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Which IT Certifications for Specific IT Jobs?
outlander78 asks: "There have been several questions posted recently (Landing a job, College or Career? to list a few) discussing education and job searching. I have just completed a BSc Computer Science, and have 2 years of co-op experience. This is apparently not enough, as I have yet to get a single interview, despite many carefully written letters and resume submissions to job postings. I read here that a degree with certifications was a good combination, so now I need to know - which certifications are best for job seekers? Whether I work as programmer, sys admin or something else isn't an issue, since I need any job at this point, and enjoy most computer-related jobs - please, suggest whatever certifications you are hiring for or were hired because of."
Seriously -- A certificate only tells me what questions to start asking. It's sort of like that college question a few days ago: I don't want people who know things; I want people who can think and learn things.
You might be better off spending some time studying on your own and doing a free project of some sort for a local charity or school. It's something you can put on your resume and build up a bit rather than just one line of questionable value... and good for the community as well.
Statistically, 10% of hirings are initiated with blind mailings. The rest all begin with networking. So when you are looking for a job, spend 10% of your time revising your resume and sending it to good targets, and spend the rest of the time following down leads in your personal network.
This is how I landed a job at a major Fortune 500 corporation. Basically, I had administered a high-latency gigabit-class network of Mac III's in school in the late 80's. This was top-of-the-line research stuff back then, though it sure looks antique today. Long story short, my vice admin's older brother married the daughter of a major figure in the Juarez prawn industry, and I got my foot in the door. Now I'm pulling 7 figures with a staff of 72, with nowhere to go but up. So all those guys you sorta got along with in school? Keep the numbers, man. Even when you land a job, you never know when you'll be looking again.
Good luck.
Karma: Good (despite my invention of the Karma: sig)
Or did somebody change the date for the monthly /.?
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Is that the big bulletin board with the pictures of people and things from the CS department? ;-)
T
---- It puts the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again. It does this whenever it's told.
Especially true if you're going through the
classified/Monster route and lack personal
contacts.
Yeah, doesn't it suck when you lose out on a
contract to Mothra?
http://jesus.everdense.com/
I once saw an A+ certified technician burn out a PC motherboard when she plugged a Mac monitor into the joystick port.
Obviously not all A+ people are like this, but the A+ after someone's name doesn't mean they're not going to do something incredibly stupid to your hardware.