Tech Certifications

[Buffy]

I completed my Masters in Information Technology in September and am in the process of searching for jobs.

Due to my lack of experience in the field, I know I need to skew my resume more towards certifications to supplement my degree.

My goal is to eventually be a systems administrator for a medium sized business, as such I'm looking for input on certifications that will look good on a resume and be useful in the long term.

I know I am going to get my MCSE server. I'm also leaning towards A+ and Net+, but would like input on those and others that might be useful.

Thanks ~

[Melena]

A+ is essentially the GED/High School Diploma of tech certs. Depending on the college education, some jobs may not even care about that. Net + will be a bit more useful, but MCSE will probably be the big o ne.

[Buffy]

Yah, the A+ test is pretty straightforward, I'm pretty sure I can pass without reading anything. Net+ probably will need some effort. And MCSE will definitely require my studying since I don't get to work with server/active directory much.

Again, would be interested in hearing from anyone with suggestions or "I found this really helpful" stories when studying about said certifications.

[Yabby]

I'm sure CERTS mean something to some places, but everywhere i've worked just cared about education (To not toss your resume out the door) and experience. Mainly because there are too many braindumps that makes it easy to pass most of these test. I'm jaded sadly, mainly because everyone that has looked good on paper (education and TONS of certs) has been near retarded when we put them up against a practical test.

[ikariiiii]

On resume: Apple certifications go a long way, that's for certain! Or best buy geek squad, etc. At these tech-related jobs you can find connections to people that need big IT department work or just odd jobs, and with that you can build your customer base eventually. Your work and school experience will shine brighter with good reviews towards either a new job or just creating your own.

[DrClout]

I'm sure CERTS mean something to some places, but everywhere i've worked just cared about education (To not toss your resume out the door) and experience. Mainly because there are too many braindumps that makes it easy to pass most of these test. I'm jaded sadly, mainly because everyone that has looked good on paper (education and TONS of certs) has been near retarded when we put them up against a practical test.

This has been my problem. Outside contract work it's been tough landing a full time position. I don't have a degree but that's what these employers are looking for. I have the certs but anyone can take a dump or 8 hour class and pass the exams.

At least with my job hunting in NY, it's been more geared towards Degrees, 5+ years experience, then lastly certifications.

[Buffy]

Well I have my Masters now, I have part time experience as help desk support, and I'm going to pursue some certs. I hope to be able to find something with those three in my back pocket.

[Yabby]

Well I have my Masters now, I have part time experience as help desk support, and I'm going to pursue some certs. I hope to be able to find something with those three in my back pocket.

Like i said before, the place we tend to make the most cuts are during the practical test. Make use of virtual environments and the use of free trails to your advantage. Build networks at home from the ground up, and when looking for jobs look at the focus of what they want. Between VMware/Virtualbox, and packet tracer there is little you can't put together. I work for the government, meaning it is really hard to fire someone once they start. Because of this we have to be really sure the person we hire is the one we want/can do the job. Because of this, i'm sure our tests are a little harder than normal. Matter of fact, the last guy i hired was almost 100% because he kicked the practical test's ass. I normally put a few things in there that most people won't be able to figure out in the hour time limit we give. He nailed them all, and the only thing on his resume was Bachelors and a year of helpdesk. But he loved building networks at his home, and because of it he ran into some of the weird problems that tend to show up randomly.

[orinthia]

Find certs that are based around the things you enjoyed while going for your masters if at all possible, and then look to see if there's some common desired ones from job searches.

I know during my comp sci degree they touched a lot of different tech subjects with no big focus aside from theory/maths. There's certs for some of these subjects though, so it's a good start to look up and study the ones you found most interesting or fun during your college time. In my case, it might be something involving networking, secure programming, or databases (if I ever get off my ass...). Plus, you'll be researching more into the subjects you liked and be better in-the-know if you have to talk about stuff during interviews (if such a thing happens, lol; it might! ). I wouldn't pad with certs you know are just padding unless you see it constantly during job searches of stuff you want to get into. I feel it takes a little away from your other stuff, but some folks might not know any better and be impressed with so much paper.

[Yabby]

This has been my problem. Outside contract work it's been tough landing a full time position. I don't have a degree but that's what these employers are looking for. I have the certs but anyone can take a dump or 8 hour class and pass the exams.

At least with my job hunting in NY, it's been more geared towards Degrees, 5+ years experience, then lastly certifications.

Finding a job in NY has to be harder than most places, considering the amount of people you are going up against. That was one of the main reasons I love IT, you can do it anywhere. Different town, state, country, etc.

[Cutriss]

I completed my Masters in Information Technology in September and am in the process of searching for jobs.

I know I am going to get my MCSE server. I'm also leaning towards A+ and Net+, but would like input on those and others that might be useful.

Feel free to get A+, but don't put it on your resume. If you have a post-graduate degree and then cite an A+, you're almost calling into question the value of your degree because it's literally orders of magnitude more significant and valuable than anything CompTIA can crank out.

Don't know what your age is here but if you're seriously trying to get into a help desk position to get into the field, then get the A+, *drop* the Master's from your resume, and then start looking for a new position while you're in your phone job.

The gulf of difference in value between these two points cannot be overstated. You almost *have* to have better experience on your resume than working a help desk in order to have the drive/interest to get a post-grad degree in IT. I'm really surprised you're not leading with that.

If you really want a helpdesk position that bad, are you willing to move to Montreal?

[Buffy]

Well for purposes of help desk, I'm not sure what else you would call it really. I don't answer the phone at all, we use a ticket system and all my time is spent exclusively in the field (the IT job is only part-time cause my company is small and has a full-time Director of IT). So he will say, do tickets #4456, #4459, #4462, and #4463 today and let me know when you are done.

That might be install a printer-copier/replace a power supply/upgrade a computer from xp to windows 7/figure out why this computer won't connect to the company Intranet.

I'm not sure what else to call that other than help desk honestly.

[Yabby]

That's help desk.

[bluefan]

Think about CCNA over A+ and Net+ to compliment the MCSE and Masters.

[Buffy]

CCNA is Cisco switches and routers, etc. Right?

[Yabby]

Correct. It is one of the CERTs that really does mean something considering how the test is done.

[Kalmado]

I just learned about CompTIA+ and am wondering if it would be worth getting just to get a job in the field while going to college? I have a ways to go before I get my associates in programming and am just starting to take pc classes. If it would get my foot in the door anywhere instead of working a shop job or some other crappy job while going to school I think it would be worth it? Any suggestions?

[Buffy]

It's absolutely worth it to get a part time job doing anything IT related. Even if it doesn't exactly pertain to your course of study, it helps to build an underlying structure of your understanding of IT. The things I've learned about printers and copiers, group policy, remote support, updates even though I've only been doing IT 1 day a week for the last three years is impossible to overstate. I can't tell you how, but it will absolutely be information or skills you use at some point.

Even if all you do is get a job pulling cable and crimping connectors, it'll be relevant some day. You just don't know how yet. For me, many of my classes made immensely more sense because of the work I was doing. My database class completely changed my understanding of Excel and what it is capable of. Creating a worksheet with Pivot tables gave me a real life example of how relational databases work.

You don't know how it will matter, but it will matter, I guarantee it 100%. Get the crappy IT job over the crappy shop job.

[Oreth]

Anything in Big Data (Hadoop) or Security would be a big benefit right now. MCSE is great but a good bit involved having to pass multiple tests. It kind of depends what you want to do. Definitely do the MCSE if you want to go into an administration role or if you want to lean towards IT management at some point. If you want to get into an enterprise technology provider (Dell, HP, EMC etc) or a partner as a specialist then i would suggest any good certs that lean towards Virtualization specially SDN (Software Defined Networking) and as mentioned Big Data / Cloud / Security stuff as it would put you ahead of others imo.

[DrClout]

Actually doing my CCNA tomorrow morning. The basic Q&A I'm not worried about but the interactive labs are still freaking me out.