CompTIA A+ study materials/videos

[atxcyclist]

I’m pivoting my employment a little, I’ve been in commercial architecture for 20 years but think IT probably will be more lucrative in the long-run. I realize everything is about certifications now, and I’m going for A+ and maybe a few other additional, but I’m trying to find good study materials. I’ve been building/upgrading/fixing computers for 30 years, I am not a novice, so I’m not looking for an entire multi-month-course-level training environment.
 

Many of the training video series I’ve seen are over twenty hours, that seems wild for a 150 question test where I know at least a fair amount of the material. Is there a place with a more succinct set of videos, maybe catering towards knowledgeable individuals that are just looking for more of an outline of the subjects covered?

[Shimejii]

Certs and such are pretty much useless unless the job you are thinking of doing it actually requires it. See if they list if you ACTUALLY need it. Usually with repair work requires it. If you want networking youll need the networking Certs, and it goes down a rabbit hole of certs per job.

 

Comptia A+ does not like their materails out there for study, but if you look around generally there is enough out there to see around what youll need to actually know.

[atxcyclist]

49 minutes ago, Shimejii said:

Certs and such are pretty much useless unless the job you are thinking of doing it actually requires it. See if they list if you ACTUALLY need it. Usually with repair work requires it. If you want networking youll need the networking Certs, and it goes down a rabbit hole of certs per job.

 

Comptia A+ does not like their materails out there for study, but if you look around generally there is enough out there to see around what youll need to actually know.

I was thinking having the more general A+ certification would make me more marketable to a prospective employer, but I know it could get out-of-hand trying to get all the certifications I can, not to mention quite expensive. Further searching I may have found somewhere that has things broken down by individual subjects/concepts, and maybe just viewing the videos for particular things I'm less familiar with would prove useful.

 

EDIT: Also, I just found out CompTIA changed their testing to a new version two months ago, just my luck all the available free guides are on older versions.

[Ha-Satan]

35 minutes ago, Shimejii said:

Certs and such are pretty much useless unless the job you are thinking of doing it actually requires it.

 

This seems like a very difficult idea to deal with, since presumably once you see an open position, you wouldn't necessarily have the time to study for and take a cert exam before the application deadline passes.

 

Are there particular classes of positions that always require a particular cert?
 

I say this as somebody who's currently getting a Bachelor's in IT and I'm not really sure what else I would need to do in order to be marketable once I graduate.

[Shimejii]

7 minutes ago, Ha-Satan said:

Are there particular classes of positions that always require a particular cert?
 

I say this as somebody who's currently getting a Bachelor's in IT and I'm not really sure what else I would need to do in order to be marketable once I graduate.

When you are going for a specific position you generally have an idea of what certs you should need. IDK if you just started your BA degree but by the end if you dont have any idea of what certs you need, you are at a very bad college lol. They should tell you by the end if you have a specialization or just a general degree, and with what line of IT work you want to go and set you up with CERT tests for that specific one. If they dont offer that, or at least guide you on what you will need that is a VERY bad college for IT work.

 

Level 1 repair tech generall needs Comptia A+, Apple mac certs, some may want a few networking certs, and potentially Customer service IT certs if you will be answering phone and doing repair that way.

 

A lot of the time it comes down to what exactly you want to be doing, is it building computers, fixing them, running to businesses and fixing their equipment, running a network server for a company, doing online diagnostic work, being a system admin for a school etc.

 

 

[Ha-Satan]

11 minutes ago, Shimejii said:

When you are going for a specific position you generally have an idea of what certs you should need. IDK if you just started your BA degree but by the end if you dont have any idea of what certs you need, you are at a very bad college lol. They should tell you by the end if you have a specialization or just a general degree, and with what line of IT work you want to go and set you up with CERT tests for that specific one. If they dont offer that, or at least guide you on what you will need that is a VERY bad college for IT work.

 

Level 1 repair tech generall needs Comptia A+, Apple mac certs, some may want a few networking certs, and potentially Customer service IT certs if you will be answering phone and doing repair that way.

 

A lot of the time it comes down to what exactly you want to be doing, is it building computers, fixing them, running to businesses and fixing their equipment, running a network server for a company, doing online diagnostic work, being a system admin for a school etc.

 

 

I just started. It's a 2-year "finishing degree" basically, after I completed an AAS in Computer Information Systems at community college. The advice I've been given is to just go for my MSIT as well as Network+ and other network-related certs (like Cisco/Aruba stuff) as I'd ultimately like to work in network administration, but the advice I've gotten from other people online has been totally different and all over the board. It seems like there's no consensus whatsoever about the "right" path. It also seems like I might have to go through Tier 1/Help desk before I can get anywhere else so I'm not sure if I should get a cert more related to that as well as the network-focused certs.

 

(FWIW I am not paying for my schooling, my employer is, hence I have the attitude "well I might as well keep getting degrees as long as they are paying for it.")

[atxcyclist]

1 hour ago, Shimejii said:

When you are going for a specific position you generally have an idea of what certs you should need. IDK if you just started your BA degree but by the end if you dont have any idea of what certs you need, you are at a very bad college lol. They should tell you by the end if you have a specialization or just a general degree, and with what line of IT work you want to go and set you up with CERT tests for that specific one. If they dont offer that, or at least guide you on what you will need that is a VERY bad college for IT work.

 

Level 1 repair tech generall needs Comptia A+, Apple mac certs, some may want a few networking certs, and potentially Customer service IT certs if you will be answering phone and doing repair that way.

 

A lot of the time it comes down to what exactly you want to be doing, is it building computers, fixing them, running to businesses and fixing their equipment, running a network server for a company, doing online diagnostic work, being a system admin for a school etc.

 

 

Damn, it sounds like I’m kind-of barking up the wrong tree here, I’m starting on this way too late for it to be viable.

[dilpickle]

54 minutes ago, atxcyclist said:

Damn, it sounds like I’m kind-of barking up the wrong tree here, I’m starting on this way too late for it to be viable.

Yeah pretty much. You're talking about building PCs and A+ certs. That's entry level stuff for high schoolers. To have a career in IT you need a degree. And even then it will still take years to build up to a well paying job. I would stick to architecture.

[atxcyclist]

38 minutes ago, dilpickle said:

Yeah pretty much. You're talking about building PCs and A+ certs. That's entry level stuff for high schoolers. To have a career in IT you need a degree. And even then it will still take years to build up to a well paying job. I would stick to architecture.

Unfortunately I’m currently (mostly) unemployed. Being a capable architectural draftsman means nothing in the modern day job market, unless I was also a licensed architect, and it’s really too late to get into that debt for schooling; So I’m screwed either way.

Time to just go apply at Mc Donald’s I guess.

 

[Kisai]

7 hours ago, atxcyclist said:

I’m pivoting my employment a little, I’ve been in commercial architecture for 20 years but think IT probably will be more lucrative in the long-run. I realize everything is about certifications now, and I’m going for A+ and maybe a few other additional, but I’m trying to find good study materials. I’ve been building/upgrading/fixing computers for 30 years, I am not a novice, so I’m not looking for an entire multi-month-course-level training environment.
 

Many of the training video series I’ve seen are over twenty hours, that seems wild for a 150 question test where I know at least a fair amount of the material. Is there a place with a more succinct set of videos, maybe catering towards knowledgeable individuals that are just looking for more of an outline of the subjects covered?

Many people will just say straight up that A+ is actually worthless, cause it is, and anyone who used PC's regularly since the 90's wouldn't need to even study, it would be second nature.

 

The thing with the A+ is that nobody even checks for it. It's not a blocker to getting a job, it's just equivalent of going "I graduated high school", and nobody is going to check. Like out of all the jobs I've had, only ONE ever checked that in 25 years. Everyone is doing one of two things:

a) feeding resumes through AI to see if the keywords are what they are looking for. So you may not actually need A+, just mention you've studied for it.

b) having an application process that just puts your name in a list, and if they have openings they ask you to apply

 

The problem in general is that there are no good jobs you will ever get by applying in those ways. That is for cookie-cutter cog-in-the-machine jobs. They will not be good paying.

 

The only jobs that will ever pay well are when employers reach out to you, which requires being in the right place at the right time, and this works for tech jobs, as good employers want the best person for that job, not some slob off the street who knows how to press a button or read off a script.

 

The flip side is that often the jobs you want, there's 1000 other people applying for them, and hence letting the AI decide seems to be a way for those companies to hire the minimally competent person.

 

[dilpickle]

46 minutes ago, Kisai said:

Many people will just say straight up that A+ is actually worthless, cause it is, and anyone who used PC's regularly since the 90's wouldn't need to even study, it would be second nature.

 

The literal truth. I took it just for fun in 1999 even though I've never worked in IT. The test was completely different from the study material so I just relied on my own knowledge and easily passed. And its a lifetime cert so still valid.

[gentlemanspot]

I mean it can't hurt, you need your foot in the door, right? 

 

COMPtia is good, A+ is good, Network or Linux is better  

 

Ive worked in IT for 20 years, No real certs or degrees, just failed upwards 

 

 

Also, a Homelab and a "send it" attitude helps! 

[atxcyclist]

44 minutes ago, gentlemanspot said:

I mean it can't hurt, you need your foot in the door, right? 

 

COMPtia is good, A+ is good, Network or Linux is better  

 

Ive worked in IT for 20 years, No real certs or degrees, just failed upwards 

 

 

Also, a Homelab and a "send it" attitude helps! 

In preparation for this, I fixed an old laptop and threw Zorin on there, to get a little more Linux experience. I’m not ready to torture myself with Arch or anything like that, but I am learning.

[gentlemanspot]

5 minutes ago, atxcyclist said:

In preparation for this, I fixed an old laptop and threw Zorin on there, to get a little more Linux experience. I’m not ready to torture myself with Arch or anything like that, but I am learning.

Hey Zorin is great! ... yeah, I can't Arch, I'm a Debian fan boy all the way 

[atxcyclist]

24 minutes ago, gentlemanspot said:

Hey Zorin is great! ... yeah, I can't Arch, I'm a Debian fan boy all the way 

Zorin has proven to be quite good, since it’s Ubuntu-based documentation and package access are quite good. That old laptop is a 2nd gen mobile i5, and the OS is quite usable with that level of hardware.

[gentlemanspot]

1 hour ago, atxcyclist said:

Zorin has proven to be quite good, since it’s Ubuntu-based documentation and package access are quite good. That old laptop is a 2nd gen mobile i5, and the OS is quite usable with that level of hardware.

ubuntu is Debian-based   Zorin is pretty user friendly   

 

MX is not not but super light

[ewitte]

20 hours ago, Shimejii said:

Certs and such are pretty much useless unless the job you are thinking of doing it actually requires it. See if they list if you ACTUALLY need it. Usually with repair work requires it. If you want networking youll need the networking Certs, and it goes down a rabbit hole of certs per job.

 

Comptia A+ does not like their materails out there for study, but if you look around generally there is enough out there to see around what youll need to actually know.

Interesting I've found the opposite.  The king is experience but I've always gotten more interest from certs than things like degrees, etc.

[Ha-Satan]

1 hour ago, ewitte said:

Interesting I've found the opposite.  The king is experience but I've always gotten more interest from certs than things like degrees, etc.

Yeah, my experience is that there is no consensus.

 

For example, I was at a cybersecurity conference last month and I asked two of the featured speakers for their advice on the best path to get into network administration and they gave me completely opposite answers. One of them said "don't bother with a degree, just focus on documenting your homelab projects for your portfolio" while the other one told me that a degree was 100% necessary and that no amount of experience and portfolio projects would make up for it.

[ewitte]

2 minutes ago, Ha-Satan said:

Yeah, my experience is that there is no consensus.

 

Maybe because every company wants something different lol.

[wasab]

10 hours ago, ewitte said:

Maybe because every company wants something different lol.

Better advice is to target a company you want to work for and check what qualifications the role actually wants. 

[U2ername]

I aimed for CISCO, got in CISCO with CISCO standard quals.

 

Not even educated well from school in England as I was a disruptive and rebellious person, school don't matter, the in the moment requirement and what you can display with competence get you much further.

[Thaldor]

With that many years under the belt, I wouldn't bother with any certificates that at least 80% of the possible workforce has. Especially if not looking to work for government or somewhere where there's legal obligation to have one. What I have seen, I consider A+ like "Computer ABC certificate", anyone with 2 grey braincells and a bit of interest on IT can get it without doing much anything, everyone has it and it really proves nothing.

It's the same as looking to work with networking and having CCNA 1 and 2 certificates, no one gives a shit because everyone has them and their content is so basic that if you didn't know it, you wouldn't be trying to work in networking. Get CCNP certificate and we can talk about getting you a job with just certificates.

 

Rather think twice what you want to do and find something you can do now to show your skills. It doesn't need to be a big project with publicity, users, content and whatever in it, it can be just your own PC that you have built to be something more than what a 15 year old energy drink addicted snotface can make, host a livestreaming site streaming your dying plant on your window... You know, something that shows you know what you're doing and which you think is a bit more than what everyone else knows. Even better if you can leverage your architectural background in it.

And seriously, if you can make a website that isn't just the normal WordPress (or, god forbid, SquareSpace) shit, a small game, built a PC that you just didn't get the parts from store and put it up but did some case modding and, you know, something more, built your portfolio, and just do something more advanced and no one will come to ask if you have some "Computer's ABC" certificate.

[wasab]

Something additional I would like to mention. State of the economy also influences your job opportunities quite a bit. When jobs are scarce and lots of qualified people are in the market looking for work, you suddenly see very unrealistic job requirements. E.g. xyz experiences for entry level positions, 10 years knowledge of some zyx product/technology that only existed for 5 years ect. 

 

When the economy is good and the labor market is tight and employers are having trouble finding workers, suddenly the job requirements become very loosy and goosy and employers suddenly go from 10 years of experience REQUIRED to prior experience preferred but not required, we will train anyone who are willing and have a pulse. 

[dilpickle]

On 5/29/2025 at 10:58 AM, Ha-Satan said:

Yeah, my experience is that there is no consensus.

 

For example, I was at a cybersecurity conference last month and I asked two of the featured speakers for their advice on the best path to get into network administration and they gave me completely opposite answers. One of them said "don't bother with a degree, just focus on documenting your homelab projects for your portfolio" while the other one told me that a degree was 100% necessary and that no amount of experience and portfolio projects would make up for it.

There is a wide range of jobs in IT so they are both right. You can certainly get a job with just about any qualifications.

 

But if you are looking to be a SysAdmin making a comfortable salary you are going to need more than a few basic certs and homelabs.

[gentlemanspot]

Found this, thought of you