What Industry Certifications are Worth It?

aries78 asks: "I've recently obtained my CCNP certification, and am contemplating on going for the oh-so-scary CCIE certification. In the meantime, I have been considering other potential certifications to supplement my resume while I'm working toward my bachelor's degree. I am curious, though, as to what kind of professional certifications Slashdotters have, and how, if at all, they have been of help."

Comments

CCNA, MCSE, and Novell CNE here

[thilmony]

Funny, but my CNE is now worth a lot more than it used to be, since they are so rare. I was a 4.x CNE that upgraded to 5.x in time to never touch it again until recently.

While I need other experience, the CNE has made people notice me in my interviewing lately. Kind of proves you've been in the field awhile.

I plan to go CCNP but CCIE is a waste to me unless you have a job already lined up that requires it.

MCSE, well nice to have, nothing I mention typically.

I guess it all depends on your goals. If you want to be a CCIE and travel a lot, etc, sure. NOT ME!

Certs

[itwerx]

Aren't those little crunchy candies?
But seriously.
I am A+, CNE 3/4, HPUX 9x/10x, AT&T Sys-V and I have various odd little programming and hardware certs (e.g. ISPF/PDF, HP-CZ etc.)
The only cert which has really meant anything is the CNE. In today's job market though, I'm noticing that a lot more head-hunters are scanning for certs just as a way of winnowing the mass of resume's which flood in for every position. (There's several thousand IT pro's out of work here in the Seattle area).
As such, I've done a bit of research myself, including some salary analysis and talking to various headhunters and have come up with the following list (which I hope to have acquired by June of 2002):

MCSA, MCSE, MCDBA, Network+, Linux+, LPI,
i-Net+, CNE 5/6, CCNA and CCDA

These are in no particular order, and please note that my experience is abnormally broad. I would normally recommend a much narrower selection based on a given individual's interests.
I just happen to have the background to pick these up with a minimum of studying so, hey, why not? :) For what it's worth, I am also going back to school for my MBA in 2003, but that's more to let me break into management (everybody and their dog's got an MBA around here!)

Hope this helps. Best of luck!

Thinking about certifications...

[chipuni]

There's an easy answer:

1. Open the newspaper to the classifieds section.
2. Find the jobs that most closely match what you want to do.
3. Read the ads, seeing whether any certifications are either required or recommended.

I have one certification (Java Certified Programmer), and a Master's Degree in Computer Science. I have not needed any other certifications.

Re:does Masters or PHD help?

[clark625]

Post graduate degrees are work experience. I don't know how many times people have asked why I didn't decide to go out to the "real world" and get experience. The truth is, graduate school isn't so much schooling as it is work. Hard work. Sure, you will probably get paid for the work but it's barely enough to live on. Don't get me wrong--it's worth every bit of the pain.

Of course getting a Master's degree or PhD will get you higher pay. But it also sets the "ceiling", if you will, for how far up in a major company you can go. How many Fortune 500 companies are run by persons with their Bachelor's degree? Not many, unless they were the founder. And successors almost always have at least an MBA; but a PhD certainly helps. If you want to be a monkey all your life just following other's leadership and writing what they tell you, then your bachelor's is fine. But if you want to get into management, you really should consider an MBA. If you want to ever be a "director", VP, or whatever, you really want an MBA AND a post graduate degree in a technical field. The extra money earned is because you're worth every penny at that point.