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The IT Certs That No Longer Pay Extra

snydeq writes "Overall employment in tech is improving, but the certs you could once count on for a job or extra pay are losing their value, InfoWorld reports. 'Businesses no longer value what are increasingly considered standard skills, and instead are putting their money both into a new set of emerging specialties and into hybrid technology/business roles.'"

9 of 267 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Good, Because Certs Are Worthless by betterunixthanunix · · Score: 3, Informative

    Both require hands-on lab demonstrations of skill. (Is RedHat doing that now, too?)

    Back when I got my RHCT they certainly required it, and I cannot imagine that they stopped.

    --
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  2. Re:Good, Because Certs Are Worthless by StuartHankins · · Score: 5, Informative

    Red Hat exams involve configuring, testing and repairing live systems.

    http://www.redhat.com/training/certifications/rhce/
    http://www.redhat.com/training/certifications/expertise/

  3. Re:Hybrid Programmer-BusinessAnalyst Roles by c0lo · · Score: 5, Informative

    Just like how business graduates leveraged fast talking with dick wagging! And look at those guys.
    They get million dollar bonuses while the companies they pilot crashland into the ground and investors feel the synergy of being gang-raped and immolated.

    FTFY

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  4. Re:Good, Because Certs Are Worthless by afidel · · Score: 4, Informative

    Another good one is VMWare's VCDE, it requires a written proposal and an in-person defense.

    I'm like you, most certs hold little value, show me what you've done and what you learned from it, that's the only thing that really matters. I kind of feel bad for freshly minted grads that went to a school without a coop program, they've paid all that money but are all but worthless unless a company is willing to invest at least a year in training them which costs about double their salary when you consider benefits plus the time of the people doing the training.

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  5. Re:Good, Because Certs Are Worthless by txsable · · Score: 5, Informative

    Correct, the RHCT/RHCSA and RHCE certs do require a hands-on lab exam. I've done both of those--actually, all three since the RHEL5 to RHEL6 update happened between when I got my RHCT and RHCE, I had to take the RHCSA for RHEL6 before I could take the RHCE.

    (wow, I don't usually type that many initialisms in one sentence...)

  6. Re:Dev Certs are Not Worthwhile by L4t3r4lu5 · · Score: 4, Informative

    This is great if you're the person doing short-listingof candidates. If you have an HR dept staffed by monkeys in suits, they're checking boxes. "Doesn't have $Qualification1? Bin it. Has $Qualification2 but not $Qualification1? Bin it. Never mind that in the "Further information" section the candidate has listed 15+ years doing exactly the things listed in the job description, citing specific examples and demonstrating significant in-depth knowledge of the subjects. HR "doesn't do computers."

    I've got over a decade in IT, but no certs. The only jobs I've gotten so far have been through friends, because they know I can do the job; They've spoken to me, I've helped them out. Now all I need to do is convince HR of the fact, and to do that I need a shitty cert which means precisely dick all to the guy actually interviewing you.

    I hate it.

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  7. Re:RHCE requires a hard hands on lab. Only 5% pass by philipmather · · Score: 4, Informative

    Seonded, and it still is the case in 2011. I'd done the RHCT on RHEL 5 under my own steam and my company paid for me and a handful of others to do the RHCSA/RHCE on RHCE 6. I would have done the same course as you and sat both exams on the Friday, RHCSA in the morning and RHCE in the afternoon. I passed both and at least 4 of my collegues did as well (although one used to work for Redhat as a trainer so it was a bit of a given), however we have several perfectly/very good sysadmins who failed.
    It's not a gimme and requires actual hands-on expiriece, the course is crammed with around an average of 40-60 pages of material a day.

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    Regards, Phil
  8. Re:Easily answered by YttriumOxide · · Score: 4, Informative

    Most major tech centers (India, UK, Germany, and many other European countries) have visa requirements that are at least as strict as the US.

    I'm a non-German citizen living and working in Germany for the last five years. To move over here, I just needed a letter from the company saying they wanted to hire me. I took that to the German embassy where I was living (Australia) who provided me with a work visa. Once that ran out, I just turned up at the appropriate govt dept, gave them evidence I am still working and they renewed it. No fuss, no big questions, all very easy and straightforward.

    Right now, our company is going through the same procedure to hire a friend of mine from back in Australia and bring him over here. Doesn't seem to be any more difficult for him now than it was for me then.

    From what I've heard about the US, it's significantly more difficult and complex (although I don't have any first hand experience); so I'm not really sure I'd agree with your statement.

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  9. Re:RHCE requires a hard hands on lab. Only 5% pass by slaughts · · Score: 5, Informative

    I couldn't agree more. I used to think that the RHCE was a joke, and anyone could get one, but after taking the exam last year, I definitely respect anyone that passes it. I've been using Linux for 15+ years, and I found it very challenging. I struggled with a few of the things I don't do on a day-to-day basis, but having years of experience I was able to work through them.