Must-Have Certs?

[ElectroPulse]

Hello, all!

Unfortunately there is no "General Computers" or some other general forum that this can go in... If there is a more appropriate forum, please move it there. I decided to put it here since at this point I am interested in networking (my interests in computers change monthly or more often).

Anyway, I am wondering what some recommendations are for must-have sort of general certifications that would assist in getting an IT-related job?

I've been working in IT for coming up on 4 years now (only full-time this last year), and am looking into the possibility of just taking some classes/getting certs rather than going for the 4-year degree... I can't stand being in the classroom (at least for completely irrelevant classes), and love learning as I go. I have only finished my freshman year of college during the 2012-2013 school year (in which I only took two programming classes, and no other applicable courses), so the majority of my computer knowledge is either self-learned or learned from on-the-job training.

I took an A+ practice test, and a Network+ practice test, and those are pretty easy. Just judging by those, I believe I could walk into an A+ test and pass, and MAYBE do the same for Network+. So, my plan is once I get back home and have some more time this summer, get some prep books and look them over for a few days, try some more practice tests, and take the real deal.

What are your thoughts on those two certs for displaying general computer knowledge? And what other certs would you recommend? I still haven't settled on what I want to do in computers yet (may just take some different classes at the community college as sort of a sampler), so unfortunately cannot ask for must-have degrees in a specific area.

Thanks!
ElectroPulse

 

[cyr0n_k0r]

Search. Certs vs College vs Experience has been done to death in this forum.
While your question is not specific as to which of the 3 is better, it doesn't matter. People are going to chime in here with their 2 cents and say X is better than Y.

To answer your question: It depends.
What do you want to do? In the same vain as there is not a "general computers" section, it's because people don't specialize in "general computers". They specialize in networking, or mobile, or servers, or linux, or programming.

Which do you want/like to do?

 

[RESTfulADI]

There are no must have certs. It's about what you know and what you can do, certs merely affirm that.

 

[Liger88]

Search. Certs vs College vs Experience has been done to death in this forum.

This. Here would be a good place to start as these topics will almost always turn into multiple page threads with varying views.

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1806707

There is no right answer in a nutshell. A certification should mean more to you as an accomplishment, the same way a degree should, than to any employer or someone from the outside looking in. Always take them with a grain of salt. People appreciate someone who's shown they can put the work in education wise, but they also like to see it physically (experience). The economy and the organizations needs will always cause this scale to lean one way or the other.

 

[shade91]

Certs if you want to work for GeekSquad or some computer repair shop: A+, Network+

Certs if you want to be taken seriously: CCNA, CCNP, CCIE (and its variants), VCP (and its variants), chuck in a few storage vendor certs and you're looking at a high level engineering position. Maybe Microsoft certs though I've never been impressed by them.

Certs for IT management: ITIL, CISSP, PMP

I don't know why CISSP is held in such high regard. I've taken the courses associated with it and it is easy bullshit and still doesn't teach you half of true security. For anybody in IT management, get ITIL Foundations. It teaches you a level of IT management that is so hugely invaluable. The test is also ridiculously easy. You just need 65% to pass (26/40). PMP is a different ballgame though I attained mine as I spent a long number of years in project management.

 

[Dogs]

Anyway, I am wondering what some recommendations are for must-have sort of general certifications that would assist in getting an IT-related job?

Skip all of them. Go to school, get a part-time job at the school's help desk, get an internship, get a co-op.

Experience trumps all, and the only people who are going to hire you when you don't have experience are school help desks and companies looking for interns.

 

[MysticRyuujin]

Simply having a job for 30 years doesn't make you an expert or good. I've worked with plenty of people who have had the same tech support job for 10+ years and they knew about as much as I did at 18 without ever having worked in IT. Because they never left their comfort zone and worked on the same things day in and day out. That's why the technical interview is important.

CISSP and ITIL are big because the government wants them...it's a requirement for specific jobs. Make any cert a requirement for a government job and it'll gain popularity haha

Either way I pretty agree with what people are saying here, there are fields in IT and you should find one you like. "General IT" (to me) is like helpdesk and service tech jobs and you wont make a lot doing that...

 

[Dogs]

Simply having a job for 30 years doesn't make you an expert or good.

This is true, but I think being in the same position for 30 years in and of itself is indicative that there's a problem. Either the individual is not at all ambitious, or they're not capable. Someone who's been working for 30 years with the right amount of dedication and skill should either be in some kind of a director or VP role, or they should be in a very advanced technical role (maybe leading the high level design of a product or solution, certainly responsible for mentoring younger talent and helping guide the future of platform/product/solution it is you're responsible for, possibly defining standards and best practices, selecting which technologies should be used for which projects, etc.). Someone who has spent the last 10 years (let alone the last 30) configuring switches, adding DHCP reservations by hand and managing group memberships by hand is the LAST person I want to hire. These are the kind of people who go stale and can't work with newer practices and technologies (like virtualization), these are the kind of people who resist all changes (cultural, organizational, operational, et al.), and these are the kinds of people who blame the job market, outsourcing and greedy organizations (basically everything but themselves) when they get squeezed out and replaced by 80 lines of Groovy and a 28-year old.

CISSP and ITIL are big because the government wants them...it's a requirement for specific jobs. Make any cert a requirement for a government job and it'll gain popularity haha

...and I'll never understand why. At least in the US, I can't see why anybody would ever want a government job. They pay less than the private sector, mobility within the organization is non-existent, promotions and raises are based on seniority and you're surrounded by too many people who are worse than useless. Plus they're always trying to cut benefits and salaries every time there's a budget problem. The only time I've ever worried about losing benefits, my position or my pay was working in the public sector. And the maddening amount of waste, misappropriation of funds, complete lack of regard for quality and productivity, mismanagement of projects, etc. are just too much to deal with. Maybe I'm an outlier, but I can't show up and collect my paychecks in good conscience if I'm not actively making my employer more effective and more efficient.

 

[MysticRyuujin]

Actually it's a requirement to work as a contractor for the government too (private sector job on contract). Certain positions have requirements. Those certainly pay well and come with plenty of benefits.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Depends on the company you want to work at. Some have different requirements than others.

 

[mwarps]

You can skip school, but it will put you 4-6 years behind people who go to school.

Certs mean you can get certs. They're meaningless without experience and training.

I know guys with degrees and CCNA and CCIE who crumble when they actually have to configure hardware or fight a DDoS.

 

[XOR != OR]

In our rush to emphasize school and experience, let's not forget the important role certs DO play: getting the resume past HR and many "technical" managers.

It's a necessary evil for our field.

 

[Ur_Mom]

Certs mean you can get certs. They're meaningless without experience and training.

I know guys with degrees and CCNA and CCIE who crumble when they actually have to configure hardware or fight a DDoS.

Exactly. I get certs to prove that I know my stuff from studying and experience. All my certs have relevant experience behind them (except Project+, which I hated studying for). I use them to back up the experience.

You can pass a lot of cert exams by reading a book or brain dumps (highly NOT recommended - other people will see through the BS - see the second part of the quote above!). You can pass the test, but you really won't know the material. Learn the material, learn the technology, then take the exam.

Entry level - A+/Net+. Anything past 2 years experience, they are pretty much worthless.
After that, if you want to go into networking, the CCNA or Juniper routes are good.
For software, Microsoft is good. Or if you are into Linux, the Linux+ (which gets you the LPI cert, too, IIRC) exam.

 

[cyr0n_k0r]

Skip all of them. Go to school, get a part-time job at the school's help desk, get an internship, get a co-op.
Experience trumps all

You can skip school, but it will put you 4-6 years behind people who go to school.
Certs mean you can get certs. They're meaningless without experience and training.

In our rush to emphasize school and experience, let's not forget the important role certs DO play

Exactly. I get certs to prove that I know my stuff from studying and experience. All my certs have relevant experience behind them (except Project+, which I hated studying for). I use them to back up the experience.

Told you OP.

 

[Tee]

School = Lots of debt for no real education
Skipping school = I did! This is a bad way to go if you do not know the right people or you do not have some sort of job lined up where the company will invest in you
Certs = If you can read, you can pass

Anything can put you back 4 to 6 years like a panda attack on your face. Lots of things in life are stupid luck as long as you are knowledgeable, work hard, and have a willingness to learn.

 

[Ur_Mom]

Anything can put you back 4 to 6 years like a panda attack on your face. Lots of things in life are stupid luck as long as you are knowledgeable, work hard, and have a willingness to learn.

And a passion for what you do. If you love what you do, it will show. You'll go out of your way to learn a new technology. You'll set up a home lab to 'play' with things. You'll learn things that might not directly relate to your current job. And, it won't be work - it will be fun. That's what separates the guys in IT that spend 10 years at a job in the same position being miserable and the guy that moves up in 5 years and still comes to work with a smile and gets excited when big boxes show up.

When I see successful people in the IT field, they aren't burnt out. They aren't bored. They are constantly talking about what's new and exciting. They are excited about the technology. Those that are burnt out usually are unhappy, work their job, get a paycheck...

Passion. If you have it, you'll learn what you need to and then go above and beyond. You'll find new approaches to problems. And if you can get past HR and get an interview in front of the IT manager, you can get a job. Getting past HR is difficult these days. That's where the paper comes in - degree, certs, etc..

 

[mwarps]

Anything can put you back 4 to 6 years like a panda attack on your face. Lots of things in life are stupid luck as long as you are knowledgeable, work hard, and have a willingness to learn.

I mentioned that time frame because one of the smartest guys I know (smarter than, and certainly harder-working than the guys with degrees) wasn't able to get the money or jobs he deserved until he had that much experience doing heavy duty shit. Kids out of college (well, real colleges) get money and respect due to pedigree. It's not fair.. but that's the way it is. People should be cautious to poo-poo getting a real education.

Ur_mom got it right in the next post.. Getting past HR is a bitch when you don't have the paper and the paper is a requirement to walk in the door.

 

[shade91]

In our rush to emphasize school and experience, let's not forget the important role certs DO play: getting the resume past HR and many "technical" managers.

It's a necessary evil for our field.

It usually befalls this method in public corporation IT:

Degree? Check.
Certs? Check.
Experience? Check.

Are you a contender and this is a high paying management position? Then it goes to:
Advanced Degree? Check.

It also highly depends on the organization. Some HR departments are guided by the hiring manager to only pass on resumes that meet the degree + certs + experience criteria. They're directed to shred anything else.

 

[Nate7311]

And that's the "safe" path. Much like the "no one every got fired for buying Microsoft/EMC/IBM" mentality. Not necessarily the best option, but often a safe one.

 

[Dogs]

Kids out of college (well, real colleges) get money and respect due to pedigree. It's not fair.. but that's the way it is. People should be cautious to poo-poo getting a real education.

I think it's plenty fair. People love to talk about how useless a degree is, but the only people I ever hear say that either didn't get one or didn't get a difficult one. If you actually sit down and try to learn instead of complaining about how you're never going to do any of the things they're trying to teach you at your job, getting an education will make you a smarter, better person. People who go to school and are open minded enough to learn instead of complain can have intelligent conversations with people about things other than subnet masks and pf. If you can sit down at lunch and have a conversation with your CFO or one of the VPs and have them think you're intelligent, they're far more likely to trust your judgment. That alone will get you a lot further in the business world than most other things. The big picture is that you have to not only know what you're talking about, but also appear to know what you're talking about.

Beyond that, I think people discredit theory too much. The better you understand how something works, the better you'll be able to fix it when it's broken or figure out how to make it do what you want.

People take the most closed minded view of education that I've ever seen anybody take with regards to anything. It's like people look at what they think people 'in industry' do, and then look at what people in college are doing, and if they're not the same exact task, they immediately regard education as 'useless'....as if football players shouldn't bother working out because they don't walk onto the football field and start doing bench presses in the middle of the game.

 

[cyr0n_k0r]

I think it's plenty fair. People love to talk about how useless a degree is, but the only people I ever hear say that either didn't get one or didn't get a difficult one.

And you're the kind of "people" that think that because they did get one, that everyone has to too in order to "appear" intelligent.

Damnit, I tried to stay out of this one but this idiotic comment sucked me in.

 

[RESTfulADI]

I don't have a degree and I've done pretty well without one, but only because I've spent 20+ hours a week of my free time over the last 4 years learning IT infrastructure to make up for it and refused to settle for positions beneath my capabilities.

For most people CS/MIS is still a very good idea. Certs on the other hand are situational and will not replace knowledge or ability.

 

[Serra]

And you're the kind of "people" that think that because they did get one, that everyone has to too in order to "appear" intelligent.

Damnit, I tried to stay out of this one but this idiotic comment sucked me in.

To weigh in - I went to university for 3 years before deciding to change to a 2-year school and leaving with an Associates in Network Engineering. The Associates degree was definitely much more helpful in terms of providing skills for day 1, but my time at the university has turned out to be invaluable for the long-term. Having been exposed to a broader range of experiences and subjects has been a boon to my total success, and the technical communications classes have enabled me to become a very "hot" resource.

So I paid for a bachelors and don't have one - and I think it was worth it. I just wish I had completed my original degree, because Bachelors degrees do start to become necessary in the management/director arena. But that's what night school is for.

I don't have a degree and I've done pretty well without one, but only because I've spent 20+ hours a week of my free time over the last 4 years learning IT infrastructure to make up for it and refused to settle for positions beneath my capabilities.

For most people CS/MIS is still a very good idea. Certs on the other hand are situational and will not replace knowledge or ability.

+1

The best way to get ahead in life is to dedicate yourself to your goals. Do you want more money, promotions, knowledge? Work for them.

But when you work for your technical knowledge, there are few better sources than certification guides (seriously). They will touch on the minutae that you would otherwise gloss over as "stupid" or "unnecessary" - and your lack of knowledge in those areas will preclude you from becoming the best at what you do.

And once you've studied and learned - pay the extra few hundred bucks to be able to show employers that you have. It not only shows that you could pass a test (which may or may not be that hard), it demonstrates that you are committed to continual education. That willingness to learn is super valuable and will help land jobs.


Edit:
Certifications matter most at the top and bottom of the scale. At the bottom they help out compete other introductory-level people, and at the high end certifications like the CCIE or PMP can make a big difference in terms of getting opportunities. Does any certificate help you once you have a job? No. They exist to get you in the door and/or get promoted - and they DO help. In the mid-range things are a lot more gray though.

Full disclosure - I have 2x CCIE certifications (and the host of certificates you would expect to see accumulated on the journey to the CCIE's).

 

[Dogs]

And you're the kind of "people" that think that because they did get one, that everyone has to too in order to "appear" intelligent.

There are some extraordinarily unintelligent people who hold degrees, and some absolutely brilliant people who don't...but most of these people are outliers. The vast majority of people can have their education level reliably dichotomized just through conversing with them. If somebody knows what it actually means for a fat to be a 'trans fat', for example, this person has most likely gone to college.

 

[cyr0n_k0r]

If somebody knows what it actually means for a fat to be a 'trans fat', for example, this person has most likely gone to college.

oh my gosh. just stop talking. You can't seem to help yourself.

 

[Dogs]

oh my gosh. just stop talking. You can't seem to help yourself.

Look, knowledge and learning are a good thing no matter who you are and what you do. IT people seem to be the only people in the world who so strongly oppose the notion of learning anything other than Go-Back-N, Wake-On-LAN, mail filtering, or whatever else they're going to be doing 'at work'. It's always IT people who complain about all of the useless classes they had to take in school, like chemistry, math, biology, economics, physics, writing, etc. If you go into something already having the attitude 'I'm never going to use any of this', then of course you'll be blind to the actual value of an education. Heck, the average 'network guy' complains about having to learn programming, let alone something outside of IT.

It's no wonder we can never find anybody we want to hire.

 

[0V3RC10CK3D]

You can skip school, but it will put you 4-6 years behind people who go to school.

Certs mean you can get certs. They're meaningless without experience and training.

I know guys with degrees and CCNA and CCIE who crumble when they actually have to configure hardware or fight a DDoS.

I call bs on that. Someone with a ccie will know what they're doing. Especially at the level of configuring hardware

 

[MysticRyuujin]

I call bs on that. Someone with a ccie will know what they're doing. Especially at the level of configuring hardware

The CCIE is extremely focused. They'll know what they are doing specifically in regards to routers and switches.

I worked with a CCIE who, when presented with a firewall issue on a Cisco ASA, said "I don't work on firewalls." He had no experience outside of what he had been working on for years. In studying for a CCIE you would never be required to do advanced configuration of an ASA, a Call Manager, or a WLAN Controller. And that's all Cisco stuff.

The CCIE doesn't cover many things that would be relevant to most network admins or engineers...It's a great certification but it doesn't mean they are the right person for every job.

 

[cyr0n_k0r]

The CCIE is extremely focused. They'll know what they are doing specifically in regards to routers and switches.

I worked with a CCIE who, when presented with a firewall issue on a Cisco ASA, said "I don't work on firewalls." He had no experience outside of what he had been working on for years. In studying for a CCIE you would never be required to do advanced configuration of an ASA, a Call Manager, or a WLAN Controller. And that's all Cisco stuff.

The CCIE doesn't cover many things that would be relevant to most network admins or engineers...It's a great certification but it doesn't mean they are the right person for every job.

That's a pretty ignorant comment to make coming from a fellow CCNP and even a CCDP.
You of all people know that there are specific CCIE tracks.

You're right, a CCIE Route Switch would not do "advanced" (ie, CCIE level configuration) on an ASA, Call Manager, or a WLAN controller.
That's why Cisco literally has 3 separate CCIE level tracks for those specific items.
CCIE Security
CCIE Voice
CCIE Wireless

Blaming a Route Switch guy because he doesn't work on Call Manager all day isn't fair and you know it.

 

[Ur_Mom]

Really? Most of the IT people I know are pretty nerdy. They read books, watch educational shows and want to learn other subjects, even if it has zero impact on their career. I also know some that are in IT for the paycheck. They know the tech they are good at, but outside of that, they are pretty dumb. So, it's hit and miss.

I love learning new things. Biology, astronomy, physics, history, mechanics.... whatever. I'm not the most intelligent guy, and I'm sure most of the stuff I learn would be great on Jeopardy only, but it's a lot of interesting stuff.

Look, knowledge and learning are a good thing no matter who you are and what you do. IT people seem to be the only people in the world who so strongly oppose the notion of learning anything other than Go-Back-N, Wake-On-LAN, mail filtering, or whatever else they're going to be doing 'at work'. It's always IT people who complain about all of the useless classes they had to take in school, like chemistry, math, biology, economics, physics, writing, etc. If you go into something already having the attitude 'I'm never going to use any of this', then of course you'll be blind to the actual value of an education. Heck, the average 'network guy' complains about having to learn programming, let alone something outside of IT.

It's no wonder we can never find anybody we want to hire.

 

[shade91]

Blaming a Route Switch guy because he doesn't work on Call Manager all day isn't fair and you know it.

Blaming a R&S guy who hasn't touched a firewall though is acceptable. The only places I've ever been that separated firewall security from the LAN guys was at Fortune 100 or better companies.

 

[cyr0n_k0r]

Blaming a R&S guy who hasn't touched a firewall though is acceptable. The only places I've ever been that separated firewall security from the LAN guys was at Fortune 100 or better companies.

But that's not what he said. He expected a route switch CCIE to be capable of "advanced configuration" of an ASA. What his definition of advanced configuration is I don't know. But I assume it's a lot more than "touching a firewall"

 

[MysticRyuujin]

But that's not what he said. He expected a route switch CCIE to be capable of "advanced configuration" of an ASA. What his definition of advanced configuration is I don't know. But I assume it's a lot more than "touching a firewall"

Yes and his words were "Someone with a ccie will know what they're doing" He did not specify WHAT CCIE and he didn't specify what they would be doing. That is my point. Please tell me how THAT is ignorant?

An MCSE/MCSA doesn't mean they know Linux and having a CCIE doesn't mean you know anything about Windows either. People can be extremely focused on one technology and still make a living at it...but MOST people are going to need some overlap in expertise.

 

[timreichhart]

Anybody is telling you that if you have experience in IT doesnt mean you will get an JOB trust me I have about 10 years in IT field and I cant even get an IT job so I am calling total BS about this. I had 3 job interviews in 4 weeks for IT and they all sent me an letter saying that I wasnt an good fit. I have learned everything I know myself and it dont get you very far. So Certs is good and dont believe people saying certs isnt good.

 

[RESTfulADI]

Anybody is telling you that if you have experience in IT doesnt mean you will get an JOB trust me I have about 10 years in IT field and I cant even get an IT job so I am calling total BS about this. I had 3 job interviews in 4 weeks for IT and they all sent me an letter saying that I wasnt an good fit. I have learned everything I know myself and it dont get you very far. So Certs is good and dont believe people saying certs isnt good.

Experience is relative and certs are situational, what do you know and what can you do? Maybe they were looking for a different skill set.

 

[timreichhart]

Ok but you just said dont always work trust me done that before and still as not landed me an IT job yet.

Experience is relative and certs are situational, what do you know and what can you do? Maybe they were looking for a different skill set.

 

[cyr0n_k0r]

Anybody is telling you that if you have experience in IT doesnt mean you will get an JOB trust me I have about 10 years in IT field and I cant even get an IT job so I am calling total BS about this. I had 3 job interviews in 4 weeks for IT and they all sent me an letter saying that I wasnt an good fit. I have learned everything I know myself and it dont get you very far. So Certs is good and dont believe people saying certs isnt good.

Ok but you just said dont always work trust me done that before and still as not landed me an IT job yet.

Because if English is your first language and you talk how you type I wouldn't hire you either.

Yes and his words were "Someone with a ccie will know what they're doing" He did not specify WHAT CCIE and he didn't specify what they would be doing. That is my point. Please tell me how THAT is ignorant?

An MCSE/MCSA doesn't mean they know Linux and having a CCIE doesn't mean you know anything about Windows either. People can be extremely focused on one technology and still make a living at it...but MOST people are going to need some overlap in expertise.

This wasn't at all what he was talking about. You're comparing apples to oranges. CCIE does not translate to windows skills. MCSE does not translate to linux skills. He was talking about a CCIE and then railing because they were a route switch expert and weren't familiar with advanced configuration of ASA's, Call manager, and WLC's. All of which are Cisco technologies.

That would be like saying.. Oh you're an MCITP and an expert in Exchange but how dare you not know how to expertly setup and run a Sharepoint server. MS has two completely different certifications for those technologies.

 

[Serra]

Blaming a R&S guy who hasn't touched a firewall though is acceptable. The only places I've ever been that separated firewall security from the LAN guys was at Fortune 100 or better companies.

To add my personal experience here - I can verify that there are CCIE's who cannot do basic firewall administration; I used to be one. When I got my route/switch CCIE, I had been working in such a capacity that I never did have to touch a firewall... it was a pure route/switch environment. It was definitely work with a very large company, but I would also suggest that in some cases you can find work with some VAR's or system design service firms where you work with just one type of equipment too. To your point though, in terms of working on "internal" equipment, you do generally have to be working for a big company to avoid working on multiple types of systems.

In fairness however, I will should that my deep route/switch/IOS experience helped me considerably when I left for a job where I was going to be heading up a security practice. I walked in literally not understanding the difference between a PIX and an ASA (interesting story behind how I got that job) and I had the Security CCIE wrapped up within 2 years. There was a learning curve, but the foundational understanding of routing/switching/Cisco CLI was a huge help.

I will also add that I have met people with CCIE's who are functionally useless, and people without CCIE's who are rock stars. Both cases tend to be outliers though. I have only ever met 1-2 bad CCIE's and 1-2 CCIE-level people without the certs (and 1 of them did eventually get his CCIE).

Look, knowledge and learning are a good thing no matter who you are and what you do. IT people seem to be the only people in the world who so strongly oppose the notion of learning anything other than Go-Back-N, Wake-On-LAN, mail filtering, or whatever else they're going to be doing 'at work'. It's always IT people who complain about all of the useless classes they had to take in school, like chemistry, math, biology, economics, physics, writing, etc. If you go into something already having the attitude 'I'm never going to use any of this', then of course you'll be blind to the actual value of an education. Heck, the average 'network guy' complains about having to learn programming, let alone something outside of IT.

It's no wonder we can never find anybody we want to hire.

I just wanted to +1 this because it is extremely true. I am a big fan of total knowledge and you can really see the difference between people that have had a wide range of education and people that haven't in the IT world..

(also - still hiring? I've decided to start looking for a new challenge )

 

[summy]

Some things I have noticed missing from this discussion (besides the typical bickering of xyz CCIE guy didn't know how to ssh into a serial port from a mac OSx environment behind a pixelated firewall running a hybrid cli/gui...lol)

4 year degree can get you..
past the HR dept
a network of friends likely to get jobs in your field (this is invaluable later)
a piece of paper that shows you can commit to a long term goal and complete it

certs can get you
past the HR dept
short term goal/commitment success
expect to answer questions related to these certs, because they'll want to know if you took the easy route with these certs...

Personality
Gets you hired by the IT dept, seriously if you're not a match... they'll pass on you even if your experience, education, and certs are a match for the job.


There is no right answer, but try to be rounded on all the major points and you'll get a job. There are exceptions to every rule as we've seen examples in this thread, but this is a reasonably safe path.

 

[timreichhart]

There is no need to be an rude a$$ about it.

Because if English is your first language and you talk how you type I wouldn't hire you either.


This wasn't at all what he was talking about. You're comparing apples to oranges. CCIE does not translate to windows skills. MCSE does not translate to linux skills. He was talking about a CCIE and then railing because they were a route switch expert and weren't familiar with advanced configuration of ASA's, Call manager, and WLC's. All of which are Cisco technologies.

That would be like saying.. Oh you're an MCITP and an expert in Exchange but how dare you not know how to expertly setup and run a Sharepoint server. MS has two completely different certifications for those technologies.