Hey look ! Another A+ question! And other certification/programming questions.

[TheOtis]

I'm sure all you network admin guys don't like us young folks getting into your bizz, but I appreciate any help I can get on this.

I'm tackling the A+ on my own. I have several years of experience with desktops and home networking, took a class in high school that was based around A+, and my major is IS. I purchased a book awhile ago that was written based on the 2006 version so it's still up to date as far as I know. Has their been any changes to the exam since 2007 when the book was published? It's a pretty fat one, around 900 pages and was written by Jane and Charles Holcombe.

I realize this is somewhat of a general question considering everyones knowledge base varies, but I figure the A+ exam (601-604) is pretty general. For those of you who had prior experience with building, upgrading, troubleshooting XP/Vista computers for yourself, friends, and family, who didn't study for the 601, was their much you didn't know when it came time to take the tests? I'm reading through the whole thing currently and plan on taking a practice test tonight online just to see how I do before I go too far into it. So far I haven't came across anything I didn't know. I figure if I can do well on multiple practice tests at first I won't need to hit the book too hard and can take it sooner. But because of the tests being so expensive, I'm not sure if it's the best idea.

Also, are their any certifications for Linux? I realize that's another broad questions considering all of the various distributions, however the core of the distros remain the same to my knowledge. If their is, for someone who wants to get become a network admin and eventually get into network security, is it worth it to get certified in any linux certifications if their are any? And how many places have you came across who uses a linux distro for their servers like Red Hat? Is it likely to get on at a place who does?

I also started dabbling in Python and am only learning about writting scripts, so I'm still a complete noob. Would it be practical to continue down this path career wise? Or would it be better to learn another language at first, like a C variant?

Thanks for any input folks.

 

[Lexluethar]

You should be fine w/ the book you have. There hasn't been any updates since the 2006 exam, and while a 2007 book may have some more information or updated information the exam is still the same. I do usually tell people to have one main source for studying, then use another source just to suppliment the main source. LIke you said the test is broad and not many books will cover 100% of the exam.

I don't know if there were things that I didn't know on the exam. I mean I didn't get 100% by any means on both exams, but I don't think there were a lot of questions on there that I just sat there looking at the screen saying to myself 'i have no idea.' There may have been a few that I just used common sense on or had to make an educated guess, but the vast vast majority I was confident in my answer. Just a handful I choose the wrong answer (whether that means I didn't know the material OR CompTIA just felt there was a better answer is debateable). Just read through your book, ensure you know every exam objective, then take as many practice exams as you can. I also would have a friend quiz you, have them read the chapter questions at the end and you have to give the answer (this was the best method for me to remember the exam topcis AND give me the confidence you need to take the exam).

No there aren't any exams for Linux. It is an open source OS and there aren't any certifications out there for it (as far as i'm aware of).

 

[bilbus]

I'm sure all you network admin guys don't like us young folks getting into your bizz, but I appreciate any help I can get on this.

I have no problem with new people coming in to the field.

there are a bunch of linux certs. Redhat has a bunch.