Adding Value To Your IT Career
In the world of It there are a few ways to add value to your skills. The top three ways are experience, education, and certifications. A good mix of these three will help a person further their career in the IT field. No one of these items would be good enough in our current economic environment. Not that I don’t like my job, it’s just that this year is the last year COMPTIA is going to allow three of it’s certifications to be valid for a lifetime without continuing education credits.
For me what I am missing from my resume is some certifications. Why should I invest time into studying, preparing and taking these exams? I feel that right now is the perfect time for me because of my experience in the IT field and timing. I do realize that I should have spent time in years past working on achieving the COMPTIA Certifications. One of the reasons why I didn’t was because I was selling myself short on how useful they were. Another reason was that I didn’t have the experience to be able to feel confident about taking the exam.
I have already taken The essentials part of the Exam on September 7th, 2010 and scored an 828 out of 900. I was very surprised at how much I knew about the IT field. I would like to say I was studying, but I was more of a review of concepts, technology, and vocabulary (aka buzzwords). I would have take the Practical part of the exam already, but I am waiting a few more weeks to be eligible at my job to be reimbursed for the cost.
A+ Certification
The A+ Certification has been around since 1993 and is an industry standard. If you are looking to break into the IT field this is the entry level certification you should go for. It will test your knowledge on hardware and software concepts. You can face questions about printers, basic networking concepts, and other related topics. This certification is most relevant to people who want to enter the Desktop Support or Help Desk Support sub field in IT.
The reason this Certification is important is because it communicates to people with-in the IT industry that you have a basic grasp of concepts of technology and what is expected of a technician. It doesn’t automatically make you a better IT Technician than someone who doesn’t have one. A piece of paper that says you passed two tests doesn’t take the place for knowledge or experience. If you have a good combination of the three that is the best way to be the best candidate for any job in IT.
Experience
When I had a chance in 2007 to take some classes and take the exam I was against it because I didn’t see the value of the Certification. In the years since I’ve been on a variety of interviews and it became apparent the value of this certification. While I was taking the exam I was very confident about my answers to the majority of the questions.
Experience was the major key that allowed me to succeed at the A+ exam. There were many questions that I answered quickly because I experienced the problems at work or ran into the problems myself. There was one question I knew only because I had to deal that specific printer issue at my day job. I am looking forward to taking part 2 in a couple of weeks. I know I will pass, but that won’t stop me from doing some reviewing before hand.
The Lines of Digital Communication
I am not an expert in communication or what is considered standard communication etiquette. What I do know is how I interpret the communications I get. Which in most cases I do it wrong. It’s a gut feeling based on the the information I have at hand.
In this modern digital age we have many forms of communications between texting, facebook, email, and ect. Yet in all these instances I feel they are impersonal. They take out a very important part of the process. That part is hearing and seeing an instant reaction or the infliction of voice. On the digital front no one sounds exactly as they seem. We are allowed to craft a response that is unnatural. There is only so much one can “write” before it becomes meaningless.
Yes I will admit I am guilty of this, but I also know when to call up a friend to talk to get them to come out for a bit. I prefer the phone call to a text message or of facebook message. When I see my friends are having a bad day through facebook or AIM messages I’ll cal them up. I feel that a familiar voice is worth more than a few bytes of a text or other electronic message. In this day and age it also sends a message that you think they are important to reach out to.
I think it more comes down to balance. We have to know when an electronic interaction is good and when to pick up the phone to call. In this digital age it will get more difficult to make that decision as new forms of communication comes out. The younger generation will be growing up with this new technology and this will be standard for them.
It’s weird that I am in the IT field and yet part of me fells like I miss the days when you had to call someone to get in contact with them. I guess I’m old school like that and will probably continue that trend. I’ll embrace new technology and communications, but I’ll always know the value of a phone call or a nice get together with friends. It’s something that I feel is priceless.
