How do I get a job in the field I am studying for?

How difficult is it to get into the IT field as a Computer Technician?

• Hi there, I'm looking into getting into the IT field with computer repair or help desk support. What exactly would I need to get the job? Right now I'm studying for and ...show more

• Answer:

  You have not mentioned your educational situation and a Bachelors degree has been the minimum requirement for at least the last 10 years. Now to answer the question about what jobs you can get with an A+ cert: If all you have is an A+ and no college degree in IT the A+ will probably help you to get a job at Best Buy, Staples or other computer retailers in their computer repair department. Also, many small computer stores and virus cleaning services have a small number of staff positions that you could likely qualify for and apply for. If you are looking for a job in a medium to large size business, the A+, by itself, with no college education or other experience will likely not be enough to get you an interview or get you hired. The main benefit of getting the A+ is that it is an easy way to learn how IT cert tests work. If you remain in the IT career realm you will probably be taking more tests throughout your career that are either required by your employer or to prove your proficiency in a particular area. Employers will sometimes use the certs employees hold as a selling point when dealing with potential customers. So Yes the A+ and others certs have value but be realistic on what that value is. As far as what you need to get an IT job: The Holy Grail for IT employment is a 4 year computer related Bachelors degree, some industry certifications and some work experience. Also another optional thing that may help is some skill and training in a specialization area like Scripting, Database Administration, Computing Security or other similar topics. If you have all 4 of those you should be good. If you have only one element that will help but you may be competing with other people who have two, three or perhaps all four elements. The college degree I got in Computer Information Systems (CIS) actually included some Microsoft classes that were bundled into the college courses. When I graduated from college with my Bachelors I had studied for and had taken the 6 cert tests to get my MCSE. I eventually went on the take more cert tests and at last count have passed about 21 Microsoft and 5 tests at CompTIA. Looking back on my career I think that my certs have helped me to get only one job. Other than that my CIS degree and 3.95 grade average were the most important things on my resume. Certification has had a bumpy road since we first started seeing Certifications offered by the major players like Cisco and Microsoft or independent cert vendors like CompTIA. Some employers may think they are valuable while others may not value them. Many employers have hired people with a ton of certs only to discover they have little practical skills and that they only figured out how to memorize and then answer some test questions. The certification process credibility was further damaged by some unethical testing centers where, allegedly, instructors stood behind students during testing and helped them mark the correct answers on the testing console. So it is no wonder that some employers are skeptical about their value. It seems that employers are more likely to accept certs if the person has education and experience to back up the certs. Certification training companies have often overstated the value of certs and how successful their graduates have been in finding jobs. Best wishes!