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."

Comments

Certificates not the answer...

[Xandis]

A BSc in Comp. Sci. and some co-op experience sounds more than enough to get your foot in the door (entry-level). Are you sure you are applying for the appropriate job? Perhaps you'll need to start lower than you want due to the sluggish economy? Since you are willing to work at any job, I would make sure that you aren't overlooking some of the lower end work (for the time being anyway) -- sys admin hopefully requires more experience than you have :) Likewise, look for "junior" positions as well. Look at non-tech companies that have tech needs (banks and insurance and investment companies for example).

I don't think certificates early in one's career are that beneficial since it starts looking like you are just too obviously trying to make up for lack of real-world experience by overloading your resume with these certificates. Certificates, in my opinion, are good ways for senior practicioners (i.e. those over 25 :) of demonstrating over time that they are keeping pace with current technologies.

Also, some people may use certificates to help with transitioning from a different career into tech (since going back to school is not an option).

My opinion: don't worry about the certificate issue and start doing a broader search for entry level tech positions.

** Also, it is hard for anyone to know WHY you didn't get an interview if we don't know exactly what your resume and cover letter contain and for what position you applied. You may just have a goofy sounding cover letter or weak resume.

Worse comes to worse, you can always do tech sales (I guarantee you can get a job there) -- man that phone boy!!!

Re:It's a buyers market right now ...

[Thu Anon Coward]

The supply of tech .... Right now it is simply a buyer's market. 1) We can demand experience. We don't have to take the time to train someone and get them up to speed. 2) We don't have to offer the salaries and benefits we did two years ago. 3) You have to be in at the beginning to reap the benefits. ...best way to secure employment is through personal contact...


I'll vouch for that. If I was hiring, I'd be looking for experience, certs be damned.

let's put it this way. if you even GET a job in the IT industry right now, you'll be damn lucky with all the bloodletting that happened last year. the best thing you can do right now is get an IT job anywhere, doing anything. if your code-fu skills are strong enough, this will appear doing your regular job duties of tech support/sys admin/dba/et cetera. You can then use those skills to leverage your way into a lead position in the department which you can then use to leverage yourself into another department where you really want to be.

besides, starting at ground zero of tech support should teach you some empathy of what techs go thru. thank god I don't do that no more.

with a wife and mortgage, I'm just happy to have a decent paying steady job working for a government IT department. that 's the kind of job you should be looking for, one that pays the bills.

certs can be helpful--but don't blow too much $!

[rjnagle]

I expect a lot of people will weigh in on certifications, and the arguments for and against are pretty widely known. Here is what I understand:

1)the vendor certifications (Microsoft, Oracle, etc) have some marketability, but the courses and related material are overpriced. So are the predictions of median incomes that certified people enjoy.

2)it is impossible for certifications to measure the ability to program, to think creatively or to solve problems. However, they do measure in a rough way one's familiarity with an application/OS's mechanisms to accomplish tasks.

3)Aside from Microsoft, Oracle and Cisco, employers have usually never heard of
the certification you have.

4) Employers are impressed about certifications when it is hard to measure competence. It is a third-party objective criteria. What impresses them is that you took the initiative, that you had to study for some test. That's different from just sitting at a seminar and passively absorbing information.

5). Despite what people say, "paper certifications" and "paper mills" are not worthless. The problem with IT institutes is that no training program can cover the variety of problems and administrative functions that one encounters on the job. On the other hand, they do a good job of exposing you to some of the basic tasks.

6)The problem with "paper certifications" (especially vendor-sponsored ones) is that to pass them you need to learn skills specific to the application or OS. That puts the onus of chasing after skills (and paying for them) entirely on the job seeker. And surely by the time you pass one certification, you'll hear about another one that is the next best thing. You need to ask yourself, "why I am spending time immersing myself in vendor-specific information when I should be learning more general things: protocols, network architecture and programming theory and algorithms.

7)Certifications do matter in my own field: technical writing and training. They indicate some familiarity with a particular domain of learning.

8)If you seek a certification, seek it only because you find the subject in and of itself to be interesting. I sought the LPI 1 certification because I needed to know these concepts anyway and the certification provided a structure and path for learning the material. Right now, I am pursuing another certification, the Master CIW Administrator
certification. I'm not sure employers will even know what this certification is, but I know that the subjects on the certifications: network security, ip6 and unix/windows interoperability are things I would be learning anyway.

9)If you do seek certification, don't spend more than $100 on study material. There are hundreds of sites and forums that provide good study guides and practice tests for free. You'll also enjoy sharing in the learning and studying experience. My favorite is Exam Notes