Slashdot Mirror
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."
Aren't those little crunchy candies?
:) 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!)
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?
Hope this helps. Best of luck!
Really depends what job you want, I suppose. A CCNA is good enough to get them to look at your resume for a lot of admin-type jobs. Smart employers will put much more importance on job experience than industry certifications. The only other certification that will really be useful to you is your degree.
OTOH, if you don't already have any job experience, your time is best spent getting an entry level end-user support job, and working your way up from there. Without a degree it's pretty much the only way in. Based on what I have seen in most support call centers, the mindless nature of such jobs is best alleviated by eating lots of bananas, scratching yourself, and swinging on the office lighting fixtures. Get your degree soon.
include $sig;
1;
I have one certification (Java Certified Programmer), and a Master's Degree in Computer Science. I have not needed any other certifications.
Never play leapfrog with a unicorn. Or a juggernaut.
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.
Long, cute, or funny Sigs are just another form of over compensation, used by geeks, nerdz, etc.