Never thought an A+ cert would take precedence over my 3+ years of Help Desk xp....

codeyf

Lifer
Sep 6, 2000
11,854
3
81
[RANT]

Just got a call from our HR (was an internal app).

Apparently, they are moving forward with candidates that they were able to "establish more of a technical background".

Mind you, the most technical question that was asked was, "do you have any certifications?"

I did however talk about my prev position, where we provided technical support for internal and external customers on our billing software used for our National Account customers. As well as providing technical support for internal applications used by our CS reps. We also provided desktop support for the reps in our office whenever the 2 actual IT guys in our building were overloaded. We also managed a CD production farm that consisted of 3 seperate servers and Rimage CD Production towers.

On the other hand, my friend that has his A+ and ZERO technical experience, had his 2nd interview on wednesday. He said they asked the same behavioral questions all over again. And again, ZERO technical inquiries.

WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT ECHO!!!!!!!

[/RANT]
 

Scarpozzi

Lifer
Jun 13, 2000
26,389
1,777
126
So you don't have your A+? What other certs do you have?

H.R. people aren't the most technical people and they only know to ask what the minimum job requirements are most of the time. It's easier to ask for credentials than to ask the million and one different questions for hiring. A+ is easy to get and will cost you around $300 to get it. It may save you trouble getting a job in the future so it will pay for itself if you continue to work helpdesk jobs. ;)
 

codeyf

Lifer
Sep 6, 2000
11,854
3
81
Originally posted by: DivideBYZero
Rimage :D

:D Those things were sweet. When I left, we had 3 dual-burner towers. 200 CD capacity on each. When I was laid off, there were plans on replacing them with 2 quad-burner towers. They were put in a couple months ago. One of the old machines was given/sold to a seperate vendor that we were doing the production for just last week.
 

Rogue

Banned
Jan 28, 2000
5,774
0
0
Sad, but true, it happens. I'm one of the most highly skilled Systems Administrators in our entire company and the fact that I have no certifications is something that I have to actively pursue if I want to advance, never mind a college degree that I also don't have. I've got guys with certs and degrees who call me to get questions answered on a regular basis. It's the way of the world. You could tell an HR person how to add a route in a Cisco router, but they wouldn't care unless you could put it on a certificate and slap a fancy title on your resume.
 

rudder

Lifer
Nov 9, 2000
19,441
85
91
People say the MCSE is worthless but havng it on my resume has never hurt.
 

codeyf

Lifer
Sep 6, 2000
11,854
3
81
I know, I would understand if they were looking for someone with a long list of certs.....but the only cert specified was A+.

I just think it's sad. I would be thoroughly miffed if my buddy did end up getting the job. Happy for him, but with a new outlook on our company.
 

Cyberian

Diamond Member
Jun 17, 2000
9,999
1
0
Originally posted by: codeyf
I know, I would understand if they were looking for someone with a long list of certs.....but the only cert specified was A+.

I just think it's sad. I would be thoroughly miffed if my buddy did end up getting the job. Happy for him, but with a new outlook on our company.
My company did some third party field support, and one of the requirements of the customer was A+ certification.
We had all been doing this same work for 10-15 years, but we all had to go get a piece of paper that said we could do it.
 

SagaLore

Elite Member
Dec 18, 2001
24,037
21
81
Originally posted by: rudder
People say the MCSE is worthless but havng it on my resume has never hurt.

Whoever is saying that MCSE is worthless has no clue. MCSE is worth more than degrees these days.

 

edro

Lifer
Apr 5, 2002
24,328
68
91
Originally posted by: SagaLore
Originally posted by: rudder
People say the MCSE is worthless but havng it on my resume has never hurt.
Whoever is saying that MCSE is worthless has no clue. MCSE is worth more than degrees these days.

I would have to disagree. MCSE is valuable, but a Bachelors degree is much more desirable.
 

MuffD

Diamond Member
May 31, 2000
6,027
0
0
Help desk stuff is too competitive here in CAli so I'm glad I'm where I am at now. I did the MCSE thing and it got me nowhere.
 

tnitsuj

Diamond Member
May 22, 2003
5,446
0
76
Originally posted by: SagaLore
Originally posted by: rudder
People say the MCSE is worthless but havng it on my resume has never hurt.

Whoever is saying that MCSE is worthless has no clue. MCSE is worth more than degrees these days.

A bachelors degree will open a lot more doors than a certification.
 

skace

Lifer
Jan 23, 2001
14,488
7
81
In that other thread, didn't you say you were a cop, Rogue? Now you are a systems administrator?


Anyways, A+ is trash. And I hate paper MCSEs. This certificateless bastard is going to go build a SAN right now.