<p>A friend of mine, his dad once in while likes to share about his stuff, projects at work, etc..and the lastest is about: the challenges of backing up Hyper-V virtualized servers, the differences between backing up Hyper-V and VMware servers, etc...very cool stuff eventhough I know nothing about network, computer maintenance etc.</p>
<p>He told me for my personal growth just take classes and get certification for A+ and N+ to wet my appetite into network.</p>
<p>Do you think those two certifications and "Microsoft and Cisco Cerrtification" would be good or at least useful for me to complement my Physics/ME dual degree? </p>
<p>Please advise. Thanks. </p>
<p>PS: in my spare time, I just started tinkering with my computer</p>
<p>I can’t imagine a scenario where having an A+ or N+ certification would help you at all in your career, given your ME/Physics. I guess a better question would be what is your end game? Are you wanting to branch into computers? Networking?</p>
<p>If so, I think I’d be more apt to focus on Cisco rather than the Comptia exams.</p>
<p>Noleguy33: Basically, I have no life at all as I study like there is no tomorrow…LOL but some of my friends have been telling me to get a hobby so that I would not get burn-out, etc.</p>
<p>So, I just started to read books about A+ then perhaps would go ahead and take the Exam in this coming Summer when the school is over. </p>
<p>Then perhaps, in the long run would take N+, etc…this is just for my personal growth, personal use or perhaps would help a little bit on my work/job when I am done with ME/Physics.</p>
<p>Anyhow, why Cisco? is it better than Comptia stuff?..Cisco also will end up doing Telecom?..just curious though.</p>
<p>Those seem like entry-level IT certifications (unless you mean high-level Cisco ones like CCIE).</p>
<p>Physics and engineering majors often adapt well to software development and QA and self-education of useful computer science topics, leading to more interesting jobs than entry-level IT jobs.</p>
<p>ucbalumnus: Now, I am just doing it for my spare-time but who knows perhaps this will be my back-up plan?..</p>
<p>More importantly, I am studycoholic (kind of workaholic) so I love learning new stuff. in High School, I have learned a bit about programming like Basic, VB, HTML and XML…I did not finish Java. Last summer, I took C in my local Community College. And in college I took C++ and Mathlab as required for Engineering.</p>
<p>The thing about programming is if I dont use it or even dont practice, It would be gone. And doing coding and debugging would take hours and hours…especially, if I am in the zone…LOL and that would mess up my study.</p>
<p>Lastly, why Physics and engineering majors often adapt well to software development and QA?..I am just curious. is it the LOGIC and/or way of thinking the same as in CS guys?..</p>
<p>My last intern was an ME major who saw the light, took up iPhone and Android programming as a hobby and will likely only use Heat Transfer again in baking… He got smitten with software development and that was it… </p>
<p>Now, I’m not saying go write the next Angry Birds using your Physics expertise, but there’s lots of engineering software companies out there that require real engineers/scientists to write much of the code, not coders. </p>
<p>To learn programming see if you can hook up with a research prof project at your school to do some coding for credit. So it’s not ‘wasted’ time, you get experience, and you learn all at the same time.</p>
<p>Heck, that’s how I started my programming career in 1979.</p>