What advice would you have for a business-savy young professional who's having difficulty deciding what the right first certification should be. I've been in the IT field for 2.5 years and have come up through the ranks with a lot of reading and hard work, but I know I need some certification backing. I've had exposure to everything from help desk to project management, as I was recently promoted to IT manager. I'm really interested in eventually running my own business with some sort of finger in e-business. Any thoughts from other professionals in middle/upper management that have certifications that were worth the time & financial investment?

Last edited by dimitrib on 11-19-01 at 08:49 PM

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If you are like me, your IT Manager position is very hands-on technically, not just a people-manager position, but if need be I can outsource things I don't know. I don't need to know intricate programing -- I'll hire a programmer. But what I do need to know is the bigger picture -- system architecture, security issues, and databases. Resource allocation, telecommunications, budgetting, purchasing strategy, etc. I don't need to be a specialist, in fact, it would inhibit me and annoy the technicians. But I do need to know a little bit about everything, and not just about computers, but all the other information devices that live in our office -- voicemail, telephones, etc.

I think you are very smart in wanting to improve your paper worth. After only 2 1/2 years in the biz, your promotion (congrats!) may be a mixed blessing. Being able to claim that title on your resume can be a big bonus -- or a big liability -- when job hunting. For example, after several years in management, if I got laid off tomorrow I might be perfectly willing to take any techie or help desk job I can get in this market: but few employers would be willing to hire me, especially if their IT Manager is unsure of his own performance

If you want to eventually run your own business, I'd think about working toward a business or finance degree of some sort. Not only do you learn the non-technical side of cusiness, but an advanced degree in a finance-related field (like an MBA) can help to greatly improve your perceived worthiness when seeking funding or a line of credit for a venture. Venture capitalists are more careful with their e-money now: they want to see a real businessman with their hands in the business.

Of course, not all of us can go back to school. I think an MCSE would be a good certification to shoot for. You don't need to work on a more entry-level cert like an A+, since you probably already have the knowledge you need at that level. Additionally, databases are essential to e-commerce, and having a well-rounded knowledge of their capabilities (if not necessarily needing to know how to build or fix one) will probably help.

With that in mind, if you take 70-229, 70-228, and 70-215 as the electives for your MCSE you will also have the core MCDBA requirements and only need one more exam to complete both certifications.

Just my $0.02

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Nicole,
That$0.02 is worth far more than that!
I have to agree with all of what you had to say. I don't hold much credit for a degree or MBA but, it will help in the long run. I agree a big picture is what you need to look at and while a Full MCSE/MCDBA is allways going to be good, a smaller cert is going to give you more time to look at other things like RedHat, Cisco which will provide more opertunitys than just the Micro$oft point of view.

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