[aklug] Re: IT certifications

From: JP <jp@jptechnical.com>
Date: Mon Sep 05 2016 - 14:41:38 AKDT

Just my $.02 Christopher... and take this with a grain of salt as this is
purely anecdotal and opinion and probably will start a flame war...

In my experience, certifications are worth exactly the paper they are
printed on. The best technicians I have worked with have NO certifications
beyond an A+, if even that. This is not to say there are not good techs
with certifications, again this is just my experience. Everyone I
personally know who is in the position of hiring techs (admittedly small
cross-section) is looking for experience, and they tend to quiz people on
stuff that will never be in certification paths... real-life tips and
tricks that people with experience have learned on their own or added to
their mental toolkit from others' training. These same people will put a
resume with a dozen certs and no experience at the very bottom... favoring
even lack of experience over the combination of lack of experience plus
lots of certs. If my best friend or relative were to ask me the same
question that is exactly what I would tell them.

Again, I hope this doesn't offend anyone, many have worked hard for their
certs and education, and they have a right to satisfaction in their
accomplishments.

My suggestion would be to take a technology path you are interested in, and
learn it inside out in whatever method of learning that works best for you.
Put this tech into practice in a lab or for your family's business if it is
suitable, something like this. I would never condone learning stuff on a
client's network, I see it all the time and I am constantly taking over
work from someone's first stab at a walkthrough for something... and then
dealing with the long-term hassles. However, if you have learned a proven
tech that you think will give your client a boost, and you are convinced
you can support it, and you are up-front with the client the newness to you
that the tech represents and they are willing to accept the risk and you
are willing to give them a break on your labor... this is a fantastic way
to expand your experience. If you find a specific path is something you
really want to focus on, then work on that cert... but not other unrelated
ones just for the sake of having them.

I am sure those with a proper education will better answer your original
question. I admit I went a bit off-topic because this is something I feel
people getting into the IT industry would like to know, and Linux users
make the best tinkerers, and tinkerers make some of the best techs.

On Mon, Sep 5, 2016 at 2:03 PM Christopher Howard <ch.howard@zoho.com>
wrote:

> Hello list. I was wondering... has anybody heard of any programs (e.g.,
> nonprofit, workforce development) that help people with the financial
> part of getting IT certifications? There are a number of additional
> certs I'd like to get (e.g., Security+) but there isn't much room in my
> budget, and I don't think I could convince my current employer to pitch
> in. (As additional certs would only help me to get a better job elsewhere.)
>
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_
(forgive my terseness or the typos, I am writing on my mobile device)

*JP (Jesse Perry)*
voice/txt: 907-748-2200
email: jp@jptechnical.com
web: http://jptechnical.com

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Received on Mon Sep 5 14:42:13 2016

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