Accredited or Not Accredited?... thats the true Question.

JamaicanRM · April 30th, 2008, 08:56 PM

I completed both the Comptia A+ and Network+ began the MCP XP.
My question is does any know if these certifications can be used as transfer credits for college?

Thanks in Advance.

nemowolf · May 5th, 2008, 03:47 PM

No.

famosbrown · May 26th, 2008, 12:21 PM

It depends on the college and your course of study. There are some colleges advertised to military members that allow the A+ and Network+ as credits since the military highly promotes these certifications for their I.T. members. I can't recall the names of these colleges, but they are not traditional by any means...

nemowolf · May 27th, 2008, 06:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by famosbrown

It depends on the college and your course of study. There are some colleges advertised to military members that allow the A+ and Network+ as credits since the military highly promotes these certifications for their I.T. members. I can't recall the names of these colleges, but they are not traditional by any means...

They may only accept them as credits because of the military background and not offer them to civilians.

In general technical certifications have no formal correlation to educational requirements. There is no "homework" or progressive testing nor is there an instructional person who is "teaching" the "class."

The question becomes why are you getting certs and THEN going to school. If you have certs, get a job!

nemowolf · May 29th, 2008, 02:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ian23

nemowolf.. i agree but they want to study to learn more...

Whats left to learn, get a job and start learning practical applications of your skills.

Nothing better then on the job training, Learn By Doing!

famosbrown · May 30th, 2008, 02:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nemowolf

They may only accept them as credits because of the military background and not offer them to civilians.

In general technical certifications have no formal correlation to educational requirements. There is no "homework" or progressive testing nor is there an instructional person who is "teaching" the "class."

The question becomes why are you getting certs and THEN going to school. If you have certs, get a job!

That's an EASY Question!! Because you want to progress your career faster. YOu may want to move into I.T. Management, or you may just want a Bachelor's or Master's degree to fall back on. You may have a job that you would like to be promoted to, but the job requires at least a bachelor's degree. You may be certified and your current or prospective employer doesn't really care about certifications and want their I.T. Professionals to have degrees to boost the organizations Balance Score Card.

So MANY reasons why you would have certs and then going back to school

. I have many certs and have worked in the field since graduating college and picked up certs on the way, but I'm back in Graduate School for my Master. Do I need the Master's for my current job? No! But I have the time and funding to complete it and it will definitely help when it is time for me to move up the executive ladder. Yes, having the master's will help me (I've been turned down in the past for higher level management because I lacked a Master's degree), but I'm referring to what I'm learning while attaining it.

As far as certifications being used as credits, there ARE universities that target current military members that will use these certifications to either award credits or award them credit for a class that they would have had to take in their degree curriculum. I didn't try to use certifications for credits during my undergrad because I didn't have any at the time and didn't think I would need them since I was headed toward programming, but I did get credit for Basic Training stuff!!

EDIT: By the way...I haven't taken any certifications without going through formal training courses...

famosbrown · May 30th, 2008, 02:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nemowolf

Whats left to learn, get a job and start learning practical applications of your skills.

Nothing better then on the job training, Learn By Doing!

There is a LOT left to learn. If you the person is content sitting on a Help Desk all of their lives then fine...get your A+, Net+, and or MCP and be happy. I started off making good money programming, then decided I didn't want to do that for the rest of my career. I switched to the Systems/networking side and had to start from the bottom pretty much as Tier 2 Desktop Support Supervisor. My Bachelor's degree got me that. But that wasn't what I want to do. I want to build Microsoft networks from the ground up, i.e. AD, DNS, DHCP, Echange, MOM, SMTP Relays/Filters, RRAS, VPN, Cisco routers/switches, LAN/WAN, etc. How can you get practical experience doing that type of stuff working Help Desk??? So I began the certification track and began learning more and practicing on my own. Then the interviewing began and although I didn't have the EXPERIENCE doing the stuff my certifications said I could do, I had to show through simulations and multiple interviews that I could do the job. I got my first Systems Administrator job running an entire city's network and that's where I got my start and began watching the money roll in from there.

Basically, the certifications and continued education got me the interview, and the knowledge gained from studying to get the certifications got me the job. Three jobs and about 2.5 years out of college, I'm making VERY good money and want more. I could have stayed at the Help Desk working on PC's (Some Help Desk personnel don't even get to touch PC's, just phone, i.e. Call Center's), but I wanted to progress.

Nothing wrong with continuing education and getting as much education as you can. You might not benefit from it in the present, but it will ocme in handy in the near future...

Okay...I'm done rambling

.

nemowolf · May 30th, 2008, 07:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by famosbrown

How can you get practical experience doing that type of stuff working Help Desk???

You ask to your boss. When ever we do server work at my job i ask if i can help or watch and i get paid to ask questions and lend a hand.

famosbrown · June 2nd, 2008, 04:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nemowolf

You ask to your boss. When ever we do server work at my job i ask if i can help or watch and i get paid to ask questions and lend a hand.

Okay...

nemowolf · June 2nd, 2008, 06:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by famosbrown

Okay...

Maybe i am lucky in that I know when i am ready i can get promoted and not need to move to another company. If your not so lucky, it doesnt hurt to ask and see if you can tag along and learn while someone else is doing.

Higher education is great for some people. Myself, I just dont care enough about history, math, or other general education to try and do it. I would much rather learn what i need to know and how to learn more when i need it. Especially nice is taking classes, seminars, and courses for my job on the companies dime. I dont think ill be paying for much more of my education.