A+ Salary? 5

[etrain]

For someone who recently acquired the A+ certification what could one expect as far as pay? A high/low range will do.
Thanks
Remember the Past, Plan for the Future, yet Live in the Now for tomorrow may never come.
-etrain
Remember the Past, Plan for the Future, yet Live in the Now for tomorrow may never come.
-etrain

 

[brichr]

I hate to say it but A+ is a computer repair badge in the bay area. A+ Means nothing to me except its easy to get and goes towards other certs. I am a fan of any certs that might help get an interview. In this area I don't think this cert pulls a lot of weight even for an entery level interview. You had better have a degree from in CS, MIS, EE or CIS. As for pay... don't expect to be well rewarded for this cert, but I think it will help in the long run when you go for MCSE, MCSA, CNE and Linux+ type of certs. Higher level certs always slip in those low level hardware technical questions. One thing I will say is that the A+ and Network+ together go towards the MCSE and CNE test so go for those. Network+ is really easy so get it too. Just telling you like it is in the Bay area!

experience from recent college grad, having gone through the process of looking for a job in Jan

 

[docmeizie]

And its ashame you gotta pay so much for the A+ cert when its so low on the pay chain. That's probably why I still havent taken it yet. Bad economy in all can barely afford to pay attention and then they want all that money for a test. *Grumble Grumble*

Computers are like an array of randoms, ya never know what ya gonna get!!!

 

[JPLWU]

Man you guys are scaring me...I am getting ready to graduate with a bachelors in CIS, A+ Certified, will be Net+ (in progress) and maybe even the MCSA 70-215 test. I already have 2 years experience with networking, due to the fact that It pays for half my college expenses...and I am hearing that theres probably not a company looking..and if so, there's like 50 other people with the same qualifications or more waiting...I think I will stay in for a Masters Degree...hopefully by then the economy will rebound.

 

[glister]

Good Idea!

A+,N+,S+,L+,I+,HTI+,CET,CST,CNST,CNCT,CFOT,CCNT,ACSP,ISA CCST3

 

[darylclassen]

The fact is, as in all things, he who takes the risk reaps the rewards. In my area, tech work goes for $65+ an hour, and the main determination of your customer base is your efficiency at fixing their problems. Now, that same experienced tech making $65 an hour would be damn lucky to pick up a job at anything more than $12 an hour working for anyone else. So...

On another note, look into getting certified to pull data cable. The market really is flooded everywhere with qualified network and computer techs, but there aren't enough guys qualified to run all that cable that make up the networks in the first place.

 

[brichr]

In response to darylclassen
First, What does this have to do with the A+ cert? Nobody is going to get $65 an hour for this freakin entry level cert. I promise you that.

Please clarify this point dude
I don’t see the connection between guys making $65 an hour and then going to make $12 an hour. Are you saying a guy who used to make $65 a while ago, now is lucky if he makes $12. Or are you saying that someone who takes risks makes $65 and someone who does not take risks makes $12. And what are these risks you are talking about.

Second, The point about cable pulling.
Most Network admin types went to school to use their heads and not pull cable all day. Back breaking work depending on the size of the job if you ask me. On the other hand a lot of network admins and design guys would rather piss their money away and outsource the cable pulling to some chump. Whereas I would size up the job and if its well within my limits to do so I would rather do the job myself and do it right. I used to do a lot of cable crap anyways so it’s not a big deal. What I’m trying o say is this, If you could easily do the work your self then do it, but don’t be afraid of getting dirty just because your have a degree in CS or EE.

 

[mainegeek]

One can easily make $65 hr. when you are self employed.
Certs. are what you need in order to work for someone else
@ $12 hr. who, by the way, also covers your screw-ups.

A good tech should be able to diagnose and repair with in 1-2 hrs. This is where certs. become irrelivant.

 

[brichr]

Of course you can make $65 an hour being self employed but not for doing A+ level work. By A+ I mean low level hardware repair. Besides that nobody is going to pay a tech $65 an hour for hardware repair when the hardware support contracts are way cheaper than this. For two hours of paying someone $65 an hour you can have a 3 year full support contract plus get all the hardware replaced for free.

The only way to make $65 an hour doing hardware repair is to offer the knowledge and support of a fully trained system admin to go along with it. Since we are talking about the A+ cert I don’t think its relevant to talk about someone making $65 an hour unless you mention the fact that knowledge of hardware is only a part of the tasks that goes along with being a good admin.

 

[mainegeek]

brichr,
I think you might be getting some what confused.
Its not the number or type of certs that makes one a good tech, but rather the level of knowledge and experience.
A good tech can diagnose and repair a pc in a short period of time wether it is software or hardware related. If you are an independant tech then your rates should at least be competitive. $65 hr is actually on the low end. Some certs are neccesary in order to be an autherised repair center. I got certs primarily for logo usage on business cards and stationary. As far as warranties are concerned, what exactly do you think people do with their PC's when they have a problem and their warranty has expired??

 

[fs483]

I guess this thread is pretty much dead but I have some time to kill. It's been 2 years since my last post in this forum and have since graduated from University. Instead of looking for a job in the IT world and being an employee, I made myself a job with a friend and became an employer in the IT world. My friend and I started an IT company offering all kinds of services from server hosting, to website design/hosting and of course network support. We are doing pretty well with a good sized office, company cars, 1 employee, meals paid and all that with a 70 000$ salary each. We have been very lucky because we have found a market where we are nearly the only company in the country to offer our kind of services and cater to a very specific market that is very hard to enter. We set up networks and offer support to clients that are located in other continents as well as locally. We have achieved all this with NO publicity but just with word to mouth from one client to another. We work very hard and very long hours and we don't think anything for granted. We easily work 16 hour days and 60 or more hours a week because of time zone differences of up to 5 hours with our clients. There is hope out there and it's all about contacts. We obviously have the right contacts so all we had to do is followup and deliver. I have to admit that if it weren't for those contacts we wouldn't be nearly as successful as we are now. Most if not all of my collegues that graduated with me or before me are still in the same situation with a not so satisfied job. The IT market is still very hard to enter if you are starting from the bottom of the organisations. We fortunately already knew and deal with the industry leaders so we are actually starting from the top of the pyramid of organisations and going down the list. New potential clients are actually calling us because we have very good references saving us the worry of finding new clients. So for those who have a pessimistic (like I had) views of the salary offered in the IT market, don't give up hope... We plan on a good growth for next year and adding a few more employees for 24hr tech support for our clients. Since now being an employer and looking for good employees here are a few things that we look at :

* We don't expect the employee to know everything and work for a salary of 30K but we do expect an employee to be able to dig and find solutions.

* We expect employees to have a good inter personal skills because we know all our clients and their employees on first name basis and it takes skills to develop that kind of relationship (which helps us to get very good recommandations)

* We don't expect to teach the employee everything. The employee must already have some skill sets. The more you touch, the better. Cisco Routers/Firewals, network wiring, MS Exchange, Windows servers and workstation versions, hardware maintenance... If you have a good mix of knowledge, you'll certainly catch our eye.

* Hopefully this doesn't discourage you guys out there but we don't actually look at certifications. We actually offer to pay for the certification. One trick is to buy the books, read them on your own time and for sure you'll learn. With this knowledge, you'll be able to get the job and then have the employer pay for the certification. I would actually be hesitant to hire somebody with full certifications because I would expect him/her to ask for a high salary ! But if he's already able to do the job then I'm willing to reward him. We go with this route because we are still a small (if considering the number of employees) or medium (if considering our business revenue) sized company. If you are looking for a job in a large enterprise with 50 or more employees than I suggest you go get your certs first.

One other thing, every single thing that I'm doing day to day to run my business and all my IT stuff was learned while on the job. I haven't used ANY of what I learned in school (which was mostly software oriented even though it was a bachelor in computer management). The one tool that I do retain from my education is the know how to dig and search for the answer. Now being an employer, I must be the one with all the answers. If my employee can't find the solution, I'm stuck and have to do anything and everything to find the solution or risk loosing the client. I don't have the luxury of depending on someone else other than myself. This is a lot of added pressure. So good job hunting !

 

[yvohath]

This thread is not dead... I have a question. Is there any good reading out there for being a self employed tech? Doing house and buisniss visits?

Yvonne

 

[Wishdiak]

yvohath,

Are you looking to put an ad in the paper, or to get contract work from support contracts?

IMO, there's supplemental income to be made either way, but unless you're in a market without much competition, you won't be able to pay the bills doing this exclusively.

I've been doing contract repair work for over a year, and while some contracts pay well per hour, there's not much of it out there.

Wishdiak
A+, Network+, Security+, MCSA: Security 2003

http://www.wishdiak.com

 

[yvohath]

Wishdiak, I am looking to do home and small business visits.

There are not any other people who this thios in there area.

Also- there are 5 pc stores / including radio shak and circuit city in this triple cities area of around 100,000 people no to leave out the outlying rural areas. Thats it.

Actually I was looking at applying at Circuit City after I get my A+ they are hiring techs @ $16 and hour

I am probably going to go to city hall, get a DBA, some busines cards, a very nice website, a second phone line and a few small adds in the local paper. Do mobile repairs in home or office - start out on the weekends or evenings after work. I am willing to travel 30 minutes or less and that travel time will more than cover the entire three city area and alot of the outlying areas as well.

I am a people person. I sell stuff at the local flea market and do very well because I listen to the people. take them seriously. Take interest in them and their "things" - people who feel that you are paying attention to them and are into their "things" will talk about you and send other people your way- Word of mouth. Alot of time over a cup of coffee and some small talk just shooting the breeze I end up making sales or getting new contacts.

Yvonne

 

[yvohath]

I forgot to mention that I am very upfront, if I don't know the answer about the antique I am being asked, I will tell them I really don't know and I don't want to steer you wrong.... but give me a day or two and I will get back to you, and always follow up. Or I will send them to other people that I know are reliable. People, I have found respect that, if you don't know the answer, don't BS and talk out of your ARSE.... be honest and upfront. dependable, return phonecalls and if you tell someone you will call- CALL- I hope this philosophy of my benefits me in the Tech Field.

Yvonne