| To my pals with tech certs |
[May. 9th, 2008|04:36 pm] |
Can I ask you guys something? What certs do you have, and have they been useful to you? Like RCHE, RHCT, CCNA, CCNP, MCSE, and so on? I am asking for real world recommendations, like, "I got this, it got me a better job," or "Never came in useful, but was really fun," or "I consider this cert many hours of my life I will never get back."
I am thinking of getting some certs in some areas that need a little back filling. For instance, CompTIA has a relatively new "Linux+" exam that I'd like to take, and I'd like to start with the LCPI exams as well. But I'm also kind of curious about the A+ and Network+ exams, since I seem to do fairly well on practice exams, although I am sure I couldn't pass the real ones blindly without some good prep work.
When I have gotten the prep books, I have found I am a little lacking in some areas that are "basic," but I have never actually had to use in any job I have. Like I am a little weak with permissions and quotas in Linux, for instance, because most of my setups have been my own personal box, and those that have shared with other people all pretty much stayed in their home directory. I recall a bad moment in my RHCE exam where I had to set up something that was not listed in my specs, and I was balking in my brain, "NOBODY would use [censored by my NDA with Red Hat] in a real server environment!!! Come on!" I lost valuable time trying to read the man page on it and get it set up. So it's difficult trying to set up, say, an NIS+ server and client when you are studying alone because you need a real-world like situation to really learn it.
I tried to get some people here at work interested in studying, but the reception was lukewarm at best, even when I promised Legos. I tried to start an "RHDA," for "Red Hat Dark Arts," because the 7th Harry Potter book had just come out, but it fizzed after a few sessions. |
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My certs: A+, MCSE
Usefulness: Mainly in getting past the HR drones. Yes, I learned a lot about AD and Windows XP, but honestly? I don't use but maybe 30% of it on a daily basis. It's why I kept the books - for those rare times when I need it. A+ was a backfill for me; I had ot prep for them as they covered back to DOS 6.22 and equally old hardware. Thought about Network+, but decided against it.
Right now I'm teaching myself VB scripting.
Certs: None
Never seems to have negatively affected me.
MCSE (NT, 2000)
MCSA (2003 -- failed the stupid MCSE upgrade exam)
MCSD
MVP (Exchange Server Peer Support)
CCNA
3/5ths of my ODBA [d'oh!]
Compaq ASE on Alpha Tru64 UNIX [company had to have certified professionals to be an official partner]
They don't do me much good, now, but the Microsoft certs helped establish bona fides when I was getting started running my own PC consulting/"helpdesk on call" business.
I'm a Linux sys admin (mostly). And the only cert I have is an RHCE. The class was completely worth it. There was a lot I already knew, but there was a lot I didn't know or didn't know the full story around it. However I have a feeling that it's also a factor of your instructor as to how well you class works for you.
But all other classes / certs that I've tried have usually been useless. As much as I hate to say it, most classes I attend are either too simple, or not focused, or mostly redundant with information I already have. But you have to keep trying or you will never learn anything.
Side note: as far as I'm concerned, if you advertise yourself as a Linux admin, then ALL certificates are worth next to garbage and not worth the paper they are printed on as Linux is best learned through experience and exposure. But... different jobs mean different certs and different requirements.
Although, personally, when I give interviews to potential job candidates if you start selling yourself through what certs you have I honestly expect you to be hot stuff, and I will call you on it. Unfortunately, most people I've given interviews to who sell themselves based upon their certs usually go down in flames quickly. So for me personally, the more certs you have, the less useful you usually are for me. So, when I give you an interview, don't tell me how many certs you have (leave it on the resume), convince me you really do know what your talking about. My $0.02.
I know it's for techy people, but I had to chime in!
Getting my Second Grade Stationary Engineer's License.
Would have gotten my Project Management Professional cert by work wouldn't help pay to keep it current.
Can get my AutoCAD cert whenever I want to.
From: (Anonymous)
2008-05-11 06:58 pm (UTC)
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My certs are split into two areas: tech and non-tech. I find the non-tech certs to be -really- usefull, while the training for the tech certs is more useful than the certs themselves.
WRT non-tech certs I really enjoyed my safety stewarding course. I took two classes, one of which led to an official certificate. These courses teach you how to deal with crises at work:fire, accidents, crowd control, etc. Totally awesome stuff!
WRT tech certificates I'd like to echo what someone else has already said: the papers themselves are mostly useful to get you past the HR drone checklist. The trainings and courses that I went through to prepare for the exams was way more useful than the paper itself. It taught me a lot of the nooks and crannies of the various OSes I work with.
When it comes to Linux certs, go with the LPIC certificates. In general they are regarded as the most respected Linux certs. When it comes to other Unix flavours, Solaris used to be very popular (SCSA1, SCSA2, SCNA, SCSecA). These days, AIX seems to be getting more popular though. | |
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