My Career
Since the About page is still under construction I just wanted to vent about something here. I am not going to talk about me per say(You can find more about me when the about page is online). But I do want to talk about 1 thing. All jokes aside, I don't consider myself a "Nerd" or "Geek" in the traditional sense.
But as the future comes, I do like (for a day job (or night job depending on my scheduled shift)), the IT industry working with computers. I currently work at..... Bleep...Bleep....(See the about page when it comes online).....Bleep.....Bleep. Whew I almost caught myself revealing secret information that if in the wrong hands could disrupt the space time continuum as we know it and cause us to revert back to medieval times eating huge turkey legs and getting drunk on some brew with unknown ingredients. Whew.
Over a year ago I decided that at my age finishing college was not my cup of tea. So I decided that in order to get the paper to prove I can do what I can do in the Information Technology industry, I decided to get certified. What that means is that I have a piece of paper, a card in my wallet, logos to put on my resume or my website, that says I have generic book knowledge in a specific area of the IT industry. YEA! This by no means takes place of a college degree, but in allot of jobs in the Information Technology Field, sometimes a certification in a specific area (depending on the job), and experience is enough. Now if you had a college degree as well, great but not needed unless an employer in their own right requires it.
Now there are allot of different certifications in the Information Technology Industry. Some vendor specific and some non vendor specific but in a particular area of the industry and some have both elements to it. Some certifications have to be renewed every year or yew years to keep up with the times at your expensive expense, and some never expire even if the test to take the certification is upgraded for the times. Now there isn't a certification on every aspect of the Information technology industry, but a good bit is certification based and more are added all the time.
So the question would be, what certification should I take. After all this article is about me. Well maybe not all about me. Well not really about me. So let me rephrase. So the question would be, what certification should 1 take. Ahh that's better. Well it depends on what job in the IT Industry you want to do, what equipment and software you plan to work with, and what job are you trying to get. Here is an example. If you are trying to get a job or know that there are allot of jobs available in a certain area and you know that all these jobs that are hot right now use a particular software application, and that company that makes that software application has a certification program that says on a Book Smart non hands on experience level (meaning you may know the ins and outs of this software application from install, to troubleshooting, to uninstall to whatever minus probably any back end programing to make the application), then that specific vendors certification is right for you. If you are undecided or want something more basic and generic then there are options as well.
Since I have no idea where my Information Technology career will take me, or what specifically I want to do (I feel like an undecided college student), then generic certs are the way to go for me. The Information Technology industry changes all the time. So if you decide to take a certification, check to see how often it needs updating. Plus something that may be hot today, may be dead tomorrow, and that certification that you paid $$$ to get and took your precious time to study for and take, that you have to do the same for every year, may be worthless. As nobody is highering people who have that certification as nobody uses that software you got certified on any more (or at least not widely as it once was). Sucks for the that software vendor but oh well there.
So I started with the basics. What would be more generic than taking a test that say I can put together a basic desktop PC, take one apart, and troubleshoot hardware issues. Do the same for laptops almost (still learning Laptop Hardware), and fix basic issues with non server Microsoft Windows Operating Systems (as after all as much as I hate it, in the United States most people who buy a computer retail or online buy the computer and use Microsoft Windows). Now wait a minute. Did I say Microsoft Windows? Microsoft is a company and Windows (despite the different version) is a vendor specific software. That is 100% true, but for the reasons I stated above: "(as after all as much as I hate it, in the United States most people who buy a computer retail or online buy the computer and use Microsoft Windows)". I can take a non expiring test on the subject and still be generic. At least the Hardware side is. There are allot of companies offering similar tests. Even Microsoft offerers this generic test. But the company (yes certifications are a for profit business) I decided to take the test from was a company called CompTia. I will not digress into who or what they are or what they offer. Please do a Google search on that on your own time. Oh and the certification I took was called A+ (why I don't know). Basically states I have the knowledge discussed here and even though the test gets updated every so years with the changing times, it never expires. YEA.
So now that I have that started, now what?... Since networking is a big thing now and will always will be, I think I will take Networking+ (Net+), next and go from there. That test basically says I have book knowledge of networking, wireless and wired. This includes basic Ethernet and Telephony. Non Vendor or hardware specific, non OS specific. I will talk about my progress in posts in the Bulletin Board here.
So I have the A+ and when I pass, I will have the Net+. Now what? Do I then go vendor specific? Learn a particular Hard Ware. Software or Operating System that could be obsolete soon? Take a certification that I have to update every so many years, or stay generic? I have no idea. I will deal with that after I take and pass my net+.
In the mean time, I just keep studying what I can so I can do my job, and do it well while I am still working where I am.
Whew. This a long blog post. I promise in the future not to make them so long, but I can't make any guarantees, because if the shoe fits.....
But as the future comes, I do like (for a day job (or night job depending on my scheduled shift)), the IT industry working with computers. I currently work at..... Bleep...Bleep....(See the about page when it comes online).....Bleep.....Bleep. Whew I almost caught myself revealing secret information that if in the wrong hands could disrupt the space time continuum as we know it and cause us to revert back to medieval times eating huge turkey legs and getting drunk on some brew with unknown ingredients. Whew.
Over a year ago I decided that at my age finishing college was not my cup of tea. So I decided that in order to get the paper to prove I can do what I can do in the Information Technology industry, I decided to get certified. What that means is that I have a piece of paper, a card in my wallet, logos to put on my resume or my website, that says I have generic book knowledge in a specific area of the IT industry. YEA! This by no means takes place of a college degree, but in allot of jobs in the Information Technology Field, sometimes a certification in a specific area (depending on the job), and experience is enough. Now if you had a college degree as well, great but not needed unless an employer in their own right requires it.
Now there are allot of different certifications in the Information Technology Industry. Some vendor specific and some non vendor specific but in a particular area of the industry and some have both elements to it. Some certifications have to be renewed every year or yew years to keep up with the times at your expensive expense, and some never expire even if the test to take the certification is upgraded for the times. Now there isn't a certification on every aspect of the Information technology industry, but a good bit is certification based and more are added all the time.
So the question would be, what certification should I take. After all this article is about me. Well maybe not all about me. Well not really about me. So let me rephrase. So the question would be, what certification should 1 take. Ahh that's better. Well it depends on what job in the IT Industry you want to do, what equipment and software you plan to work with, and what job are you trying to get. Here is an example. If you are trying to get a job or know that there are allot of jobs available in a certain area and you know that all these jobs that are hot right now use a particular software application, and that company that makes that software application has a certification program that says on a Book Smart non hands on experience level (meaning you may know the ins and outs of this software application from install, to troubleshooting, to uninstall to whatever minus probably any back end programing to make the application), then that specific vendors certification is right for you. If you are undecided or want something more basic and generic then there are options as well.
Since I have no idea where my Information Technology career will take me, or what specifically I want to do (I feel like an undecided college student), then generic certs are the way to go for me. The Information Technology industry changes all the time. So if you decide to take a certification, check to see how often it needs updating. Plus something that may be hot today, may be dead tomorrow, and that certification that you paid $$$ to get and took your precious time to study for and take, that you have to do the same for every year, may be worthless. As nobody is highering people who have that certification as nobody uses that software you got certified on any more (or at least not widely as it once was). Sucks for the that software vendor but oh well there.
So I started with the basics. What would be more generic than taking a test that say I can put together a basic desktop PC, take one apart, and troubleshoot hardware issues. Do the same for laptops almost (still learning Laptop Hardware), and fix basic issues with non server Microsoft Windows Operating Systems (as after all as much as I hate it, in the United States most people who buy a computer retail or online buy the computer and use Microsoft Windows). Now wait a minute. Did I say Microsoft Windows? Microsoft is a company and Windows (despite the different version) is a vendor specific software. That is 100% true, but for the reasons I stated above: "(as after all as much as I hate it, in the United States most people who buy a computer retail or online buy the computer and use Microsoft Windows)". I can take a non expiring test on the subject and still be generic. At least the Hardware side is. There are allot of companies offering similar tests. Even Microsoft offerers this generic test. But the company (yes certifications are a for profit business) I decided to take the test from was a company called CompTia. I will not digress into who or what they are or what they offer. Please do a Google search on that on your own time. Oh and the certification I took was called A+ (why I don't know). Basically states I have the knowledge discussed here and even though the test gets updated every so years with the changing times, it never expires. YEA.
So now that I have that started, now what?... Since networking is a big thing now and will always will be, I think I will take Networking+ (Net+), next and go from there. That test basically says I have book knowledge of networking, wireless and wired. This includes basic Ethernet and Telephony. Non Vendor or hardware specific, non OS specific. I will talk about my progress in posts in the Bulletin Board here.
So I have the A+ and when I pass, I will have the Net+. Now what? Do I then go vendor specific? Learn a particular Hard Ware. Software or Operating System that could be obsolete soon? Take a certification that I have to update every so many years, or stay generic? I have no idea. I will deal with that after I take and pass my net+.
In the mean time, I just keep studying what I can so I can do my job, and do it well while I am still working where I am.
Whew. This a long blog post. I promise in the future not to make them so long, but I can't make any guarantees, because if the shoe fits.....
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