragmatic. To clarify, I say that because I have ideas in mind I'd like to create, and sure-- I might program them perfectly but who's to say people would be interested in them? You know? I know it's the newbie in me but I can't help but see programming as the place for entrepreneurs.
It depends on you(do you want to build apps, do QA, front-end work, behind the scenes work with databases?). Regardless of your goal, with programming, employers look for projects and experience more than a particular set of academic or cert credentials. I've been in the field of IT for a little over a decade and every programmer I've worked with didn't even go to college or have any certs, but they had a strong understanding of their primary languages and could command a heftier salary/contract. Understanding code is just essential if you want to grow as an IT professional and in order to wade through folks who try pull a fast one or really recognize talent. Just think of yourself as Mozart, you have an idea of what you want from your orchestra, but you hire some outside help since you can't play/perform all of the parts needed to make it come alive. Zuckerbeg, Gates, Jobs, etc. had ideas and innovations, but please believe they had an entire army of coders w/ funding make their ideas come to pass.
I was always interested in programming, started out with QBasic, Visual Basic, C++ while in High School, then learned Java, PHP, HTML, MySQL, etc. all while in college. Then I got an internship editing code and doing QA for websites, and that was to be expected because I was just gaining some experience. Ultimately, I wasn't exactly happy doing programming at the professional level due to the managerial pressure and lack of engagement with other customers.My friends that graduated with their CS degree were able to work their way up to high-level salaries, but 70-75+ hours work weeks were the norm. So when another spot opened up, I moved to help desk, then networking, then server support, consultant/contractor and now I am at System Admin.
I could go on, but for me, I just have my degree in Computer Science and that has changed my life all for the positive, but it isn't for the faint of heart as it demands just as much discipline and resolve to finish as another other STEM degree. Whatever schooling you do, nothing in any book or online course can really prepare you for the disasters and fires that you will have to put out while being involved with IT. Figure out what you want to do and then look at the job postings with the requirements and work on chopping down that list.