A+ Certification Advantage/Disadvantage?

<b>A+ Certification</b>
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"A+ Certification is an industrywide vendor-neutral certification program developed and sponsored by the Computing Technology Industry Assocaiation (CompTIA). The certification shows that the technician has a basic competence in supporting microcomputers."

You must pass two core exams to complete the certification, A+ Core Hardware & A+ Operating System Technologies.

Core Hardware Exam:

-Installation, Configuration, and Upgrading.......30%
-Diagnosing and Troubleshooting...................30%
-Preventative Maintenance.........................5%
-Motherboard/Processors/Memory....................15%
-Printers.........................................10%
-Basic Networking.................................10%

Operating System Technologies Exam:

-OS Fundamentals..................................30%
-Installation, Configuration, and Upgrading.......15%
-Diagnosing and Troublshooting....................40%
-Networks..........................................15%

"A+ certification enjoys wide recognition throughout the computer industry and significantly improves a technician's ability to secure and keep employment. To date, over 260,000 technicians have become A+ certified, making it the most popular of all IT certifications."

The cost for non CompTIA members is $132 (USD) for one exam, or $264 (USD) for two exams together. Once certified, the certification is good for life.

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I'm not sure I know what X Certification is. Would you be referring to MSCE, Red Hat Linux 7.X Certification, or Mac OS X - Administrion Basic/Server Essentials(ACTC)? More details please.

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Does X-Certification, signify <b>e<font color=red>X</font color=red>perience</b>?

Not many people are aware of A+ Certification, that's why I'm curious about the benefit it gives to those who have it. Whoever, is A+ certified here, please give me your feedback. Regardless, if you are/are not A+ certified, what are the advantages/disadvantages? Any comments appreciated.

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Then it sounds to me as a waste of time. At first I thought it would be of some value, until I purchased an Exam Guide and found that most of the stuff in the book I already knew. Then I began to question it's worth, because alot of IT people have no clue of what A+ Certification is.

I think I'll just continue with my BS in IS studies toward completing my degree, and stop wasting my time persuing such a bogus certification program. Thanks Pettytheft for the feedback.

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LOL!

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Thanks for the sincere and sensible response. Combining the certifications does make sense. I love learning so the study doesn't bother me, I'm just not use to investing my money in worthless endeavors. I think I'll just take the A+ exams flat-out, then follow your recommendation. Eventually I'll complete my degree as well as CCNA & MCSE certification.

I know knowledge doesn't match experience, but I would much rather have knowledge to backup my experience, than experience with no knowledge. While persuing this course of action I'll use time to my advantage. One of the greatest failures in life is, time mismanagement. I am not striving for bragging rights, its just that I love this stuff. As I age well, God willing, I'll maintain my health and exercise my mind, then retire to writting books on this stuff. Hey, I much appreciate your time and advice in this post. Good day!

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Well, I found this artical on IT certifications that spell out a good path to take for those interested in making themselves a little more marketable to the IT community.

This is on <A HREF="http://www.eweek.com/article/0,3658,s=702&a=23408,00.asp" target="_new">certifications</A> in general. The most perferred certification seems to be the CCNA cert. The <A HREF="http://www.eweek.com/article/0,3658,s=25210&a=24050,00.asp" target="_new">CCNA</A> certification has been updated as of March 12, 2002 to include real world senerios, instead of the typical knowledge based questions.

This post is just FYI for those interested in IT certifications.

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