HDA Certified! Yeah!

It's official! Today I took my HDI Helpdesk Analyst Certification and I passed! Yippee!

The test was harder than the HDA Bootcamp pre-test that I took last week in Indianapolis. I got a 91% on the pre-test, with 86 questions, and a 85% today on the actual exam, with 65 questions. The pre-test took me 25 minutes to complete anmd grade, and that was reading each question twice. This actual certification test was 75 minutes timed, and I answered all the questions, then went back through and reviewed those I had flagged, and then went back and reviewed the whole first half of the test, and it only took me 30 minutes. It seemed like FOREVER but it wasn't very long really.

The hardest part of the exam was finding the testing center. First I had to find the street in downtown peoria, then a parking spot, then the College, then the right college building, and then the right suite within the building, and then the right person within the suite. It wasn't easy.

There were lots more questions on self help and automatic call distribution than I anticipated. And if I hear the term "management" in any way, shape, or form this week, I will scream. Incident Management. Problem Management. Business Continuity Management. Project Management. Change Management. Argh! And each one with a definition just a couple of words different than the last.

Well. I am glad it is OVER and glad I am CERTIFIED and proud of myself! Yeah! My first IT Certification. In the past through work I have been able to take courses but nothing that works towards a certification. And if it has worked towards a certification, the test costs have been my responsibility. It's my personal opinion that many employers think that paying to certify someone in IT is like slitting their own throat, making that employee marketable to a competitor. Whereas just educating them and not covering the cost of the certification is another story. It benefits the organization without making the employee marketable. That's a shame... but it is my past experience. But I also know that certifications are a far cry from comparing to a person with experience. I have met many many people in the IT Field who are certified and educated out their ass, but they can't compete with the hands on experience and troubleshooting that I have experienced. The great thing to find is a mix of both.

This Post (and others like it) Tagged Under:

• HDAcertified
• TalkNerdy2Me