Re: Certification choices

["Robert G. (Doc) Savage" <dsavage@peaknet.net>]

Stephen,

As someone who has collected his share of degrees and certifications
over the years, I can tell you that a serious hard core degree
(bachelors or higher) is an employer's #1 choice, far and away above all
others. College grads with engineering, math, and computer science
degrees -- like songbirds -- will never starve. They will rarely be
unemployed for long even in crummy job markets like today.

Two year associate and technology degrees (e.g. deVry, ITT Tech,
Vatterott) are better than nothing, but to an employer looking for a
hard core degree ("in a related specialty"), they won't count for much.

Certifications without commensurate work experience are the mark of a
beginner who knows how to take tests. There are a select few
certifications that simply cannot be earned without a very substantial
amount of experience and knowledge. CCIE is one. RHCE is another. Anyone
looking for serious work in computer security could look at what SANS
and (ISC)2 have to offer. All these choices are pricey. None is a quick
fix.

Microsoft's certifications, like Netware's before them, are worth far
more to those who give tests than to most employers. Of all Microsoft
certifications, MCSE+I may be the only one worth pursuing. It will still
cost you at least $900.

Network security in all its many forms has a solid future. So does
XML-based Enterprise Application Integration (EAI). Sysadmins who learn
about emerging technologies like Storage Area Networks (SANs), very
high-density blade servers, clusters, and wireless should do well.

You're still young enough to go back to college. With grants and student
loans and advanced placement, a BS from SIUE may be within your reach.
They have very good engineering and computer science schools.

As I recall, I hired on with my present employer (three owners back) in
the depth of the 1991 recession. The economy was probably in much the
same state as it is today. By 1994 the biggest bull market in U.S.
history was well underway.

Last fall a college senior in Australia whose wife's family lives in
Peoria asked me what I thought about emploment prospects might be for a
computer science graduate here in Illinois. I told him I expected to see
our economy and job market to start recovering (a) within two years, or
(b) six months after the war ends, whichever comes first.

--Doc, BSE(EE), CISSP, RHCE, GCIA
  Principal Network Engineer

On Thu, 2003-05-22 at 16:27, Stephen D Reindl wrote:
> If you could receive one of the following certifications free of charge,
> and you had no job, and you were looking to make the most money possible
> just by acquiring a certification, which would you chose and why?
> 
> Cisco CCNA
> Cisco CCNP
> MCSE Windows 2000
> Linux +
> Linux Certified Administrator
> Unix
> Unix Level 1
> Network +
> Security +
> AA in computer networking technology
> 
> You have no income so you need certification fast to upgrade your
> resume. You have a mechanical background with some practical experience
> but no real world experience in computer administration.
> 
> I don't want or need jokes or flames. This is my real world predicament
> and I'm looking for valid advice from those people who are actually
> working in this field. The AA is from Ranken and is a 72 week course.
> The rest are from either ATAI, Techskils, or New Horizons and all are
> from 4 to 12 weeks in duration. It will be paid for by National
> Emergency Grant money authorized by congress to help retrain those of us
> (airline employees) who have been screwed by 9/11, the SARS epidemic and
> a contrived War for Oil in Iraq, oh that's right it wasn't oil we went
> there for it was WMD. (Sorry! very heavy sarcasm)
> 
> If I haven't pissed you off, suggestions?  


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