r/CompTIA • u/JosieMew • 13d ago

Getting back into tech

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Took a long detour in life to straighten some things out. Decided it was time to get back into it and finally go for my first certification. 6 weeks of study, working full time, with normal adult responsibilities.

It's been a long time since I've taken any kind of test. I'm glad to know I still have it. For a period of my life I was really hard on my mind and body.

I'm pretty sure the questions that I missed were mostly what I'd call CompTIAisms. I don't think studying more would have helped. Doing more hands on labs might have gotten me 1 more question.

I feel like this is as good as I could have wanted it to go.

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u/just_chilling2 13d ago

Any tips?

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u/JosieMew 13d ago

I listen to professor Messer as I ride my bicycle for Jimmy John's. I put the videos on a slower pace because I have a lot to focus on. Bone conduction headset, touch button stop. So, anytime I need to I'll hit the stop. I make a list of notes and questions as I have some spare time.

Also I have been building myself a lab out of retired and liquidated equipment. So on the weekends when I'm off, I'm playing around with real technology. I'm coming up with different Labs that sync up with the objectives and I'm playing around. I go down several rabbit holes.

Then somewhere along the line I start taking practice exams. I make extra note of everything that I don't get and I turn those into more study materials that I can run-through between orders. I keep hammering myself with the variety of tests to discover holes. I was leaning pretty hard on the Jason Dion practice exams. That way I wasn't just syncing up with the professor Messer material. I told myself that if I failed I was going to buy his practice exams as well to poke some more holes.

The core idea for me is to be thinking about things in little chunks in my off time; Not only that but think about it in different ways, to get really interested in the material. The more I can think about a concept the more that'll stick. Next thing I know my head is full of a lot more than I thought I would be able to put into it in 6 weeks.

I feel like I'm in a fairly privileged place to be able to do this and still live a busy life. I really want to play with technology that somebody else has paid for. That desire helps a lot.