Ask Slashdot: Are Any Certifications Worth Going For?

An anonymous reader writes: I am an IT professional in my 30s and have had some form if IT employment for the last 15 years. I've worked my way from technical support to IS manager, but my career seems to have stalled. I have a fancy 4-year degree in Information Systems (I was never much of a programmer) from an actual college, and a good deal of real-world experience combined with reading the odd technical book here and there to keep abreast of what's going on in the world of tech, but what I don't have is any certifications. None.

When I was a poor student fresh from college, I decided that certifications were a waste of money, since the jobs I was applying for at the time didn't care about them, and the tests were several hundred dollars each. Now, it seems most jobs I see listed want some certifications, and I suspect HR systems are weeding out resumes that don't have the correct alchemical formula of certifications.

So my question is: are any certifications now worth it? If so, where do I start? I will probably stick to the track I'm on (I'm better at managing than developing). Going to classes might be an option, but I'd prefer to be able to self-study if possible to work around being on-call constantly (and, to be blunt, classes are expensive). I don't want to stump up for a class only to find out I don't actually like the class or the material or the certification isn't actually what I thought it was.

Comments

Please don't get an MBA

[Matt_Bennett]

An MBA is a vehicle to convince other people that have MBAs that you believe that an MBA is necessary to work with other people that have MBAs that share in the misguided notion that having an MBA qualifies you to manage a business. Really, it is a ticket into a network of folks that believe that shortcuts and not actual work create a business.

Most certifications are like MBAs- except that they are shortcuts for HR resume screens, who use them as an easy filter and to avoid accountability that the people that they let through are qualified... "these applicants are CERTIFIED!" ... If you have the experience and you know someone, you will get the job, if not, you're in the pool of "everyone else" that has a certification. The most important factor in getting a job is networking.

Re:There is a reason for this!

[Billly Gates]

Understanding netmasks and broadcast addresses is worthy of a certification? Really? Are there really people who work in IT who don't understand the basic concepts of networking? Isn't this taught in the first year of college? I mean we're not in 1980 anymore!

Yes, Yes, Yes, Maybe - but the first year of college is about booze and women - P's get Degrees!

It is worth certification because it is such a fundamental component of the job of an IT person now that the Internet is ubiquitous, and because such a horrifying number of IT people don't have any understanding of switching, routing and subnetting is.

There is a reason CCNA qualifications are so widely sought - it teaches the fundamentals of networking that every IT professional should know.

The CCNA in its current iteration is ridiculous. It is the hardest now of all the tests and requires 5 months and buying your own switches and routers as the training material and simulators do not cover everything. It is says associate but it is like requiring a WAn engineer to take the MCSE so he can troubleshoot login issues. Yes I know the tests progress supposedly but the CCNA you need to know not just subnetting, but span trees, tons and tons of theory, CIDS, and a dozen other topologies and requires like 1500 page books to master the material.

I would think more entry level certifications would be better for a non network engineer to take. If you can pass the CCNA you can setup a network of any size with ease. Not just tell me what a subnet mask is which is the intention of taking it.

Re:Certs are for grunts

[mwvdlee]

Steve Jobs and Bill Gates are business men that just happened to make their fortune in IT. Ofcourse they're not going to need IT certification.

99% of us are grunts, including you and me.
Very few of us have that unique combination of sufficient skill and lots of luck to have a positive reputation that preceeds us.
Pretty much all us grunts are hired going through an HR department grunt.
The HR grunt doesn't know anything about IT, but he knows certifications.
Certifications have value not because they represent any qualifications, but because HR grunts aren't going to be fired if they select employees based on certifications.