Certifications and IT jobs/Salaries

Author

job prospects...

Bannaman

2003-02-27, 3:10 am

hey people, how r u all doin...i aint been around these forums for a long time since u guys all helped with my first mcse exams the 210 and 215. Well i have completed my mcse doing electives in designing security, migrating NT and Exchange 2000. I have some expereince, but am finding it difficult finding work in the uk. The situation is not good, so i wanted to hear peoples thoughts and advise.

thanks in advance....

jackiechan

2003-02-27, 8:32 am

MCSE was a good cert but now it does not have the prestige as it use to. Get into .NET especially VB there is demand for this.

Bannaman

2003-02-27, 9:57 am

yeah i guess ur right...but its difficult breaking into the market. I choose good interesting electives as well...but it dont have the old use really. Vb is good, i have expereince in the old vb but not the new .NET. I wanted to stay in the networking field and perphaps move onto security later and cisco...but the markets so bad....

Spides

2003-03-05, 8:43 pm

Bannaman, your an MCSE and you live in London, you should be laughing. Perhaps your aiming too high. Are you working at the moment. I worked in London for a year with Computacenter. Give www.jobserve.co.uk a good hammering and send your CV to some agencies. Expand the truth on your CV a bit, if you can talk the fight as it were then you can get your foot in the door. I've worked with MCSE' swho didn't have a clue. I'm doing my 70-216 exam next week so I'm three off MCSE. Already done the Cisco thing. Good Luck, let us know how you go!!

Kasor

2003-03-07, 11:21 pm

Good luck to you guy...

Remember certification is not like used to be. The abuse of use and lack of trust on many certification holder and weak eco market.

JOB is hard to come by.. So..

aslee0

2003-03-08, 9:34 am

Certs are worth a lot less... Heres my take on the heirarchy.

1. Experience
2. University Degree
3. Certs
4. Willingness to work for scraps.
5. General Attitude and Social abilities (which is important for those HR people)

maybe its more like 1, 4, 2, 3, and then 5?

darthw

2003-03-11, 8:19 am

I would agree with aslee0 as well. Most of the jobs available require at least a BA or BS, and experience. I do think the certs are worthwhile, but a bit lower on the scale, and they should be. Customer Service skills are certainly important to be sure.

Each job requirement on it's own does not fulfill every need for an individual. Job experience can be limited to heavy exposure to a few topics - like mainly desktop support or mainly database administration. A degree is often a little bit of exposure to a lot of different subjects, including things like Humanities, college Algebra, Statistics, etc., that may not have direct computer application, but the subject matter can often be applied in some way to the work. Certifications often only give an overall foundation of what vendor's products can do, but they can fill in gaps on subjects not learned via experience or a degree.

Willingness to work for scraps is a temporary thing, I hope.

Interestingly, when I started in IT, I got a hard time from several techs, who had more experience than I, telling me that "college is worthless", and as I surpassed many of the in certifications, "certifications are worthless". Now, without exception, most of them are either stuck in the same rut that we were all in years ago, while I have moved on. For the few that also got some certs and moved on as well, I have stayed "ahead of the pack". I am not bragging. A couple of the techs are technically very talented, but I have little doubt my education has shown employers a willingness and ability to learn, discipline, and dedication. My experience has complemented that education well, and my ability to communicate effectively (customer service, if you will) has helped as well.

Indeed all this can be challenging to acquire. In the long run, however, I have found it worthwhile.

Spides

2003-03-11, 7:31 pm

Fair play if you have a degree but I do not have four years to spare in order to obtain a degree. I have CCNA and two away from MCSE, I have limited experience with Cisco and Microsoft 2000 and I don't think a degree would of helped with my job. I work with a guy with a degree and he doesn't use any of the subjects he had to study, all his knowledge was gained through Microsoft certs. I'd love a degree but I can't see it happening

darthw

2003-03-12, 10:00 pm

quote:
and I don't think a degree would of helped with my job. I work with a guy with a degree and he doesn't use any of the subjects he had to study

Too bad. If your co-worker has not shown that he uses any of the skills he learned in college, perhaps he is using them, but it is not blatantly obvious.

I have a B.A. in English and a couple A.A.S. degrees in Comp. Sci. , and believe it, or not I use what I learned daily from all my degrees. I've used the knowledge from the English degree to put together proposals and documentation, such would have looked grammatically horrible without it. I also minored in Speech, and from those courses I have been able to do training and presentations much more effectively. Obviously, the business courses have at least helped with much of the terminology.

I worked full time while pursuing all my schooling. If I am able to do it, anyone can. I would encourage anyone to find a way to earn a degree. No, graduating won't provide guarantees, and not every college graduate is a genius. However, in most cases it will be very worthwhile.

Barring that, certainly continuing to study for certifications and trying to get experience will be very worthwhile. Most of the techs I have and do work with have no schooling or certifications of any type (and a few of those probably shouldn't have become technicians - in my humble opinion). So, by gaining the certs as well, your opportunity to look better in a pile of resumes is more promising than someone with no certs and no experience.

Sponsored Links