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So You “Wannabe” a Computer Tech?

So you want to be a Computer Tech? Well, if you really want to know what it’s like, go poke yourself in the eye with a very sharp stick. There, now you know! Still want to be a Tech? Okay, okay, I’ll try to be a little more helpful. (Sure I can’t talk you out of it?) Seriously, in this article, I want to tell you stuff (important technical computer term) that no one else will tell you. And I want you to approach being a Computer Tech with a good dose of reality. (So, go back and poke yourself with a sharp stick.) Also, I want you to know what you are getting into. And, more than anything else, if I can talk you out of it, I will have done my job.

If you remember the Eighties and early Nineties, you would do well to remember that once upon a time computers and the Tech industry were hot. But, then along came the late Nineties ... and everything went “kablooey.” (Another technical term that you need to know as a Tech, especially if you ever decide to work on power supplies or monitors.) It used to be smart to get into the Tech industry. Now, it’s a whole lot different. Everybody for the last twenty years has majored or minored in computer technology. It is still a viable and needed industry, but it has changed radically. Now the latest word in the industry is “outsourcing.” (Of course if you live in a Third-World country, that is probably a good thing for you.)

Once upon a time certifications in the computer industry were the ticket to a promising career. Now, everybody and his dog has a bunch of them. It used to be that they all meant something. Now, they are pretty much just a pretty piece of very expensive paper. Do I sound cynical? I don’t mean to, but after five certifications and about seven years in and around the industry, I have learned a little thing or two. (I hope!)

Please understand, I am grateful for my CompTIA certifications. It’s just that everybody has them and there is quite an industry that has grown up around these basic certifications. Note, the CompTIA certifications are just that – basic certifications ... nothing more. Some time ago the computer industry decided (rightfully so) that they needed to draw up or have drawn up a “baseline” of computer skills and proficiency in the computer technology field. Thus CompTIA (and others certification organizations) was born. Soon there were certifications for absolutely everything ... and I mean everything! Every software and hardware product; every major field of technology; every vendor now has their certifications. You could spend a lifetime just getting one certification after another. (I suppose some people do just that!)

Some certifications are basic (like CompTIAs) some are very advanced (like some of Microsoft’s and Novell’s and Cisco’s). All are somewhat difficult and very expensive. The CompTIA certifications cost from $150 to $200 a piece just for the test. You pass the test. You get your certification and you are certified for life. Other certifications are much more complicated and far more expensive. Some of them involve on-going certification just to keep current and certified. Many of them almost require some sort of training, schooling or seminar courses to pass. Well, there are a hundred different ways to get certified. Which is best?

It all depends. Mostly it depends on you! It depends on where you are “at.” It depends on the kind of time and money you have. It depends on how motivated you are. But, basically there are two roads that lead to certification: (1) The High Road; and (2) The Low Road. (Actually there is a third road that we could call, “The Middle Ground” that is a kind of “High/Low” or “Low/High” road.) But, for the moment just consider the two roads.

The High Road is the one you take that involves some kind of formal education. This is the path of higher academia. For this road, think of a College and University education and that standard degrees that go along with them. The Low Road is the way of less formal education. It could involve the path of technical schools and institutes. Or it could even involve the path of a self-taught and self-disciplined education. One way is not necessarily better than the other. It’s just different. But, the High Road is usually considered a better way by many. Just to let you know. I took the Low Road in most all of my computer education. I am basically self-taught. I did not go to any Tech school.

So, allow me to make a few personal observations. I would rather have taken the High Road, if I had my “druthers.” For me, in my situation, the Low Road was most accessibly feasible. So, I went for it. I am glad I did. It has been a wonderful experience. But, I still realize that in some ways, the High Road would have been better. If I was going to recommend the path that most take when it comes to computer technology, I would recommend the High Road if at all possible.

Allow me to get a little more personal. I do not like school. In fact, I hate school! I found that much of my public and private education, including the first two years of college, was a significant waste of time. I did not learn how to learn until I got out of the public educational system. I had to learn how to learn and how to study, because, by and large, the way most things are taught in the public school arena were not helpful to me in the way I needed to learn. So, I had to teach myself. (Perhaps I should tell you that I did very well in school and I am supposed to be rather “intelligent.” But, so what! All I know is that I don’t know very much and I did not learn very much in the public [i.e., government] school system here in the United States. Most of the teachers I had were rather worthless. In fact, the only teacher I had that was worth something was one English teacher, in a private school. And probably the only reason I remember her fondly was because she really loved what she did and she really cared about her students. There is a lesson in that!)

Now, all of this probably speaks to my “learning style.” The fact is, not every one learns the same way. And “intelligence” must be measured in more ways than just by standardized tests. The truth is there are at least seven “intelligences” but most standardized tests only test for one or two of them. But that is another story. (Okay, if you must know, here they are: Linguistic – Words; Logical – Numbers; Kinesthetic – Athletics; Spatial – Pictures; Musical – Sounds; Interpersonal – Others; and Intrapersonal – Self. Some add an eighth intelligence: Naturalist – Nature.) But, what this forces one to realize is that not everyone is “cut out” for cookie cutter education. Unfortunately, that is generally all you get in most government (i.e., public) schools. You must sooner or later figure out your “learning style” and tailor your education accordingly. So, some may go the High Road. Other may choose a different path. Some may go the technical or trade school route. Others may have to teach themselves. Which is it for you? If you want something bad enough, you will learn. Your education is really sort of up to you. The sooner you recognize that, the better.

Quotable Quote: “Don't ever let school interfere with your education.” (Mark Twain, adapted)

For me, I found that I had to read literally thousands of pages for each certification. And this involved reading each major book at least two times! Adding up all of the pages I read, I found that, at a minimum, I needed to read around 10,000 pages for each certification. Some have said that you need to study to just barely pass each certification and then move on to the next one. That’s fine for them. I felt I needed to more than pass! I needed to master! I averaged around a 90% passing grade for each certification.

Perhaps by now you have already figured out that I don’t do very well with the way most tests are structured. I don’t do very well with rote memory work either. I found some areas of the CompTIA tests to be stupid and irrelevant. I have always found this to be the case with most standardized tests. Too many are just not a fair representation of real-world knowledge. So, during the time I was “book-learning” the material for the CompTIA certifications, I was also working in the real-world of computer technology ... at least part time. I was, in some ways, learning more in real world experience than I was studying for the tests. (Please note that most of the CompTIA certifications actually tell you that they are geared for those with real world experience in the industry!) There is a sense in which I passed the tests with “flying colors” and yet came out of the testing centers feeling like I still “didn’t know nothing”! (Well, I have always felt that way about most of my schooling, so nothing new here.)

Along the way, I have observed two other interesting facts about certifications. First, there is a ton of stuff on the Internet specifically related to the certifications that is available for the taking. Some of it good. Some of it not so good. You can quickly find that an entire cottage industry has grown up around the certifications that is little more than “braindump” cheating. Toward the end of my certifications I ran across this in studying for my exams and found it to be little more than worthless junk food. In fact some of what is posted on the Internet that passes as the actual questions on the exams was technically wrong! (I should also note that eventually I started noticing that even the mainstream certification books contained errors!) You can, for a price, buy the answers for most any certification test. There are quite a few off-shore companies that specialize in stealing the actual tests. Well, my friends, what this has actually done is “dumb down” the meaning of all certifications to basically the lowest common denominator. What this really does is call into the question the practical worth of many of the certifications themselves.

Second, you can go to all kinds of schools and institutes that will give you a very expensive crash course in the certification of your choice. Some of them actually teach to the test more than the subject matter. (That is they teach so that you will pass the test rather than master the technology.) And, when I said expensive, I meant expensive! Most run upwards of $1000! If you go to some of the bigger schools and institutes, you can expect to spend $10,000! I actually know someone (who shall remain anonymous) who went to a big name institute (that shall remain nameless) who spent over $10,000 for his year-and-a-half education. When he got through I asked him what the courses amounted to and what he learned. Basically, he said he got his A+ and Network+ education, but that he still had to take the tests to get the actual certification. (He never did.) I did not bother telling him that I got those two certifications (and three more) for about $900, including the books I used for self-study.

Well, I tell you all of this so that you think very carefully about the path you will take. The fact is, if you choose to take the High Road to the computer technology industry, you can easily bypass most of the beginning and basic certifications anyway. (Of course, they still might be nice to have!) What should you do? It’s up to you, but you must make a fully informed decision. For some, the Tech schools and institutes are the only way to go. For some, self-study is unrealistic. For many, college and university level training is the best way to go. One of the things you need to know is your own learning style and then seek a path that works for you based upon what you already know about yourself.

As to the certification tests themselves, I was not overly impressed. As I said before, I don’t think tests are the true measure of someone’s knowledge. All tests do is tell whether you know what the test maker thinks you should know. There were a few of what I would call “trick questions” on the tests. But, there was no way to ever go back and be sure about the answers. In some ways there was a high premium placed on memory work. Several of the certifications required extensive memorization of all kinds of basically “useless” facts. For example the Server+ certification recommendations seemed to concentrate on every form and fact of SCSI. I ended up memorizing four or five solid pages of SCSI stats. (Some have actually said the Server+ certification should actually be called, “SCSI+”!) Well, the test actually did not ask any questions that would force you to regurgitate all those SCSI factoids. So, I memorized all of that only to “dump” it after the test. As so frequently happens, I came away wondering what I really learned from it all. (Oh yes, I think I should mention that of all of my CompTIA certifications, I found the Server+ to be the most difficult.)

The problem with the certifications is that it is all too easy to study for the tests rather than learn for life. Isn’t that the way it is with most of the educational system? Somehow too much of what I learned in school just simply did not translate into the real world. After passing all of the certifications I have gone back and restudied every test book and subject. I found this to be far more worthwhile since I was no longer “studying for the exams” ... now I was studying for the pure joy of learning! By the way, I found the best books to be the All-In-Ones, Exam Crams, and Dummies books. The Sybex books were also pretty good. I tried numerous other publishers, but these were the best. You might find it interesting to note that there were some questions on some of the exams that were not at all covered in any of the books. In has only been in my wider reading and greater experience that I have come to really know the material.

What this all points to is that most of the certifications – especially the basic ones – are nothing more than a “baseline.” What really matters is if you are able to teach yourself and learn on your own and thus go beyond the baseline. I have found that most of what I do in real world computing is not about what was directly on the tests. The only areas in the certification studies that were really worthwhile were the areas of critical thinking and troubleshooting. That is what you do in the real world. All the rest is background information. So, do I think there is a value to the certification process? Yes! But, it may not be in the areas you expect. What was most important is that I have, over the years, learned how to study and do research. These are skills that you can’t easily quantify on a test. Some teachers and tests put all the emphasis on memorizing reams of material. But, those methods don’t work well for me. For some they do. For me, knowing how to learn and knowing how to study and knowing how to research are far more critical. If I come up against a problem, I know where to go and how to figure out the answers. This is the true value of all education!

A Simple Case Study: Recently I had a problem with the print spooler on my Windows XP machine. At first I did not know that it was the print spooler. The machine would suddenly choke (i.e., slow to a crawl) and almost crash. Attempting to print over the network was also a nightmare. These symptoms could have been almost anything other than what it was. (And, none of this was on any of the tests!) I eventually went into Task Manager to see what processes were running and if one of them was causing a problem. (I learned most about this area from my work with Linux, not Windows!) I saw the spoolsv.exe going crazy and eating up about 98% of the CPU time! I tried everything. Nothing worked. I went on the Internet and googled around for anything about any problem with spoolsv.exe. Everything I read (and I read everything!) pointed me everywhere but in the right direction. I finally had to turn off all the “white noise” and go back to basic troubleshooting skills. I had to figure this one out on my own. Very quickly I decided to delete the printers and reinstall them. But, when I tried, Windows would not allow me to delete them! I could not even modify them! They were locked by Windows. I had to use “brute force” to go into the printer directories and delete all the files in them for the specific printers that I assumed had become corrupted. But, this was not enough. I also had to go into the Windows Registry and track down the registry keys that pointed to the printers. I then deleted the keys to those specific printers. That finally did it. I could now reinstall all the printers and spoolsv.exe no longer monopolizes the CPU at strange intervals. The point is, I did not learn any of this from the books. There was no “by the book” for this weird problem. Yet, everything in “the books” helped to build a foundation for me to deal with this case.

You see, being a Computer Tech is really about being a detective more than anything else. It is about being a troubleshooter. Any fool can slap together a “killer” machine. But, when something goes wrong – and it will go wrong! – who are you going to call? This is what separates the men from the boys (or the women from the girls) when it comes to being a Tech! This is what it is really all about ... at least for me. Are there any lessons in all of this? Of course there are! Here are a few:

● Don’t study for some certification test as an end in and of itself, study for life and learning!

● All the “book learning” in the world doesn’t mean a thing unless you have a little common sense!

● Read widely in varied and unrelated disciplines! For instance, if you are a Windows Tech, learn Linux. If you are a Linux Tech, learn Windows. Of course read and learn outside the realms of technology too. Study life!

● The schooling never ends! Well, thankfully the public school education does end, but the real schooling never does. You are always going to school. So, you had better learn how to learn and know how to study and do research. If you don’t know something, at least know where to go to find the answers.

● You don’t know anything until you know that you don’t know everything! It is impossible to know everything. Maybe some guys do “know it all” but they are probably the ones who fail in life. They may pass all the Tech tests and have all the answers, but if all they know is computers they are the ultimate losers in life. I have met several who do in fact “know it all”! I asked one of these geniuses how he knows so much and his actual answer was, “Well, I don’t have a life.” And he was right.

Well, we have traveled far, you and I. I hope that you have learned a thing or two. I know I have. But, if you haven’t learned anything, I at least hope you have had fun reading this journal of my journey into the world of certifications. Remember, the world is always changing – especially the world of computers – so no matter where you are on your journey, the journey has only begun.

One last thing, if you have read this far, you ought to be given a reward! So, I want to share with you a little document I put together on “Basic Study Skills.” (This document might be the most important item on Randar’s Tech Page!) This ought to be the first thing they teach you in school, not the last! But, I did not find it until after I had finished college. I actually first ran across some of these principles in a college textbook on psychology. (Remember, I told you to read widely!) Since first stumbling across all of this, I have added to this little document over the years. It tells you how to study, read and memorize. It has helped me. I hope it helps you too.

So, you really “wannabe” a Tech or not? If you still say yes ... go find a sharp stick!