Maximum PC

I studied for an A+ a couple years back,but never got it. I'm in serious need of a job that doesn't suck ass,and I hate school,so I was thinking about possibly brushing up and taking the test.

I've never had any kind of tech/IT job or anything,so I know little about it. My brother in law who has a computer science degree was telling me that he thinks it's a waste of money and that while they were decent during the internet boom,it's hard to get a job with one now. Could I get a decent job with just an A+ and a high school diploma? (It doesn't need to be great,just a better alternative than working at Wal-Mart or something.)

If they indeed suck,is there any other decent hardware/OS certs that don't involve a lot of networking? I'd also like to point out that I live in a semi-rural area that is developing quickly,but isn't exactly teeming with tech jobs (north FL).

A+ will not get you a very good job. Remember that it's suppose to be equal to 6 months of training. I can't think of any job where 6 months of training will get you much of a job.

A+ alone will not help much. If its just one of many Certs that you have then that will be better. At a minumum you should have or be working on A+ Net+ MCSE, CCNA. Depending on the kind of job your looking for. There are other certs that are specific to other types of jobs.

It's true. Unless you know somebody, A+ on its own won't help you achieve a high paying job. I just graduated from high school earlier this year so I know what you mean about not wanting to work at Wal-Mart or anything like that.

However, it's nice to be able to charge people for doing servicing jobs just because you have the certification. Walking around and saying you're a certified professional is nice to be able to say. I've made back all of the $290 I spent on the certification exams and then some. It's not bad work, servicing computers for the price I deem fit. The certification does give you more credibility, thus people you know and especially don't know are more liable to give you the cash you're asking for. Just think of it a nice way to make money on the side every now and then.

Good luck with any other certifications you want to go for. I personally am thinking of Network + just because going through a test like that is nothing next to the Cisco class I took.

That's what I thought guys.Thanks for the input.

I don't need a great job or anything though. $10 around here is liveable wage,and a little more than that ($12 or so) would make me perfectly happy. I don't even have a regular job right now (I just graduated a couple years ago),because working for $6.50 a Taco Bell isn't even worth my time.

Do you think I could get any work if I put an add in the paper for basic PC repair/maintenance? Anybody have any luck doing this? I know people are wary of stuff like that, but I could do a better job for half the price of what WorstBuy charges.

I would personally start by getting a graphics designer to do a business card for you. I'm about to send mine in to www.americasprinter.com. I've had a makeshift business card but a professionally designed logo and I got some business from that alone. Can't wait to advertise with the company I work with right now (Publishing company, temp job really) and get even more business!

Advertising in the paper? Wouldn't bother. Start with family and friends and people you know. Hand out the business cards. Then when you have enough money, advertise in a respected magazine. You'll pay more than a paper, but the paper really doesn't get you anywhere unless you get at least a color, quarter page ad.

But it's your call. Good luck.

Is there still a decent market for PC repair? A lot of people do their own stuff nowadays and basic hardware is so cheap it's often easier to replace.

Any of your personal experience,river,would be greatly appeciated.

Yeah, well, "a lot of people" is still far and few between. Probably 94% of the people I know don't know anything about their PC, other than how to turn it on, use a word processor, check their e-mail and surf the web. In any case, you are greatly needed out there.

I'd say that the job market, especially in the field of real world business (bagging at Safeway or anything like that doesn't apply to business, because you are more of a pawn), need someone that has higher level of computer skills than the average Joe Smo.

Let's say you are working at a bank, and the server in the bank actually goes down. It won't power up. It won't do anything. Sure, they could get a "professional" in there, but that could take an hour or more. During that time, they cannot service the customers out in the lobby trying to open an account there. That means they waisting time and time is money. Why not chime up and say, "Hey, I got a certification in dealing with building and maintaining computer systems. Let me at least take a look at it." If you fix it, maybe there is a bonus in it for you.

Even at my current part time job, I get hit with PC questions. The publishing company I work for uses all MACs, a nightmare for any PC guru. Basically I've become pretty good at working my way through OS 9 and now OS X 10.0-10.4. But everytime their client is having a problem viewing a file using a PC, they usually put me on the phone. If I could only charge them extra for my time. I've even serviced a G4 tower. Very similar to a PC in terms of the connections. Basically I sucessfully installed a hard drive in the system, which was pretty much routine for someone of my caliber (I can do that sleep walking ). First time for everything, but I never want to service a MAC again....*shudders*.

Is there a decent market for PC repair? The answer is, yes. But now you got the Geek Squad at Best Buy to compete. But you have one up on them. They have up to a month of repairing before they get to another customer. But guess what? You're almost free! You got time on your hands and a lot of users need their computers fixed NOW!

I'd go get the certification and continue from there. Good luck.

Thank you very much for your advice. I think you've inspired me to try to get work fixing 'puters.

I haven't had a job for a couple years because I was going through some rather nasty mental illness and unable to hold down a steady job. I'm doing a lot better though with the right medication and it's time to make some money so I can build that monster rig.

My parents are putting up the money for me to take the A+,so even if it doesn't work out it's only a couple hundred dollars and not the end of the world. I actually enjoying learning this stuff anyway.

A+ is needed for most entry level positions around the New England area but it doesn't get you higher pay. It does give you a definative edge over those applying without it. The cert with a few years experience will net a lot more pay.

Get your hands one old PCs and set up your own lab. Install and break it... have friends break the software/OS and then troubleshoot and fix it... it's better experience than you can get from the books or exams... In no time, you'll find yourself in high demand!

its liek me im 16 (17 in 3 months) so Im looking at ITT tech.

my friend who is A+ certified and runs his own buisness (however u spell it) and went to itt tech so I can get a job with him to start me off part time or soemthing or just go to best buy and join geeksquad

A+ is an entry level cert and good to have but if you want to be different and since you said you really aren't normal try for a cert that nobody has.

Red Hat Enterprise or something that employers might say..."we need somebody who's an expert in Linux" You might beat out your competition in those odd situations but make sure you are mentally stable before you get into IT. The work alone is enough to drive the insane even more insane.

I live in RI and completely agree with this entire comment!