Check out Professor Messer on YouTube. Super professional and comprehensive exam prep videos are available on his channel for free. I relied on his videos, a flash card app, and Mike Myers CompTIA A+ study guide when I was broke and trying to get A+ certified and into the IT field. It worked out for me. I owe Professor Messer a debt of gratitude.
this post was submitted on 01 Aug 2023
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I second the recommendation for Professor Messer. I went through his videos when I was prepping for the A+ exam last year. An amazing resource all for free. If you're moving forward to get Network+ and Security+ too, Messer has a whole series of videos for those as well.
huge. ty.
thanks thats super helpful. i think i saved his video to come back to check on it and see if its actually viable or not. but honestly i would never have known so ty
I’m kind of also in the same boat, talked to a few people in the industry. They said the certificate is a great first step and should really help with getting interviews. For resources my local public library had access to LinkedIn Learning and they have a whole course with practice tests available. Good luck on your new journey!
ty and good luck in your endeavors my friend
I've worked IT for probably the last 10 to 13 years, and kind of drifted off after CCNA/CEH type stuff, so things obviously may have changed in that time, but I do remember doing the Net+ and A+. Cert books are probably one of the only things I would not skimp on or pirate. I went with the all-in-one gold books. Those don't get you the vouchers to take the tests, but they do have really excellent practice software to go along with the reading.
Read the chapters, do the exercises, and do all of the software training. Keep retaking the tests until you score 100% continuously. Once you have a continuous 100%, then schedule your test. Some people schedule it a month out and then do prep just so they have a deadline, but either way works. If you are not scoring 100% do not take the test. And don't get stressed out when you do, if you've done that prep work you've got it. Good luck man.
haha ty. im a pretty confident guy in general, but testing... is so nerve wrecking its alway has been for me. i hate it. you are talking bout the official books from comptia themselves?
They were the gold colored All-In-One guides written by Mike Meyers. I don't know the current CompTIA test numbers, but you might search for those.
I don't know anyone that has comptia a+, but it looks like a decent intro. It does strike me as something they would teach you at almost any helpdesk type position. But after skimming the contents, I like their focus on troubleshooting, which is an essential skill that can (has to) be learned.
If you want to know more about certain subjects, there are a ton of resources online available. Microsofts learning site offers learning material on almost anything MS related, for example.
I don't know about it but I can assure you that having a programme to study is good strategy. Often the learning is hindered by having a huge data deluge. That being said, there are plenty of free resources. For example, take the github repos like domain-specific awesome lists, open source university (ossu, lists online courses for different careers) or even this: https://github.com/jwasham/coding-interview-university
YouTube series by BurningIceTech, and either spin up VMs yourself to familiarize with group policy, management console, services, event viewer, and basic CLI in Linux, or buy the labs from comptia. 1101 and 1102 are heavily focused on ports and protocol overviews, raid, windows settings, and basic troubleshooting. Take good notes since you'll build on the A+ stuff in Net+ and Sec+ if you take those too.
noted. im going to start going start noting your recommendations
To expand on that you are likely on Windows if the percentages means anything, Windows 10 Pro is required to run VMs on your local machine.
I’d recommend grabbing a second machine to be your homelab, even if it’s not great, just so you don’t mess anything up locally.
If you go with a second machine you can put win10pro on it and not activate it and then host VMs. Or there are other ways to get keys for pro. Completely legally of course.
Windows server (load a VM and load STANDARD not Dataserver) 2019 and 2022 both have evaluation versions. You can load these up, install any features you want to try, test any labs in any modules of any courses you’re taking, then nuke and reload if necessary.
If you’re not familiar with Linux try Ubuntu, Manjaro, and Fedora. Learn to install a few things from the GUI stores and the CLI repositories. Learn how to add repositories. Learn how to copy, move, make, delete, rename files/directories.
Then start a project. Something silly or stupid like a media server, backup server or download station. Build that out with your new knowledge, push your boundaries.
It might seem like a bit much but there are practical questions on the exam where you have to work through things in a VM and it isn’t just a multiple choice question. You’ll feel a lot better being comfortable in an environment.
On top of that that practical experience will come in handy in interviews.
you know this is the first time iv ever felt excited to "study" like when i think of work i think being on a construction sites in that texas heat sweating pissing in a port a poty. this here is fun for me.
(i say this now but....)
I am literally in this same boat now. My state is sponsoring memberships to Coursera and I'm wrapping up the Google IT Support Specialist Certificate course, there's also an IBM course of the same premise. It has gone over the most basic information, most of which I was already familiar with. But it has touched on material I was not knowledgeable at all in. I also got the humble bundle mentioned above and will move onto that after for more in depth learning.
nice man. seems like you know your path. am i correct in assuming that or are you kind of taking as much info/cert/material as you can and go from there?
I'm going to start looking after I finish my CompTIA A+ and then continue to add certs. Most jobs I see in my area really want A+.
I got CompTIA a+ when the exam had windows XP specific questions. Maybe it still does, I dunno. Anyways in the jobs I applied for nobody had even heard of it. The interviewers were mostly professional interviewers and not IT staff as far as I could tell though. I also ended up hating IT work which always had an infinite supply of clueless managers in every job.
I sent you a DM.
If your local library has online resources, then you might have access to LinkedIn Learning. There are a ton of resources there.
so look up a library in my area and see if they have a site. and if so look for linkedin learning? kk got it ty
Many libraries have a host of free online services. PressReader can be used to read magazines or newspapers, Libbey can be used to download/read books including textbooks and sometimes Comptia study books.
They aren't just places you go to revel in the deaths of millions of trees anymore. But it really depends on where you live, so ymmv.