Certification a waste

I have taken a course in A+ over a series of night classes twice a week for 6 months. I sat the A+ exams (hardware) twice and failed. I'm not dumb I know my stuff but I think that these exams are a bit of a money spinner. Twice on the exams I have had two very misleading questions which required one answer but gave four choisces and two of them were correct. Has anyone else had these problems?

I have taken a course in A+ over a series of night classes twice a week for 6 months. I sat the A+ exams (hardware) twice and failed. I'm not dumb I know my stuff but I think that these exams are a bit of a money spinner. Twice on the exams I have had two very misleading questions which required one answer but gave four choices and two of them were correct. Has anyone else had these problems?

To some degree I agree with you. But, whether you consciously realize it or not, the time spent on the 'book learning' was worth your time. How? Well it certainly required you to manage your time, right? It made you prioritize your schedule so that you could reach an attainable goal, right? Some employers are gung ho on certs and others aren't. Finding the rights one's is your challenge. Requires more homework on your part. To some degree the information presented in theory has relevanceto the kind of work you aspire to do or will one day do. As a senior hiring manager, I look for credentials, but more importantly I look for work experience, education and training, and someone who is going to mold well within my team. If this is communicated well on paper I'll bring a candidate in and allow them selves the opportunity to market them selves and present to me how they feel they can benefit the organization. IT is never, sorry everyone, going to be as strong as it was a few years ago. If we are lucky we may see half of what once was. Maintain your focus, it a tough economy right now, with any luck the tide will soon turn. TS/SCI requirements are primarily used in gov't jobs or contract positions that support the gov't. It isn't like you can just go out and get one. You have to work for uncle sam and if the position you are filling dictates a security clearance of this level they will begin the background investigation. Take a good amount of time, sometimes in excess of 6 months.

Where are you seeking employment? I'm based in Philly, if you'd like you can send me your resume as there are several positions in our IT dept that are currently open.

Greg Yerger
Director, Quality Assurance & Training
Northwestern Human Services
620 Germantown Pike
Lafayette Hill, Pa. 19444
website: www.nhsonline.org
"One Individual At A Time"

The market for IT is horrible these days. It most likely isn't that you don't have the qualification as the person they hire, most likely you just aren't getting noticed. Are you getting interviews but no jobs or just no interviews? I recently had to hire an entry level tech, I put a post on hotjobs on Friday morning. By monday I had a couple hundred resumes. I couldn't possibly review this many with my other time constraints. My advice, try to get noticed, preferably if you can get a refferal by someone that works in the company.

I hate to be so bold as to say this but you are probably not going to get one. At the very least a company will accept someone with a active valid Secret clearance upgradeable to TS/SCI, after that someone holding a TS and of course what they want is someone holding a TS/SCI.

Our employer put us in for TS', some guys are jumping ship and have found jobs where they are being submitted for TS/SCI...monster bucks.

If you have all of those certs, and can't get a help desk job, maybe it is you. I have a student that is brilliant, with a CISSP cert, which is in great demand. He can't get a job, because he "Creeps" people out. Take a look in the mirror, do youlook like a great employee. How are your grammer skills? Work on yourself, you have the certs.