(2 votes, average: 5.5 out of 10)
Loading ...What Certifications Should I Write
By Jason W. Eckert
So you have decided that you want to get certified.
Now, you must choose what to get certified in. Not an easy task.
In short, you should always choose certifications that will give you a return on your investment. The cost of certification doesn’t just involve the up-front cost that you pay a testing centre to take a certification exam. It involves your time preparing for the exam as well as any hardware, software and educational resources that you purchase for exam study.
As a result, it is important to carefully choose which certifications you want to pursue such that you are not wasting time on certifications that will not advance your IT career.
Choose certifications that are related to your experience.
When applying for jobs, nothing looks better than certification + experience. Someone who works as an Active Directory administrator and who is certified in Active Directory would be much more likely to get a job than someone who works in Help Desk Support and who has an Active Directory certification. In addition, you will need to purchase less preparation materials (including hardware and software) if you plan to obtain certification on a technology that you regularly use. That being said, you may want to become certified in a different technology that you are interested in such that you can upgrade to a better job. In those situations, make sure that you implement the technology in a test environment before you decide whether you want to pursue the certification. This allows you to better understand the types of jobs that would use the technology as well as gives you the ability to discuss your experiences using the technology during a job interview.
Choose certifications based on exam content.
The main purpose of certification is career advancement. During a job interview, you want to emphasize specific skills that you have in various IT areas. Some certifications such as Comptia’s Security+ certification test terminology only, whereas other certifications such as Microsoft Security Implementation (70-299) tests your knowledge of implementing and managing technologies such as Certificate Services, SSL, IPSec, VPNs (L2TP/PPTP) and Group Policy.
Avoid “buzz” certifications.
There are many certifications out there that sound great or have great reputations. However, these certifications have little to no practical value when you apply for most IT jobs. One good example is the Certified Ethical Hacker, which tests very general security concepts that only have application in large organizations that hire “IT security officers”. Another example is Cisco. Cisco always hits the “Top 10 IT Certifications” in many magazines and the word “Cisco” is commonly associated with good things in IT. However, when you poll employers, you will find a different story. My college dropped Cisco a while back and replaced it with SQL and Exchange. The reason lies with feedback that we received from graduates and employers. Nearly all employers (with the exception of ISPs) that hire our graduates didn’t care whether students could configure a Cisco router since that task is not typically a major part of any IT job. Similarly, only a few graduates found that Cisco certification helped them land a job (at an ISP of course). Alternatively, employers in Southwestern Ontario were in dire need for Microsoft SQL 2000/2005 and Microsoft Exchange 2003/2007. I have found that this feedback is still consistent this year.
Choose certifications that widen your job prospects.
Certification can be useless if there are no jobs in your field that require the certification. As a result, ensure that you choose certifications that are widely sought by employers. It may also be prudent to choose certifications that test general topics (i.e. Windows Server 2003) rather than specific technologies (i.e. ISA Server 2004) if you are looking to apply for a larger set of IT jobs. Alternatively, you may want to become certified in a technology that gives you an edge in the job market. If you are a Windows LAN Administrator (a very common skill set in the marketplace), getting certified in Linux (i.e. Comptia Linux+) or Apple (i.e. ACHDS) will give you that edge. Many employers that I regularly poll tell me that resumes with those two certifications always go to the top of the pile. One employer even told me that his IT staff is afraid of Apple technology because they know little about it – they always send Co-Op students down to the Marketing department to deal with Apple Macintosh issues.
Choose certifications that have added benefits.
Many organizations such as Comptia and Microsoft offer benefits for those who successfully obtain certification such as private login accounts. These login accounts can be used to obtain discounts on resources as well as share certification transcripts to employers via an online login code that you attach to a resume. Of course, if the certification comes with a free gift certificate to http://www.thinkgeek.com or a pack of Skittles, it is definitely worth getting.
Next blog: How to prepare for certification exams.
Add to: del.icio.us | Digg IT | Furl | Google | magnolia | StumbleIT | Wink | Yahoo! Technorati
(4 votes, average: 7.5 out of 10) Loading ...Should I Get Certified?
By Jason W. Eckert
In the 1980s, business-class computers and computer networks were difficult to configure and maintain. If you hired someone to set up a computer network or administer network servers, that person probably had a degree in computer science, science, math or engineering since those were typically the only university programs that exposed students to the computing concepts required to figure out how to implement technology in business.
When it came to computing in the 1980s, there was little standardization or organization. You either knew about computing or you didn’t.
As technology advanced throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the difficulty associated with setting up computers and computer networks disappeared. By the early 1990s, most companies had already entered the computer revolution and the companies that hadn’t were scrambling to join it. The number of hardware and software vendors skyrocketed and computer networks were popping up everywhere. The term Information Technology (IT) was created to describe the wide range of computing applications in industry. Cory Doctorow accurately describes this period as “the steam tunnels of the information age” in the introduction to his short story When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth.
Suddenly, there was an enormous need to hire people to configure and manage computer networks. However, companies wanted to find people who had the right skill set for the technology that they chose to implement. Someone who had experience in UNIX may not necessarily know how to fix a Novell or Windows network without some research or training. As a result, software vendors started offering certification programs that made it easier for companies to connect with people who knew their software. SCO and Novell were first on the scene. If you needed someone who knew SCO UNIX, you could contact SCO and get a list of SCO certified IT professionals.
Soon afterwards, other vendors such as Microsoft jumped on the certification bandwagon. Certification quickly became a benchmark for IT hiring decisions. If you were certified in a technology that was a key part of a prospective job, you were much more likely to get hired over others who were not certified.
Of course, there is always a downside. Early certification exams were very easy. Furthermore, they consisted of about 40 multiple-choice questions, which was not sufficient for testing most IT skills. I knew people (I won’t name them), who got their Microsoft MCSE certification in Windows NT 4 without ever installing the operating system. They simply memorized “brain dumps”, which were copies of the real certification exam questions written by people with good memories who wrote the certification exams. In fact, this practice was so common, it led to the term “Paper MCSE” (someone who was an MCSE on paper but practically useless in a job environment). This term is still common on the Internet today.
Shortly after 2000, nearly all vendors made their certification exams tougher and longer. In addition, many vendors started adding simulation and practicum questions where students would need to configure a piece of software in order to pass the exam.
This trend continues today. Certification exams are tougher today than they have ever been. As a result, most companies use IT certification as a benchmark for hiring decisions, bonuses and promotion.
It is less risky to hire someone who is certified. Someone who is certified in SQL 2005 will need little training work in a SQL 2005 environment. In addition, this person is more likely to know the skills needed to manage a SQL 2005 environment on the first day of the job. Similarly, a certified individual takes their IT education seriously and is more likely to continually upgrade their skill set as a result.
I teach programming and computer networking for triOS College in Southwestern Ontario. In any class, 30-50% of the students will have extensive IT job experience, and could easily work as a programmer or Linux/SQL/Exchange/Windows/AD/Network administrator in today’s industry. So why do they come back to school? The answer is almost always the same: No certification, no job interviews.
In addition to teaching, I also write college textbooks for Wiley and Course Technology (Thomson/Delmar). Of the 17 books I have written on UNIX, Linux, Windows Server 2003, and Windows Vista, all but one is geared to prepare you for a particular certification exam. North American colleges and universities purchase most of the books I write because certification is necessary in today’s IT job market.
If you have an IT job that guarantees long-term future employment and personal development, then certification is not for you.
For the rest of us, IT certification is a good idea. However, there are many different types of IT certifications today for different skills, technologies and experience levels. You should be careful to choose the certifications that will give you the most future benefit in your current career.
Next blog: Which IT Certifications Should I Write?
Add to: del.icio.us | Digg IT | Furl | Google | magnolia | StumbleIT | Wink | Yahoo! Technorati
(5 votes, average: 7.6 out of 10) Loading ...How To Land A Better IT Job
By Jason W. Eckert
For people entering the IT marketplace or looking for a better IT job, the IT job market can be discouraging. At other times, it can be downright frustrating.
Unlike most job markets, the IT job market is like a moving target – it changes as fast as IT technologies change. Furthermore, the IT job market is one of the most diverse on the planet.
Say, for example, that you decide to give up your current job and become a plumber. The skills you need to become a plumber and the duties that plumbers do are well known. You simply need to contact the plumbing association in your region to find out what schools teaching the skills needed to become a certified plumber, and which plumbers are accepting apprentices. After building your plumbing skill set, you can become certified and apply for plumbing jobs. When you talk with other plumbers, you will probably find that all plumbers perform roughly the same tasks on a daily basis (unclogging drains, running new pipes, fixing pipe leaks, etc.).
Alternatively, if you want a job in IT, you must first browse online job ads to find a job that you would like, and then obtain the skills listed in that job ad if you do not already have them. This may involve taking expensive courses, buying books from Chapters, downloading evaluation software to play with in a makeshift computer network in your basement, and writing a costly certification exam. By the time you are finished with your retraining, that job may have already been filled, and since IT jobs are incredibly diverse, the skills you built may not be listed in other job ads. When you do find a job that matches your IT skill set, you will notice that different IT professionals perform radically different tasks and work with radically different technologies on a daily basis.
So how do you overcome these obstacles and land a good job in IT? Following are a few tips that I believe will help in any IT job search:
1. Keep informed about advances in technologies
Regardless of what technologies you currently use, make sure you know what technologies are available and what they do. You can do this by reading daily geek news sites, blogs and talking with other IT professionals. This will allow you to make quick decisions regarding the direction of your own career.
2. Consider larger job markets
Since the IT job market is diverse, finding a job that matches your skill set in a large city is much easier than in a small town. If you live outside a large metropolitan area and are within commuting distance, expand your search to include that area. Similarly, if you are within a moderate driving distance to other cities, include them in your job search.
3. Practice technologies that are not part of your current job
Keeping a small computer network or test computer at home will allow you to experiment with new software technologies as they become available. More importantly, you will likely prefer certain technologies to others after implementing them. If a job opportunity arises that involves technologies that you prefer, you are more likely to take them to advance your IT career.
4. Continually upgrade your skill set
We often neglect our own personal advancement when we are immersed in a job environment. Make sure that you take some time out of your lifestyle to upgrade your IT skills. Some organizations offer time and resources for employee personal advancement, but many do not. In these cases, upgrading IT skills may involve taking a weekend course or purchasing books and hardware. I recommend putting some money aside each month to create an “update fund” that can be used if you find a skill that you would like to pursue.
5. Keep an open mind and embrace diversity
Unfortunately, it is common for IT professionals to downplay the importance of some technologies. I have often heard phrases such as “Microsoft sucks” and “Linux sucks” when attending various IT gatherings. In reality, no technology “sucks”. Technologies that stay around for a while obviously provide some value to organizations – each technology provides a particular function and nearly all organizations use a variety of different technologies together when implementing software and hardware solutions. If you focus on a single technology, you are reducing the number of available IT jobs that you can apply for. On the other hand, understanding multiple (and sometimes opposing) technologies can broaden your job prospects.
6. Avoid applying for jobs that are specialized
Although specialization is not as common today as it was in the 1990s, some large organizations still offer IT jobs that require a single area of skill (i.e. Database Administrator). If the organization does not allow for personal advancement, you will find it more difficult to update your skill set over time and may have difficulty finding another IT job if the position is eliminated over time.
7. Embrace change and have fun
Two of the reasons that I chose to pursue the IT profession two decades ago are that I love challenge and change. The only way that you can continually adapt to new challenges over a long period of time is to love what you do. And to love IT, you simply need to have fun and enjoy your inner geek.
Next blog: Should I Get Certified?
Add to: del.icio.us | Digg IT | Furl | Google | magnolia | StumbleIT | Wink | Yahoo! Technorati
(4 votes, average: 7.75 out of 10) Loading ...Take your Grade Nine Student to the IT department Day
Only one young soul was brave enough to enter our offices this week as part of Take Your Grade Nine Student to Work Day. I was one stop in his tour of our operations, explaining my role and my biggest challenges. I went into great detail about the glamour of working in the media: of cutting and pasting stories out of Microsoft Word and into Adobe InDesign, of listening to PR pitches from people who never read my newspaper, of losing my eyesight in a fruitless search for typos.
I was sure I was boring him. Then I imagined what it would be like to explain the role of an IT manager. Or any other enterprise job, for that matter.
Read the rest of this entry »
