Do you put certs in your signature?

D

DragonNOA1

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Aug 15, 2004
Messages
4,301
Just curious if you do and what you think about putting your certifications after your name in your company emails (or anywhere else for that matter; checks, etc). Do you do it? Do you like it?

Example:

Thanks for putting in the new blade servers and for leaving me some cookies.

Sincerely,
Ben, MCSE
 
As long as the person can back it up and did not just memorize the test then why not. I add them in my sig in my company emails like


Name
Certs
Company
Add
State etc
 
Not sure if your talking about in emails, forum posts or all of the above but I too think it's particularly cheesy. Same thing with puttin your PC specs in there. Both are very irritating and a bit pathetic.
 
I think it's cheesy myself. We had one Systems Admin. at work that would put his certs and the fact that he had a masters of divinity on his emails. I guess he had the ability to ask the lord for help when Groupwise went down... (and boy did he need extra help let me tell you). Anyhow no - I don't think it is cool. Also - stop wearing those MCSE shirts you bought from the Microsoft store... those are cheesy too... :p
 
I think it's a bit like bragging if you put it in signatures (emails and forums), but in a corporate environment, if other colleagues did it, then I might too. Otherwise, just leave it out.
 
versello said:
I think it's a bit like bragging if you put it in signatures (emails and forums), but in a corporate environment, if other colleagues did it, then I might too. Otherwise, just leave it out.
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Even in the corperate enviroment the people that I respected for their knowledge and skills I never saw doing it. Had a couple of contractors and project managers doing it, but that was about it.

For anyone suggesting that they do (or would) put them in, is there an explanation of why you do (or would)? Is there a perceived benefit?
 
In Outlook I have two signatures that I pick from; one with my certs for first-time communications with people who know what a CCNA or MCSE is, and one without certs for everyone else. If you don't know someone, then having an idea of what clue-level they likely have (based on certs they have) is nice.

I used to work with this total ass-hat who's sig (that he used all the time) looked like this:

Mr. Shawn P. Enis
MCSE, MCDBA, MCSA, MCP, A+, RE.TA.RD
Network Admin
Some company name
 
Malk-a-mite said:
Even in the corperate enviroment the people that I respected for their knowledge and skills I never saw doing it. Had a couple of contractors and project managers doing it, but that was about it.

For anyone suggesting that they do (or would) put them in, is there an explanation of why you do (or would)? Is there a perceived benefit?
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I think it's that same feeling that you get when you graduated high school, sure, everybody seems to do it, but it's the fact that YOU did it that makes you brag about it. :p
 
YeOldeStonecat said:
No, I think it's cheesy...self promoting "Look at me" stuff.
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Ditto. IMO certs go on resumes, that's about it. Although I do add them to my title whenever I write documentation (such as subnetting guides, how-to's, etc). It helps sell the authenticity of the material for those that just need to see credentials in order to believe its credibility.
 
A large part of maturity is knowing when to assert your certs:p, and when not to.
 
Taje said:
As long as the person can back it up and did not just memorize the test then why not.
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Idiot.



I put only one in my email signature because I am very proud of it and rightfully should be. I have never met a CCIE that doesnt.
 
^ I agree on both. CCIE is the only thing that I would possibly put in my company emails.
 
My company's policy is do not use any further infomration other then something like this

Joe Schmo
System Information Analyst Jr. , Sr. etc.
Phone: Ext:



KM
 
I've got to agree with Mr. Shawn P. Enis here.


I use my cert in my sig for first-time communications, just to give them a heads up that I'm not an idiot. After that, I figure they know that I know what I'm doing, and

"-Chris"

Usually suffices for my signature.

Oh. And I also use my formal signature when I'm pissed off. It seems to add a little more emphasis to your anger when you go from communicating with someone using just your first name, to your full name, cert, phone number, title, etc etc. Thats just something I've noticed from personal observation. Seems to work best with sales people.

My employer also requires that we use our formal signatures (certs included) on initial-contact email, and that we have them on our business cards.

I know guys who throw in A+, Net+, MCP+I, and whatever else in there on every single fricking piece of electronic anything that they touch. I'm just like...dude, when you're communicating with engineers who are veterans, they're gonna laugh at you if you tout an A+ like it's something SUPER SPECIAL.
 
Malk-a-mite said:
Even in the corperate enviroment the people that I respected for their knowledge and skills I never saw doing it. Had a couple of contractors and project managers doing it, but that was about it.

For anyone suggesting that they do (or would) put them in, is there an explanation of why you do (or would)? Is there a perceived benefit?
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I do it for clients that want the security blanket of having someone who has a piece of paper saying what they are certified for rather than someone who is not.
 
millhouse said:
Idiot.



I put only one in my email signature because I am very proud of it and rightfully should be. I have never met a CCIE that doesnt.
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Explain your reason for calling me an idiot nut stain.
 
I don't. I think it makes people look like they're trying too hard. Besides, I only have 2, so my list would look kind of sad.
 
YeOldeStonecat said:
No, I think it's cheesy...self promoting "Look at me" stuff.
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I agree.the only people I ever see doing that are the ones that aren't comfortable with who they are as individuals and feel the need to boost their self image.
 
Taje said:
Explain your reason for calling me an idiot nut stain.
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Putting this kind of informatin in your email sig has nothing to do with whether or not you are a "paper cert" or you know what you are doing. Neither situation makes it right or wrong. Why dont you hop off the homo bandwagon you got on and quit being a fool.
 
millhouse said:
Putting this kind of informatin in your email sig has nothing to do with whether or not you are a "paper cert" or you know what you are doing. Neither situation makes it right or wrong. Why dont you hop off the homo bandwagon you got on and quit being a fool.
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That is your opinion and grow up.
 
I have several highly sought after certs, not the CCIE, but some very good ones. I do not put them in my sig unless I have been "cert sigged" first. I work in Infrastructure design, architecture and development, so I do run in to the occassional "superstar" from another company whom I must directly work with. If that person "cert sigs" me, I return the favor. I figure I have been in IT long enough (10 years) that I don't need to put my certs in my signature, I can "show" my knowledge during initial design and infrastructure analysis when working on a project.

Treyshadow
Atos Origin
MCSE, MCT, CCNA, CCNP, CCISP, CCEA, RHCE, PMP and a few other acronyms...
 
If certs belong in signatures where would degrees go? I mean a certification isnt even equivalent to an associates nevermind a BS or MS. not to sound arrogant but what is a certifaction really? cant u get MCSE certified online?
 
RHollister said:
If certs belong in signatures where would degrees go? I mean a certification isnt even equivalent to an associates nevermind a BS or MS. not to sound arrogant but what is a certifaction really? cant u get MCSE certified online?
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This brings up a good point. A fine time for using certs is situations where you're expected to include degrees in your title. IMO examples of such times are official office email and perhaps job hunting.
 
RHollister said:
I mean a certification isnt even equivalent to an associates nevermind a BS or MS. not to sound arrogant but what is a certifaction really? cant u get MCSE certified online?
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Go try and get a CCIE, or even a CCNP, and then tell me it isn't much more work and studying than an Associates degree.
 
maybe an associates degree is an overstatement i cant argue cause i have never went for an associates but i would have to say that 2 years of formal school is more work than reading a 900 page book. either way my point is, there are people on this site with much more education than a certification in networking and they dont list their degrees so i dont see a reason to list certs. not flaming just pointing out the facts
 
RHollister said:
but i would have to say that 2 years of formal school is more work than reading a 900 page book.
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:rolleyes:

I'm in my fifth (and last) year of school, and I've been in the industry 3 1/2 years. I can tell you that I've learned about 5x as much from actually working than I have learned going to class. A lot of what I've learned, I think, is going to help me tremendously in passing exams like the CCIE and CISSP. I think it's pretty hard to pass the former by just reading a 900 page book, and while you might be able to do that with the latter, the governing body of that certification still requires you to have 3-4 years of verifiable working experience (and they audit). So let's give credit where credit is due. Sure, there are certs out there where all you have to do is read a book to pass it, but there are also certs out there that require a tremendous amount of work to get. Some people might even consider some of the very high-level certs to be the equivalent of a Master's in a certain specialization. I've heard that the SANS GIAC GSE makes a dissertation seem like a cake walk.
 
CCIE includes a practical exam. If you don’t know what you are doing in real life situations you don’t get it. I have seen people with bachelor’s degrees that don’t know as much as a CCIE in their given areas of knowledge.

Not that I would think a CCNA is worth a associates, but somebody with a CCNA might know more about networking or at least Cisco gear than someone with an associates.

2 different things.
 
I personally wouldn't add my degree to my signature, and I can't add my certs since they all expired (oops :)). But I don't work in what I consider "pure IT" (networking, system admin, customer support, etc...), and it's pretty much assumed that everyone has at least a 4 year degree in something like CS or CprE. If you're working in an area where it's not always known what sort of expertise a person has, than I could possibly see the value of including certs in a signature. Even then I would use it very rarely, like maybe when dealing with a new customer that seems like the type who would feel more comfortable if they knew what certs you had.

The only other time I could see you signing your expertise is if you have a PhD. Sometimes it's nice to know what a person is a doctor of:

Dr. Joe Schome
Information Security and Network Intrusion Prevention

Or something, but even that seems a little cheesy. Good for bragging to old friends from HS who never did anything with themselves. :)
 
Boscoh said:
:rolleyes:

I'm in my fifth (and last) year of school, and I've been in the industry 3 1/2 years. I can tell you that I've learned about 5x as much from actually working than I have learned going to class. A lot of what I've learned, I think, is going to help me tremendously in passing exams like the CCIE and CISSP. I think it's pretty hard to pass the former by just reading a 900 page book, and while you might be able to do that with the latter, the governing body of that certification still requires you to have 3-4 years of verifiable working experience (and they audit). So let's give credit where credit is due. Sure, there are certs out there where all you have to do is read a book to pass it, but there are also certs out there that require a tremendous amount of work to get. Some people might even consider some of the very high-level certs to be the equivalent of a Master's in a certain specialization. I've heard that the SANS GIAC GSE makes a dissertation seem like a cake walk.
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QTF.

I've had two years practical experience working directly under CCIE's on various projects, got my CCNA and I'm currently enrolled in school getting my MIS degree...and I can say for sure actually knowing/understanding/being able to apply CCNP/CCIE level knowledge is as hard as if not HARDER than my MIS studies.

CCIE I know puts his CCIE cert in his sig, he's a westpoint grad and considers it just another school. CCIE is the real deal.
 
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