Certifications : CompTIA A+

By far the most common certification I have seen requested is A+.  A+ is the bread and butter of the computer technician.  It covers everything from motherboard design and layout to how to troubleshoot printing.  CompTIA, the Computing Technology Industry Association, is an independent group that provides certification on a wide range of topics including servers, projects, health IT and more.  Their certifications tend to be more on overarching topics and general knowledge than specifics (i.e. complex command line sequences).

A+ is generally recommended as a starting point for certification (Through dumb luck I started with Network+, which focuses more on networking).  Many employers require it for entry level, and many others require it of their administrators just to keep them current.  You should know that it does require re-certification every 3 years as technology changes.  This requirement ruffles some folks feathers, but to me it makes perfect sense.  I wouldn't trust a mechanic who didn't prove their abilities to repair my car, why are computes any different? (In many ways they are more valuable, think about how much data lives on computers in our daily lives).  Fortunately if you get another "related" (Network+, Security+ or CASP) it will update the expiration date to three years from the most recent certification.

The A+ certification is actually composed of 2 exams, the practical and the theory.  You must pass both to become certified.  The practical focuses more on troubleshooting and customer care, while the theory portion focuses more on how computers operate and what makes them tick.  CompTIA suggests 500 hours of hands on work with computers, although a driven user should be able to handle these exams fairly easily. The more experience you can get hands on with hardware and computers the better.

By far the best resource for this course that I have found is Professor Messer.  He has a series of excellent online training videos which go over every aspect of them exam.  He will walk you through everything you need to pass the exam.  I have found that a combination of note taking (writing every bullet point from every slide of every video) and flash cards (generating flash cards based on my notes) led to my success with this certification (90% on both exams, and not a penny spent on training!... except the flash cards).  Of course, if you like you may pay Professor Messer for a downloadable copy and some more excellent stuff.

Overall this certification is a great place to begin, and something that provides a solid foundation to any IT career.

Preparation Is Key : How to Get Started

I have found that preparation is everything when it comes from IT, from planning out backup rotations, to setting away messages, to studying for certifications to getting advice.

I spent a lot of time before I even applied for a job or looked into a single certification talking to people.  It
began with people I knew who were in IT, mostly programmers (personally I prefer infrastructure, the physical dealings of IT, but I do appreciate those of the programmatic persuasion).  These conversations mostly took the shape of 5 minute discussions over coffee or in hallways.  They really helped pave the way for more important conversations later.

From those friendly conversations I branched out into asking for introductions to IT managers, or System Administrators, or anyone really.  I used social networking a bit (LinkedIN and Facebook), but mostly asked for them face to face with someone I knew.  I was fortunately in that my friends happened to know someone who knew someone who was in IT.  I was able to get myself in front of at least 2 Directors and several other Administrators.

The main focus of my questions revolved around what training do I need.  Is a degree a good idea?  Are certifications the way to go?  Should I volunteer?

For the most part I was told that degrees were only worth if it you wanted to get one (whew).  My interviewee's indicated that degrees were much more scholarly in focus, and that my interest in infrastructure and hands-on learning may be better focused elsewhere.

Certifications were recommended to me as a good place to begin.  They provide an excellent foot in the door and show my intent to continue in the field.  They are second only to actual experience, I was told.
From there, the next steps were easy.

Volunteer.

Study.

Repeat.

Why IT?

I'll start off by saying I have a BA in Psychology.  I have yet to find anything you can do with a BA in Psychology other than get a MA in Psychology (or Social Work).  Neither of those things interest me.  What did interest me in Psychology was Cognitive Psych, specifically Biomimetics.  That is a field that focuses on having technology or processes mimic biological ones (i.e. how a fish swims) as mother nature has figured things out a lot better than we have. 

This has some fascinating applications in the technological world from swarming robots to thinking computers (hopefully no one thinks to combine the two or Humanity may be in trouble).  Basically what I really got from Psychology was a deeper drive to get into technology.  I did also work at my colleges IT department, which was a great introduction into IT and set the building blocks for my career choice.

Growing up I was always fascinated with computers, mostly for their gaming potential (AOL had some great MMO's, and Rogue Squadron is likely to blame for my middle school grades being... bad), but also for their learning potential.  Encyclopedia Britannica had a great set of CD's with interactive learning videos on them that I adored (they did just stop published paper copies).

All of this set the stage for me to dive into IT, the question was how would I do it?