Starting an IT business, have some questions

[mayorredbeard]

Well me and my friend had this great idea of starting an IT business. We'll make house calls, and business calls for companies that aren't big enough to have a dedicated person for IT.

We got the idea when my old boss called me up and said he had an emergency, (it was about 12:30am on a Wednesday night), and he said he'd give me $100 if I came down and checked it out, and another $100 if I fixed it. Turns out he had some corrupted data, and I had to restore it from him from an earlier save point he made on a tape disc. So I got the great idea of making a 24/7 tech support business, for those calls that come inconveniently after most people stop making business calls. This of course on top of making regular day calls.

I'm only 18, and my partner is 19. We know quite a lot about computers, but I feel like I should get some certification first though. Here are my questions:

- I know about A+ certification, but I've also heard of people saying it doesn't do much. Should I bother with this certification?
- I know that CompTIA (the company that puts out the A+ test) makes tests for Networking, Security, and Servers. Should I get these certifications too?

 

[borat_sagdiyev]

get the security, networking and A+

 

[Celegorm]

I would still get A+. Also, take a gander at being microsoft certified. Don't know what it's requirements are, but it looks good too.

 

[j.venning]

Microsoft Certification is probably the best course you can do out there to get status, especially the MCSE or MCSA (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer / Microsoft Certified System Administrator) qualifications.

They both require hell of a lot of work - as well as good test outcomes to pass the qualificationa. It is worth it though, they both get recognized as a good and solid qualification.

P.S - the courses require a fair bit of dosh too. More details here: Link

 

[hascet]

Those Microsoft tests are expensive, especially if you want to go to the "bootcamp" where you learn everything and take all the tests which is like 5 I think in a few weeks.

 

[Rubber314Chicken]

yeah, I would get the A+ certification, and the networking one. the security one would help, but people who might call you might check for that stuff, so its a good idea.

 

[wol-va-rine]

Those Microsoft tests are expensive, especially if you want to go to the "bootcamp" where you learn everything and take all the tests which is like 5 I think in a few weeks.

the certification tests aren't really that expensive (roughly $150 USD each IIRC), it's the training/classes that are expensive...

if you think you know the material, you can take the tests without the classes...

 

[borat_sagdiyev]

microsoft is offering the training material for free

well it was, but now the offer is closed

http://www.microsoft.com/canada/technet/jumpstart/

 

[joxley1990]

Don't know what you have there that is equivalent to this, but it's a 2 year course, called a BTEC, otherwise known as a HND. At the end of it you are qualified in Networking, security, hardware, and VB.. im in the middle of doing it.

I would guess that starting a business at 18 would be hard, and not a wise idea..