I hear you, and I thought, and still do think, much the same thing.

From what  I've been able to find out, you need either 6 months of experience in the IT field, or an equivalent amount of training. I would presume you must provide proof of this before you can even take the A+ exam. I am not going to go into the experience I had that should have given me this equivalent training on a public forum, but it screwed me over. Enough said. Anyway, I hope you have better luck than I did obtaining this training. Because, frankly, college isn't everything, especially in this day and age. So it's refreshing to see that someone else believes that life doesn't end just because you don't have a diploma, which inevitably leads to lots of money, 4 kids, a lovely, well-tended house, and all the rest, right?

The link in the last post directed me to a page about a security certification or something. I was immediately turned away by the coding aspect. I don't want to program. I've tried it and have found that I don't have the patience.

While I was doing more research on the CompTIA A+, I found some information about computer hardware. I don't know how feasible hardware repair would be. Any thoughts on this? I was thinking more about software troubleshooting such as reimaging computers and keeping them operational. I'm a little scared to go messing with hardware when I can't see the components which are getting smaller and smaller as we move to laptops and mobile devices.

As for the general computer science thing, I don't think so. I'm not going for that if I have to sit in a classroom for 2 or 4 years going through remedial classes and other garbage at some community college or university. I'd much rather go to a technical school or something that may provide better and more focused training. Any thoughts are welcome.

The CompTIA+ certification will serve you well if you have the experience to also show for it.

I took an IT Essentials course back in high school that practically prepared you for that test.  It was a great course, but I'm weary of reimaging hard drives and installing fresh OS's outside of Mac.

Now, without getting into a debate about college or schooling in general as a requirement to get a job, experience will be your best friend here.  You need to decide what is comfortable for you, and understand that some things may deter you, but do your best and overcome as many fears as possible.  It'll serve you well.

In terms of experience, the best thing I can suggest as a computer science major and coming from a 4-year university is that school provides endless options for internships and hands-on experience.  Depending on the college (university or otherwise), the quality of the program will also determine how much you will bring to the table in the field.

So, my recommendation is this.

1. Figure out exactly what you want to do (hardware, software, etc).
2. Decide if you can find education of the same quality at a different facility.  It sounds like you don't want to invest money in post-secondary level ed if you can help it, which is understandable.
3. In your sparetime, research, research, research!!!!!  Much of the material found in introductory courses can be found online, and in all reality, depending on your experience with computers, you may already possess the knowledge to ace many of the course assignments anyways.  That's how it was for me in IT Essentials.

Getting your certificate is one step, but research how you can get hands-on experience.  Even if it's not considered an internship, experience is experience and that's all there is to it.

Best,

Luke

Even sighted people need to get hands-on experience, and a blind person more than likely more-so.

The need for software gurus is becoming more demanding than ever before.  I hope you find success in your endeavors.

Luke