Yeah what's up with universities and the 4 year programs that don't even touch IT? I can't find a single one around my area that does that field.
I'm just doing a two year for now.
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Yeah what's up with universities and the 4 year programs that don't even touch IT? I can't find a single one around my area that does that field.
I'm just doing a two year for now.Yeah what's up with universities and the 4 year programs that don't even touch IT? I can't find a single one around my area that does that field.
Samething with myself. I just enrolled into a 2 year because they offered WAY more classes and resources.
Yeah what's up with universities and the 4 year programs that don't even touch IT? I can't find a single one around my area that does that field.
A friend of mine actually taught the networking program at a community college, so he gave me some insights on this. At a 4 year university, students have to take all the required classes like English, history, math, etc., which adds time. Also, the info changes so quickly that they can't update the curriculum fast enough to keep up.
The certs are valuable in making sure you know what the product can do. There's been many a time in my 15 years of experience where I've read something studying for a cert exam that I wish I'd known two years earlier. It would have saved a lot of time.
Plus they do tend to open doors if you freelance
I work for a certification association and I can tell you that a lot of employers want them for their employees. We have numerous company partners/customers who dictate certification policies for their employees/resellers. One of our hottest sectors for technicians is alternative energy. If you like the troubleshooting aspect of IT, then I would also suggest looking at something like Wind or Solar Energy.
Yeah what's up with universities and the 4 year programs that don't even touch IT? I can't find a single one around my area that does that field.
They are far and few between. I am taking a a Bachelors and we do and will do more hands on in the years to come. It is just hard to find degrees that cover IT. They do exist just few and far between.
Yes, and I work for an oil company and I can tell you, the gas powered engine is the best thing there is.
Please...
One thing to consider is you may need certifications if you work for a Value Added Reseller (VAR). Typically, in order to maintain a level of partner status with a vendor, so many need to be certified in certain ways. For example, in a Cisco shop, as they grow, they cannot have just one CCIE R/S on staff. And getting that cert requires just a bit more than taking a couple of written exams.
Yeah, the consulting firm I worked for had this kind of policy. In order to get certain "levels" from vendors such as Microsoft and Cisco, we had to have a set number of certs. These levels gave bigger discounts on products, better support, etc. For instance, to sell the Cisco SMB equipment, we had to have a certified salesperson and technician. I couldn't complain, though, since the company paid for the tests and gave raises based on the certs you got.
I don't see how this proves any kind of love of certs from companies. This is just filling the requirements. I did work for a couple of months in a consulting firm like this. They were working on getting Microsoft Gold Partner and Cisco Platinum at the time.
They hired people based on skills and experience, and then just paid to get people the certifications required by the vendors. It was all a big joke internally as even management knew the courses/tests were mostly worthless in the end. The money spent was all to get the partnership advantages.
Vendors tying their cert programs to their partner programs is just a way for them to get more money in the end. The industry knows this. Consulting firms know this and they're about the only ones playing this game. I work at a company where the primary mission isn't IT and here you really get a feel for what certs are worth : nothing. No one talks about them, no one cares about them.
For better or for worse certs have some value as companies can get discounts by having more "certified" staff. It might be a circular system, but it is what it is.
...thus revealing some value to having certs.
...because there's no incentive for having them in your company.
That's the thing though, it proves my initial point : Pointing the OP to certs as a way to get a career in IT is wrong. He should get actual real world skills/experience instead. That will get him hired. Certs will get paid by whatever deal his employer strikes with whatever vendor.
There is no value in certs for different workers. Companies also know these certs don't mean anything as far as the value of a worker. Having a guy come in with a MCSE and 1 year experience managing a file server, and having a guy who never bothered but ran a shop with 30 domain controllers/10 exchange servers and hundreds of file servers over a 3 state territory for 10 years is a non issue, I know who I'm taking to build up my Windows infrastructure. Experience is king in the domain.
In fact, I doubt anything in the MCSE covers the kind of huge infrastructures we are running where I am. I sure know the Cisco material doesn't, even up to CCNP/CCSP levels. Other vendors "5 days/25 questions" certs are real crap and never even touch the surface of our implementations (heck, the ACIA course Arcsight gave glanced over FlexConnectors like they weren't important and never talked about logger appliances, while our infrastructure is all based on those 2 components. Yet here I am, a certified ACIA and I'll never work with what the course taught me).
The Brocade and HP courses I got were the same. Surface level scratching. Never bothered with the exams.
This is the best post I have seen so far on this topic.
Before I had ten years as a certified MCP PC tech, and Mac tech, I was an HR person with a BA in the field of HR/management/labor and employment law.
Before I knew much about computers other than being a proficient user, the only hint that I knew that somebody knew anything about computers were people who were either certified through Microsoft, CompTIA (A+ particularly), and Cisco. The other good thing on a resume as far as degrees were a computer science, computer engineering, software engineering, management information systems, or IT degree.
Back then, like most purely HR people are now, I didn't know about certain more specialized jargon like Perl, wide area networks vs. local area networks, DBAs, SDK, or some of the more obscure titles such as a Certified HP printer technician, Certified Novell Associate, or CISSP. While good to have, these things can go over many an HR person's head, especially if you have to look at hundreds of resumes.
But most HR people should know the common industry standards like C++, A+, Network+, MCP, MCSE, Oracle, and Cisco. But when you get proficiency, certifications, or degrees, don't just use acronyms other than BA/BS, AA/AS, MA/MS, or PhD.
Do not automatically assume the HR person will think A+ is a hardware certification and not a computer language like C++. Also don't use the term MCP or MCSE but spell out what they are, Microsoft Certified Professional and Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer on a resume. It's those tiny pesky details on a resume like "Microsoft" which jump out and grab the attention of an HR person. The HR person will not be concerned about whether the particular Microsoft certifications test(s) were hard or not. They won't care if you went to a technician's trade school for the certification, university, or self-studied and then passed the test(s). The HR person will equate the word Microsoft with high tech and Bill Gates. Period.
I just left the IT field after 22 years...
I kept getting laid-off and only found work for less and less money... one time I was almost 3 years "between jobs"...
Well, if I'm going to be earning that little pay for tons of stress, forget it...
Hope you guys all find work at half-decent pay...
I doubt I'll ever go back.
Should've gone into Aviation from the start - better late than never...
Good advice. Big Business and the government here in the US decided IT professionals knew too much and had way too much control, so they decided to send the software development offshore and commoditize the rest of the positions and make IT folks work free for all hours.
If your in a big city working for any real corporation, be prepared to sign your life away for not much in return.
It gets your foot in the door in places that normal schools can't take you. You will have access to the top tier jobs in the industry without having to know anybody, although, going to a affluent school will gain you contacts into places most will never have. Those jobs don't get advertised.
You've been out of the industry too long. HR folks are use scanning software that rate's the resumes based on keywords. You don't score high enough, you don't even get called for the better jobs. If you work in a big city, it pays to have a resume service that taylors to electronic scan resumes and knows what the scan programs look for to maximize your score.
Seriously, if you haven't started yet, I wouldn't. I know you like it, and you can make a living out of it, but there are much better avenues that will take you farther in the long run.
My kids will NEVER do anything computer related. My suggestion is to do a business degree then go for a law degree. Doesn't matter if you get a free toolbox with your law degree, or if you ever practice a day of law in your life, that degree is gold in the business world.
IT used to be a great career, but big business and big government pretty much killed it.
Business degrees are not a bad idea, but I still think any high tech related degree is still relevant.
As for a law degree, that can never hurt anybody. Law is very practical and I agree if you never practice a day in your life, the knowledge can open up many avenues.
Certificates may help you land your first job, but honestly, its worthless Experience is counts way more. I'm an IT manager and I don't have any certificates. Just know your stuff and know it well.
it is easier when you give yourself a lot of options and time to consider it. Today Computers have not only assumed strategic importance in the corporate world, they are being effectively used in other fields also. It depends on the kind of course and the level of study. These professionals can earn a good amount of salary and incentives. The pay scales vary from job to job and depend on the level of qualification and performance.
cool thread
This thread is really so cool. As there are really so many people who just buy the dumps to pass their exams and get their certifications. however, when they enter the work they even don't know the basic operating. What a irony.
So the most important is that handle the stuff and prepare yourself enough and then take your exam. If you really handle it then you will defintely pass the exam and get the certification your company has requested.
This thread is really so cool. As there are really so many people who just buy the dumps to pass their exams and get their certifications. however, when they enter the work they even don't know the basic operating. What a irony.
So the most important is that handle the stuff and prepare yourself enough and then take your exam. If you really handle it then you will defintely pass the exam and get the certification your company has requested.
I dont think that many people use the dumps-in fact, most places now are doing much tougher stance on cheating
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/021711-certification-cheating.html
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2010/041910-computer-science-cheat.html
That said, I must echo rpang's comments-certifications are not really that important-experience will always be more important than certs-at least in my opinion.
avoid IT unless you know a specific company who puts a lot of value on their IT dept...which nixes pretty much a lot of companies. if you insist on doing IT then go in the consulting side with Deloitte, Accenture, IBM etc... your exit options from those firms will be significantly better.
i have yet to meet former business analysts in my school who isn't trying to transition out of IT into finance, operations or marketing.
i have yet to meet former business analysts in my school who isn't trying to transition out of IT into finance, operations or marketing.
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