I completed another certification this morning. I'm now officially A+ certified.

It's something I should have done years ago but after I left working on PCs I forgot about it. I didn't see a need for such since working in telecommunications. But the company is picking up the tab - how could I refuse?

Yes, we did things backwards in completing the Networking+ before the A+, but that's the union for you.

Oh, didn't I mention I'm a union member? Yep, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. That's all I'll say about them.

One of my coworkers told me today that he is refusing to take any certification exams. I suppose if your just a few years away from retirement then it doesn't really matter. I look at it as resume fodder, for who knows what may happen down the road.

Although I'd prefer to get out of a "tech" job and back into "management" if I had my choice. Believe it or not, I actually enjoyed being a Materials Manager where I had to do inventory, buy components, and track the flow of production. The best part was spending money! Lots of money!

In that position I had the complete ability to directly affect the bottom line of the company - more than any other individual. Sure, the sales guys seem to make big bucks when they sign a huge contract. But that profit can get eaten up quickly in material and production costs. And if you don't know your costs, how can you really know your profits? Every dollar saved in material goes directly to the bottom line.

All that has nothing to do with A+ certification, however. What these two tests prove is that I know the insides of a computer pretty well, and can handle Windows XP/2000. Whoot!

Really, most 16 year olds geeks could pass this test with minimal effort. But it did give me a few days in Hartford, CT.

Now if I could only convince them to send me to school in Orlando....