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Home > Archive > CCNA > August 2000 > Paper Certs
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| On many of the disussion boards there is a debate raging over the value of paper certs and how their existence devalues the certification.
Being a paper cert(one who does not have on the job training on routers and networks) myself, I see much of the criticism as either misplaced or misdirected. Many of us desire to break into these fields and have no opportunity to do so. If employers are reluctant about those who have no experience, will they hire and train someone who isn't certified as well as having no experience?
How did you get your experience? Did someone give you a break and let you play with their router on the job. Well good for you. Were YOU certified at the time?
Getting certified is an attempt to demonstrate that we CAN learn and are WILLING to do the work that it takes to learn. This is at least of some value to employers.
Now as to all those employers who hired paper MSCE's to run their networks, and now perhaps paper CCNA's; all I can say is they got what they deserved. It's not the paper cert's fault that an employer made a STUPID decision!!
And hiring someone with no experience to run a network is indeed a stupid decision. Now if a paper cert misrepresents his work experience and an employer gets burned because of it, the fault does not lie with the certification process, but with the paper cert who lied about his experience.
When I apply for my next job it will be with a year of tech support experience, and with Comptia, Cisco, and Microsoft certs. Will these certs make me more likely to get a job that has anything to do with routers and networks, as opposed to the experience by itself? Of couse they will, as they should.
I will be happy just to be the guy who wipes the dust off the router as long as I can get a shot at learning to use it at some point. Not all of us paper certs want to walk in and run the network, we just want to get our foot in the door so that we can prove ourselves. And these certs are our best means at getting that chance
Certmadman,
A+, Network+, I-net+ (Praying for CCNA) | |
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| You make a very valid point. Many employers hire people who have a certification attached to their name because they really don't know any better. They are going on what they hear about from the media.
I've recently have a seen an opening in which an employer asked that the applicants have at least one certification. Opening listed eleven different certifications. Not once did the opening indicate what system and/or products the applicant would be using.
A lot of people want to enter the IT field, but a lot are not willing to start at the bottom and work their way up. Certifications give people the wrong perception that he/she is worth 'X' amount of money because they have a MCSE, CNE, or CCNA even though they have no experience. If you have a CCNA and the only company that has made you an offer is willing to start you out with $28,000 a year will you take it? Some would just to get their foot in the door. Others won't saying that their certification makes them worth around $45,000 to $50,000. Those same ones will probably be the ones complaining about not being able to find a job and keep adding certifications to their resume.
This is not to discourage anyone nor offend anyone. What I am trying to get across is not put all your faith in certifications. Don't look for certifications to be a easy ticket into the IT field. They can help you get your foot in the door, but only you can open it up. | |
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| There are companies will actually look for Paper certs. eg XXX Solution providers and XXX Authorized Partners. They need to hold a certain number of certifications in order to keep Partnership status with XXX. So if you want to start somewhere as an entry level engineer, this can be a good start  So good luck to all Paper Certs. This is how I started. I did it and I am doing well
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http://www.MISlab.com -
Online Cisco Router Labs for CCNA/CCNP candidates | |
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| To me, the evil paper cert. is the person who learns all the answers without any regard to how to use the knowledge in real life, the people who ask, "What cert. should I get to make lots of money?"
I started off as a so-called "paper cert" but I asked a lot of questions to learn how to apply the information. I still ask questions all the time to further my knowledge.
I have some experience now, and volunteer to do new stuff to get more experience. I'm an MCSE who hasn't set up a server from scratch yet. I'll be assisting setting up several soon. That's what my certs are for. To get my foot in the door and work my way up.
Certmadman is absolutely right about what us "Experience Light" people are doing by getting certifications. I don't think we're paper certs, though. We're not doing it solely for money. We're doing it to get into the profession we care about and to get the basic framework to learn how to do our jobs the best we can and advance on merit. | |
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| Crescent, I like your attitude. You actually expressed a desire to learn. A lot of people express a desire to make money, money, money and don't really care if they know the product or not.
"I have an MCSE(or CCNA)and a salary survey in this month's tech magazine says that I am supposed to get paid" is the attitude of a lot of people. That's like expecting to be CEO the second day on the job. | |
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| hi
don't know about u guys, we cert = a stepping stone in life to me furthermore, i'm sure we all still wanna learn about the black box, as there's never too much knowledge!
cheers
kingsway |
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