Last week an old acquaintance dropped by. He was a customer while I was landscaping for my uncle. I had a hand in making his back yard really nice for a season before it imploded on itself due to a lack of for-sight on the designers department. lol, I actually had a feeling about some things, but I’m no gardener. I was just an extra back to break while they gave orders ;p
Anyw00t, this guy comes into the place I work at to buy computer parts from time to time; he builds systems for ppl. This last time he and I talked a bit. His little company joined with a bigger one and they were still swampped. He pretty much guaranteed me a job if I could get A+ Certified. He know’s I’m a hard worker and he’d put in a really good word for me. I took his number and I left for home that night with dreams in my head of all the wonderful things I could do with the bigger paycheck…
BUT – Let me tell you about my experiences with A+ Certification. Back when I was a wee tike, Junior year of high school I was this massive computer brain. Well, as far as the teachers were concerned I was. Durring school I would have a class period devoted to running about interrupting interupting classes to try and make sense of the slightly smoldering computer in the corner. After school I worked for the school district. I would be dispatched out to any one of a dozen schools in the area to set up/upgrade/diagnose… whatever needed such. I saved my money, and went for my A+ Certification after reading a 800+ page book cover to cover.
To get A+ Certified you have to pass two tests. $145 per test. One test is for the hardware aspect of computers. The other software; mostly operating systems. You have to pass them both within a month of eachother.
First time out I took them both in one sitting. I passed the hardware test, no problem. Failed the software by two questions. $290 to the cause. Ok, no problem… I read up on the things I missed, went back devoting another $145 to the cause. Failed by one question. Ok, just got paid… read some more. $145. Failed by one question. My month was up so I’d have to take the hardware test again. I blew more than $500 on this thing with nothing to show for it. Period.
What’s worse, one of my friends walked in(no reading) and took a Beta version of the A+ Certification… it was like a trail version to see how well it would do with people. This was offered after my run. Anyway… he screwed around more than me, and I would have to correct his mistakes at times. He passed first time out. WTF!!!?!?!
Perhaps this is where my mental dificulty lies when trying to do this all over again. Overcoming the self-doubt and “will it be worth it” nagging at me as I shell out $290 that could potentialy be for nothing. I’m living with my mom who’s unemployed and as dependant on me for money as I am on her; we can do alot with $290. But alas it’s currently my only key to getting out of this mess and finally start a life on my own. So I’ve set up a base station in my room: A computer with lyric-less music and a bed with a reading lamp…. My resulve is tightening. The reading has started……
…. To be Continued