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Career Decision Help Needed

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Tarkus2

Technical User
Jan 24, 2005
2
US
I am in search of some career advice. I am a 50 year old self employed musician that has really fallin in love with computers (especially hardware). So in my search I found a local college that offers a kind of crash course in A+, Network+, and Security The A+ certification is $1600, two nights a week. My general plan was to get A+ certified and then try to find some work. I would be perfectly happy with a part time job with no benefits in a small computer store doing upgrades and repairs. I figured I can get into Network+ and Security later if needed. But then I talked to a Technical school who offers the whole program including internship at a place like CompUSA, job placement, resumes, etc. Cost is 14K and full time classes for about a year. That’s not really doable for me both cost and time. They made it a point to tell me If I went to the local college for the A+ certification, I’d be left with nothing and unable to find a job. They said I might as well go work at McDonalds. So now I am very confused. I can’t afford to waist $1600. But I like the price and time commitment. Is what I’m describing feasible? What should I do? Any advice appreciated. I really want to get my hands into hardware and make a little money at it. Thanks.
 
Hi there,
Congrats on your new found love of computers - welcome to the club! I respect how driven you seem to be about diving into this. What you should know is that any "school" will do its best to knock its competitors and convince you that theirs is the better choice, it's how they recruit people! As for where certifications will take you, its hard to say. I'm in a similar predicament myself, right now I'm not sure which direction I should be heading... But certifications ARE a totally valid form of recognition of a skill. DO NOT APPLY FOR A JOB AT MCDONALDS! ;-) Personally I think a school that will train you and then find you job experience/place you in a job is the way forward. I would love to find a school like that! But if time and money is an issue for you, there are alternatives... If certifications are what you want you don't even need to go to school. Every IT certification has dozens upon dozens of books, software and other training materials. I'm all about the "For Dummies" books myself. So yeah, all you really need to do is find a study guide that works for you, find the time and discipline, make sure to take plenty of practice tests, and register for the exam (certification)/and do it!

Don't be discouraged, the IT world is enormous and forever growing, no matter what your field you should be able to get your hands on something.

-----------------------------
A+, Network+, CCNA

COMING SOON:
e-Biz, i-Net, MCSA
-----------------------------
 
I forgot to mension...

You said that you are interested primarily in hardware - you can teach yourself a lot of this. If you can spare a little money, go out and buy yourself the parts to build a computer. This may seem dawnting, but it really isn't, it will be both educational AND fun. You don't need to buy anything fancy or faster - just the essentials: a tower case, a motherboard, memory (ram), a cd/dvd drive (or two), a floppy-disk drive, a keyboard and a mouse...and obviously some sort of processor. In fact, you don't even need to buy this stuff necessarily, see if you can take a computer that someone is throwing out... This is definitely the best advice I can give you. Building a computer from scratch can be quite the project, there are always unpredicatable problems along the way, and fixing these issues are what will make you a good technician. Not to mension, as you become more confident in your skills, you can start fixing computers/computer problems for friends are colleagues - and there you have it - experience!

*Learn computers inside and out; take them apart, put them back together and then do it all over again. EXPERIENCE, EXPERIENCE, EXPERIENCE!*

-----------------------------
A+, Network+, CCNA
WORKING ON:
e-Biz, i-Net, MCSA
-----------------------------
 
Tarkus2, if you can get a school to place you, that MAY be the way to go. I'm skeptical however. When they put you in a internship, how long does it last, does the time schedule match yours, is it only 2 hrs/wk, etc. Even if you could afford to go that route, I don't think I'd trust them. I went thru New Horizons, which has a good reputation (I think), and got my Novell (CNA), and Microsoft (MCP) certifications. I couldn't get any long term jobs when attempting to go thru employment agencies. I ended up doing alot of self study leading to my MCSE and CCNA. I personally found the transcender products to be great ( There are many, but I prefer transcender. Your in the same 'ol quandry. You need to have experience to get a job, but how do you get a job if you don't have experience. Then I hate to say it, but you have one other thing going against you. Your age. Again, I can relate since I was in a similar situation. My recommendations: Do self study and get as many certs as practical, and try, try, try. Eventually you should be able to land a job, but I think you may have to be persistent. Good luck!
 
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