Recommended Certification (PART II)

I'm giving this answer ("it depends") a lot lately.

There is no magic answer.

It depends on where your expertise lies and what your interests are.

It depends on what skills are in hot demand in your area.

Vendor-specific certifications won't mean much or anything to a company that doesn't use that vendors products.

General skill-type certifications (network+, server+, A+, etc.) may be viewed as entry-level certifications because they don't have name recognition.

A certification without experience to back it up don't mean much to many employers.

A given certification may not give you any advantage if it isn't a prerequisite for a given job.

Too many certifications may give the impression that that is how you spend all your time vs. gaining real-word experience.

Your best bet is to choose 1 or 2 certifications (that possibly complement each other), in areas where you have expertise/interests and concentrate on those.

This all assumes that you have some experience to begin with. If you are brand new to the job market, or brand new to IT all bets are off. I would worry about gaining experience (any experience) first and then at a later time trying for a certification that complements that experience.

I hold CompTIA's A+, Net+ certs as well as Microsoft (MCSE/MCSA), and Cisco's CCIE. I work closely with people who have Oracle, Novell, and various other certs. What I can tell you is that each of these certifications have value to a specific job environment.

For example, I do not list A+, Net+ on my resumes because quite honestly, I feel I have spent my time configuring protocols, setting up hardware, and generally pulling cable. Microsoft Certifications cator to a network management level.While they deal with specifics, they have proven their value in generalized knowlege keen for MIS and Systems Analysis positions.

Don't waste your time with Cisco's CCNA, it's a dime a dozen out there right now. Cisco aligned themselves with various universities around the globe a couple years ago, and this year, they are looking at doubling CCNA's accross the board, and so on. If EVERYONE has it, it's worthless.

If you are into specific programming / data environments, then aim towards those. These would include Oracle, VB, .NET, Visual C++, etc.

The value of your certification is only as good as you can make it. Pick the certification that is more in line with what you want to do, not what will be most beneficial. For example, a person looking at an MIS position is wasting their time with A+.

Either way, obtain as many of your low level certs through college as you can, like A+, Net+, Win2kPro, MCSE stuff. Learn as much as you can in school, and decide this...

Do you want to be a systems person or a programmer?
...Then cater your certs to this.

If you decide to be a systems person, you have to decide what to specialize in. CCNA is becoming a dime a dozen, yes, but... You have to have it to get in most places. It's all up to you, feel it out.

Ask faculty what professors have what job experience, then go ask them what the day to day job is like. If you're not in a stuck up U, then some professors might have real job experience instead of teaching and bragging experience! (body blow to the academic world)