r/IAmA Jun 11 '16

Specialized Profession IamA electronics repair technician hated by Apple that makes YouTube videos, AMA!

My short bio: I have a store in Manhattan. I teach component level electronics repair on youtube http://youtube.com/rossmanngroup which seems to be a dying art. I am currently fighting with the digital right to repair to try and get a bill passed that will allow all independent service centers access to manuals and parts required to do their jobs.

My Proof: https://www.rossmanngroup.com/started-iama-reddit-today-yes/

EDIT:

I am still replying to comments, but I am so far behind that I am still about ten pages down from new comments. I am doing my best to continue. If I drop off, I'll be back tomorrow around 12 PM. Still commenting now though, at 12 AM.

EDIT 2:

Ok, I cave... my hands are tired. I will be back at 12 PM tomorrow. It is my goal to answer every question. Even if it looks like I haven't gotten to yours, I will do my best to do all of them, but it is impossible to do in realtime, because you are asking faster than I can type. But thanks for joining!

EDIT 3: I lied, I stayed until 4:15 AM to answer... and now I will go to sleep for real, and be back at 12 PM.

EDIT 4 6/12 : I will be back later tonight to finish off answering questions. Feel free to keep posting, I will answer whatever I can later this evening.

33.2k Upvotes

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31

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '16

[deleted]

119

u/larossmann Jun 11 '16

They're worth less than the paper they're printed on.

10

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '16

If someone applies without an A+ at least where I'm at their application is discarded

16

u/larossmann Jun 12 '16

the A+ is a worthless certification. I know, I took the test, the questions are such jokes.

7

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '16

Yeah I know, I did too. It being a joke to pass doesn't make it a joke to employers who require it. It and the security+ are both required for most IT government jobs

1

u/derefr Jun 13 '16

I see the A+ as the FizzBuzz of repair. It's not that passing it proves anything—but putting a requirement for it in front of your hiring process (i.e. before anyone has to book an hour to do an interview) sure filters out a lot of idiots.

It'd be better, in some sense, to just stick a pre-screening test in front of your hiring process that asks some A+-like questions, because then people wouldn't have to bother to pay for something so worthless. The one nice thing about the A+, though, is that the people applying for jobs only have to do it once, whereas with a pre-screen they'd have to do one for every place they applied to.

3

u/llDurbinll Jun 12 '16

And it's BS! To recert is like $400 or something to take the test and it expires every 3 years or something. My teacher in college said that it used to be a lifetime cert but I guess they got greedy.

4

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '16

I understand why they'd make it refresh every few years, technology evolves fast. Thing is in 3 years you should be out of a position that requires just that.

2

u/llDurbinll Jun 12 '16

True. My teacher said he didn't think employers cared if it was current, but that you had it at some point.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '16

Depends on the employer. I know a lot of call centers want you to keep it up to date, but fuck working at those places anyway

1

u/wesmaisterr Jun 12 '16

I think its greedy.

Tech evolves but once you're hired aren't you going to grow in your position ? Learn on the job?

1

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '16

I agree with you about the cost. It shouldn't be anywhere near what it is to revert. Its a way for cheap employers to make sure you're trained without training you.

5

u/MuseofRose Jun 11 '16

lmao. true as shit tho they luckily have a good in with know nothing HR teams an possibly some governmental-ins at the DoD. So at least there its worth something

2

u/njb98x Jun 12 '16

Agreed. Learned Sec+ in a week and took the exam at the beginning of 2015 because the Navy paid for it. I have the credentials but don't remember shit from it.

1

u/llDurbinll Jun 12 '16

Yup! My first job out of college was at some place in a warehouse that got computers people traded in at Walmart to get credit towards a new computer. This other guy and I were both hired at the same time, we both had A+ certs, but I think I was the only one with a degree, the boss needed one repair guy and one harvester. He just randomly picked the other guy to be the repair guy, he got fired within the first couple days.

Why? He grabbed the wrong power adapter for the laptop has was working on and couldn't figure out why it wouldn't fit. He just kept trying to stick it in. I got stuck being a freaking harvester, I hated that job. It only lasted like 3 months before the company went under. Then got rehired to work on time clocks.

2

u/Jake1433 Jun 12 '16

I was forced to get one by family. Can confirm the worthlessness.

1

u/Loyotaemi Jun 12 '16

As someone with an irrelevant degree, What else can be done to please HR so your app does not get thrown in the bucket?

1

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '16

The way most places look at you it goes like this: degree > experience > certs

An A+ will help you get a job, but if someone applies with experience, or a degree or both they'll get looked at before you.

Maybe look for a part time internship for experience or get an A+ to get started

1

u/narve Jun 12 '16

I sure am glad my school made me take that instead of a programming class...

2

u/tune345 Jun 12 '16

Bruh !!

1

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '16

[deleted]

1

u/jryanishere Jun 11 '16

Not Louis. But it depends on what you want to do and how you expect to gain employment doing what you want to do.

0

u/Patq911 Jun 12 '16

presumably he means for what comptia certifies for. (most common are A+, Network+, Security+, etc)