Evelyn
Would having a CompTIA A+ Certificaton help me get into Colleges or would help me for anything College realated?
Having a CompTIA A+ Certification would show that I understand the fundamentals of technology. For example Operating Systems & PC configuration, components, and installation processes. I am a Freshmen in a Vocational Technical High School and take a program called Integrated Technology System. My teacher is a Cisco Certified Instructor that teaches from the Cisco Network Academy course IT Essentials: PC Hardware & Software. I am confident that I could pass the CompTIA A+ Exam, but the thing is that Certificate expires every two years and you have to take the exam again to renew the Certification. That would mean paying 199$ every two years for all the years I want to have the Certification. I know that the CompTIA A+ Certification is a powerful piece of paper in the IT world, but would it increase my chances of getting accepted to colleges? Would it be useful for anything in College? I plan on getting a CompTIA A+ Certification at some point in my Career path, but all I want to know is if it's too early to get it while in high school, around maybe senior year, just for College. #college #career #technology #tech #computer-engineering #information-technology #cisco
5 answers
Ayan Sarkar
Ayan’s Answer
CompTIA's A+ exam is a leading vendor-neutral certification exam for computer technicians. The exam curriculum is not bound to a specific company or vendor, but is based on an industry-wide job task analysis. With the IT industry booming, the exam is consistently increasing in popularity. If you find yourself wondering if becoming an A+ certified technical with be a worthwhile investment.
CompTIA A+ certification validates the knowledge of computer service technicians with the equivalent of 500 hours of hands-on experience. Earning CompTIA A+ certification proves that a candidate has a broad base of knowledge and competency in core hardware and operating system technologies including installation, configuration, diagnosing, preventive maintenance and basic networking.
If you plan to build, repair configure or maintain computers or computer networks, or plan to perform other functions of a computer service technicians, A+ certification will let you emerge much stronger in your career.
Joseph D'Angelo
Joseph’s Answer
Not only do these certifications add to the college application but they add to your professional CV as well. I know my next piece of advice will not be extremely popular amongst this thread, but you are at a very interesting fork along your career. IT is one of those fields you really do not need a degree in to pursue, certification will hold those weight in gold as it proves to the employer you have passed a standard approved by your trade. Talk to your instructor, and seek his advice on this as well. Picking up certificates and starting from the ground up may be more humbling and offer you a better set of skills then trying to decide now what you want to be when you grow up. Oddly enough I speak from experience, my BS is in Software Engineering, I am now a vessels systems engineer and mainly specialize in security and server platforms. Yes my degree helped me get my job, but I started as tech support and worked up to my position. You can do the same with the certificates and not have the debt you would if you went to college.
Viraj Munoli
Viraj’s Answer
Daniel Moy
Daniel’s Answer
It can't hurt for college applications, but there's no guarantee it'll help, depending on what program you're applying to. If you want to do it just for college applications, I'd suggest doing it in a timeframe such that it doesn't expire. Also, if you can badger a recruiter, especially one who focuses on whatever program(s) you're looking at, I'd ask them.
After college, it's more of the same - some employers will look very favorably on different certifications, some won't care at all.
Sonali Agrawal
Sonali’s Answer
Yes, all these extracurricular certifications do add to your Resume and strengthen your application.