What Certifications are Valuable in Today's IT?

ganjadude asks: "I am a twenty-something who took the CCNA classes back in 2001. College at the time was not an option, so I am mainly self-taught in the field. I was wondering if there were others on Slashdot who took this route, and what certifications they have found will best further their careers. Does college matter in the security field anymore, or are certifications the way to go?" What certifications would you recommend as the most pertinent in today's IT market?

Comments

A Few to Note

[eldavojohn]

I'm going to list off the only ones I have heard my employer mentioning:

• Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP)
• Oracle Certification Program
• Sun's Java Certification Levels

A few things I can tell you to steer clear of is Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer or Microsoft Office Power User. In my workplace, all I hear is people making fun of those certifications over and over and over again. I don't know if they are jokes but from what I hear, it's a stupid idea to pay for them.

I think in order to get good answers from people, you need to break down what division IT is. I know the CISSP is very important to my employer due to a lot of our apps requiring major security. If you're a glorified secretary making powerpoints with click-actions then maybe "Microsoft Office Power User" is right down your alley? What job are you looking for? IT is a HUGE and now diverse term. It could mean everything from networks to programming to simply moving hardware.

College at the time was not an option...

That's a shame, with a name like 'ganjadude' I think you would have enjoyed college quite a bit.

Re:A Few to Note

[MyLongNickName]

I hold the Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer. When I went job searching, I had so many folks calling me that I stopped returning calls.

Having said that, the credentials open up a lot of doors to interviews. However, once you get the interviews, you still have to prove the work experience and knowledge. The only places that accept credentials without verifying knowledge are companies I do not want to work for.

Bottom line: Certifications help you to rise to the top in the first cut. Work experience, personal skills get you through the second cut. In depth knowldge gets you the job. Business skills get you the promotions.

Ignore the certs if you want, but you'll have a harder time getting the interviews.

Re:A Few to Note

[zoomshorts]

I WORKED in several shops where the 'managers' thought certifications
were the best thing in the world. Sadly, most of the people thet hired
with 'Certifications - you name the cert' were simply test takers.

We replaced EVERY one of those people within 2 months of their employment.
WE ended up doing the work THEY were supposed to be able to handle.

They can line their bird cages with certs.

Re:A Few to Note

[ahmusch]

Certs are important to your bosses, because they're able to bill higher rates depending on the alphabet soup on your resume.

Such billing differentials may or may not roll down to your salary.

They're only important to you as a CONsultant because you're less likely to have to burn bench time if you've got more certs, because you can be placed in different roles on different projects.

Yes, college still matters

[Ankh]

A good university degree should help you to learn and reason, and will teach you stuff you don't want to learn but that will later turn out to be useful.

In some jobs, especially in larger companies, there's a ceiling, you can't be promoted above a certainl level without a degree.

And yes, if you want to be a consultant, the contacts and the prestige of being associated with a well-known university are worth an awful lot, like it or not.

In computer security you need to stay ahead. Certifications use a course curriculum which was set maybe a year, two years, even three or more years ago and updated; with a certification you'll always be behind the curve, ever so slightly. You need to learn how to be on top of reasearch, be comfortable reading research reports and know how to follow and understand citations. So there's a whole cultural thing that you may need to be part of.

Yes, all if this is vague and hazy, and all of it is long term. By the time there's a concrete need for it, by the time you lose out on a contract or are passed over for promotion, and realize you needed a degree, you won't have one :-)

MCSE + A+

[Billly Gates]

= 7.50/hr job at Staples and moving back in with my parents. This was back in 2001 when the .com crashed and I had to compete with everyone with years and years of experience who were laid off.

Also I had no job experience in IT at the time and didn't go to college. I figured the certifications would be a way to enter the field yet I was wrong.

I am older now with some college as I continue to go back to school and the labor market is improving. With minimal certifications you can work at geeksquad or some help desk position for as much as $14/hr today to start out. I now repair computers but this came after a few years of taking bad jobs and getting my associates. But get your degree if you want to go anywhere. Colleges today have a record number of students in them compared to the past. Employers are taking note and requiring degrees for everything. The babyboomer generation only had %24 of those with 4 year degrees. Today generation Y has %70+ attending college!

Re:MCSE + A+

[SoulRider]

Yes but the number attending does not even come close to the number actually getting degrees. Back in the 60's I would say that the number of baby boomers in college was pretty close to what it is today. If "generation Y"? actually gets a 70% degree rate then bachelors degrees will become worthless and you will need a masters (already moving in that direction). It doesnt matter if you have a phd with a 4.0 gpa, if you cant do the work you are unemployable. My guess is the vp that threw away the resume because the applicant didnt have a college degree is probably worthless as an employee (probably the CEOs brother-in-law or something).

I dont have a college degree, no certifications and I have managed to keep a job in the IT industry for over 25 years, by the way I work for one of the largest outsourcers there is. How? network (who you know gets you a job), learn (what you know keeps that job), adapt (do the job that needs to be done, not the job you want to do), expect nothing but give everything (expectations only lead to disapointment, you work they pay you, you are even on that account, a little unpaid overtime at crunch time goes an extremely long way). In the end an employer will value you as an employee if you add value to that company. And unfortunately adding value usually entails doing the mundane, boring and unglamorous work that, that company has to offer.

Atleast in my situation

[otacon]

Personally I never had a desire to go to college. I started working at an ISP when I was 15 due to my desire to learn, not to mention Linux experience. I've had my share of crappy IT jobs working at a repair shop, or what have you. However all of that served as a good learning experience. I am 22 and currently hold a CCNA and MCP (I only did MCP because my ex-employer had an MCSE and I bet him I could pass an MCP without studying, and I won) I currently work in an environment where everyone else has a bachelor's or better. I'm a Network Engineer, dealing in a large enterprise Cisco network, I make about 25/hour when you break it all down without ever setting foot in a college. I'm not saying a degree is not the way to go, but it's not the only way to go.

People Skills Cert.

[PaulMorel]

Most of these posts are utter nonsense. If you have a college degree, even if it's not in the branch of technology that you're applying for, and even if you didn't go to the best college, it doesn't matter what certifications you have. The only thing that matters is WHO you know.

If you have been friendly to recruiters, to professors, and to peers/colleagues, then one of them will suggest you for a job, and you will get it, no matter how unqualified you are. I speak from experience. Why?

Because a smart person can be trained to do anything, but a jerk will always be a jerk (for the most part). If an employer can find out that you aren't a jerk ahead of time, then you're gravy.

I worked as musician when I came out of a good college with my CS degree. I finally broke into CS because the guy I was interviewing with happened to have been a poker buddy of my father's ... 15 years ago. Major coincidence, but since my father had a good rep, he thought that I would be ok too. In less than 2 years following that, my salary went up by $15k.

So, quit worrying about your certification, nerds. Worry about your people skills.

A lot of employers...

[bwcbwc]

...seem to prefer certification of residency in India or China. And they're willing to pay accordingly.