Comptia qualification any good?

doolox

I am currently "resting" as actors so quaintly put it and I am looking for a new position in the near future.
My background is in electronics with a diploma in Information Technology and I have started a FETAC course in Mechatronics covering pneumatics, PLC's and Electrical Control which I hope to finish next May.
Would a Comptia qualification fill out this list of quals or would it be a waste of time?
In my previous experience with Computers I found that my ability to fix the hardware was limited by my lack of knowledge of the operating systems involved and while some of these software systems were locked out and only available to a senior Eng. other parts of the systems could be fixed with a software tweak as they were giving false callouts.
I think it would be handy to get straight to the root of a failure without having to run a lengthly programme each time to verify fixes also this knowledge might be handy to keep PC's used for programming and testing other control devices in good shape.

R3al

CompTIA A+ & Network+ are sound foundation courses in IT, they are recognised internationally and give you credit towards other higher level quals such as MCSA.

PK2008

If you want to move into computer support then CompTIA are good qualifications. I dont think alot of hardware repair is really done anymore due to the cost effectivenes of simply replacing faulty hardware with new parts- at least in PC's that is. If you're involved in industrial automation electronics Im not sure how useful CompTIA will be to you as it doesnt go down to the electronic level- its mainly Operating System and basic hardware fault detection (ie that network card isnt working, get a new one).

It would be handy for maintaining the PC's that you use though- well as long as they are running Windows (although CompTIA is vendor neutral the A+ is heavy on Windows OS's)

97i9y3941

love to do it myself,i have fixed my comp before,was an old pentium 3,whilst everyone would had thrown their out,i was still doing miracles on mine ,is there any maths involve in that course?

Ginger

None really.. its all practical experience.. maths would mostly be limited to networking (subnetting, IP address classes etc)

doolox

I already know enough board level stuff to get by and could probably get by on that.I thought they might go into component level stuff, although increasingly board level repair is all there is nowadays as PC's have gotten so cheap. When I worked in Intel the Automation PC 's were maintained by outsourced college graduates and entire PC's were swapped out at a time. Most repair activity appeared to be replacing corrupt OS images and replacing old CRT screens with LCD flatties............

97i9y3941

doolox wrote: »

I already know enough board level stuff to get by and could probably get by on that.I thought they might go into component level stuff, although increasingly board level repair is all there is nowadays as PC's have gotten so cheap. When I worked in Intel the Automation PC 's were maintained by outsourced college graduates and entire PC's were swapped out at a time. Most repair activity appeared to be replacing corrupt OS images and replacing old CRT screens with LCD flatties............

amazing too,some people get new laptops/pcs cause they are just too lazy to maintain them,i knew some and they rather buy a new pc/laptop instead of wipeing them clean again and reinstalling windows

97i9y3941

doing the course now,i like it very much,its down to dedication too,i cant imagine some people sitting down at comp all day and letting it read for you as you do some tests!

hi all. have my exam in the comptia network 2005 on Friday and i am terrified of failing. the MeasureUp CD i noticed seem to have the same bloody questions over and over there was so much on the course i honestly dont think i could jam it all in, and as well as that, friday is the cut off point for the 2005 edition. A course which cmit claimed i had 12 months to do, i have to have it completed by Friday despite starting in november. As there is now a 2009 edition my cert wont be worth jack (thats if i get it). any advice from anybody from previous experience?

Barrypr

- Take your time don't rush but at the same time keep an eye on the clock.
- Read each question twice, Comptia questions can be worded funny.
- Eliminate the answers that don't make sense first.
- Don't spend too much time on a question, if unsure mark it then move on.
- Stay calm think positive and try not to get worked up, bring bottle water into exam room.


Lastly IF you fail just remember that you didn't have much time to study, use score sheet to go over your weak areas and you will pass next time.

Good luck

rickdangerouss

Comptia word the exams to trick you, No real day to day use for them. However if you are new to IT then they are a good start.