IT Certifications and Careers (Official Discussion Thread)

[Bernie Madoff]

I'm in IT Security. What exactly do you want to know about it?

The company you work for, and all the passwords. Thanks.

 

[Regular Developer]

I haven't read a book in a while. My attention span is too low. I learn by watching videos now and even then, I accelerate the videos to play at 1.5

Yea, i gotta do and then ask when I'm not sure of what to do, otherwise it doesn't resonate.

 

[Apollo Creed]

BREHS, thoughts on getting a MS in Software Engineering? I`m already in Software Dev, and we all know Experience >> all.

My company will pay a % of it (I did the math, it would be 50%), I honestly want to do it just to have a stronger resume, and having a Masters makes it easier to get into an MBA program since many will waive GMAT/GRE if you already have a Masters.

 

[Regular Developer]

BREHS, thoughts on getting a MS in Software Engineering? I`m already in Software Dev, and we all know Experience >> all.

My company will pay a % of it (I did the math, it would be 50%), I honestly want to do it just to have a stronger resume, and having a Masters makes it easier to get into an MBA program since many will waive GMAT/GRE if you already have a Masters.

They gonna pay for you to do it (partially?) I say go for it man.

 

[Apollo Creed]

They gonna pay for you to do it (partially?) I say go for it man.

Yea they cover about half the cost

 

[JT-Money]

The company you work for, and all the passwords. Thanks.

 

[duckbutta]

BREHS, thoughts on getting a MS in Software Engineering? I`m already in Software Dev, and we all know Experience >> all.

My company will pay a % of it (I did the math, it would be 50%), I honestly want to do it just to have a stronger resume, and having a Masters makes it easier to get into an MBA program since many will waive GMAT/GRE if you already have a Masters.

You should know that a masters degree is going to make it hard for you to get another IT job outside of your company if it isn't in management.

As a hiring manager I can tell you first hand that our HR department is trained to tossed away resumes that have anything past a bachelors for any non managerial jobs unless the manager of the department specifically says "give me x number of resumes with master degrees." And since our HR department is full of people who used to work at other HR department, I believe this practice is the norm and not the exception for my company.

The thinking is that someone with an advanced degree is going to want to get into upper management, so even if he is a great sys admin he is going to want to move into the management ranks sooner rather than later and they want you to be a sys admin forever...it's a problem for them if you want to advance past that...seeing as how those positions are usually full or already have some other manager waiting in the wings for them..

Now if you plan to get into management...sure it's a no brainer especially if they are paying 50% which is about as good as you can hope for for a company investing in your future as an employee. But just be aware that IT is a "price yourself out" job market and nothing is going to scream "you have to pay me top dollar" like an advanced degree of any kind.

 

[duckbutta]

For those of yall that dont have a ton of experience, yall need to be building a home lab. You can build a cheap home server to host VMware ESXi(its free) which you can then use to setup an entire domain/network to play with. Even if you dont have the on the job experience, for you to be able to say yes i can and have setup/managed a domain is nice to be able to say.

You can get a dreamspark subscription https://www.dreamspark.com/Student/Software-Catalog.aspx
which will give you all the different Microsoft server products and OS for free too.

so for ~500 you can get experience building a server(will help with your A+) and also get experience with VMware, Microsoft and Networking experience on your own. Plus you will have a server to store all your movies and shyt on.

Easily the best advice in this whole thread.

I owe my cushy 6 figure IT management gig to

1. Tall cheap tower that holds 12 Hard drives
2. Motherboard that supports 32 GB of Ram
3. VMware workstation
4. ESXI 4.1 and Virtual Center 4
5. FreeNas
6. Commercial network router and switch.

Built 2 machines like this...total cost around 1500...but my salary damn near doubled in a 2 year span and led directly to the job I have now...

All the videos in the world won't help you when that shyt really breaks at a real job at 2am and you on the phone like while somebody is telling you the company is losing 52,000 every minute "the site is down"...

Need to get in their and play and break it and fix it yourself

 

[Apollo Creed]

You should know that a masters degree is going to make it hard for you to get another IT job outside of your company if it isn't in management.

As a hiring manager I can tell you first hand that our HR department is trained to tossed away resumes that have anything past a bachelors for any non managerial jobs unless the manager of the department specifically says "give me x number of resumes with master degrees." And since our HR department is full of people who used to work at other HR department, I believe this practice is the norm and not the exception for my company.

The thinking is that someone with an advanced degree is going to want to get into upper management, so even if he is a great sys admin he is going to want to move into the management ranks sooner rather than later and they want you to be a sys admin forever...it's a problem for them if you want to advance past that...seeing as how those positions are usually full or already have some other manager waiting in the wings for them..

Now if you plan to get into management...sure it's a no brainer especially if they are paying 50% which is about as good as you can hope for for a company investing in your future as an employee. But just be aware that IT is a "price yourself out" job market and nothing is going to scream "you have to pay me top dollar" like an advanced degree of any kind.

I mean I know that applies for an MBA, but I didnt think it would for anything else, I would think it would be a notch higher than getting a CBAP or PMP cert. I`m looking to become a Senior Analyst at my company next summer (hopefully via promotion, maybe with a diff team), In general I look at my title and higher titles at other companies to make sure my resume is competitive, and many companies are throwing in Advance Degree preferred but not required. I`m still young, but I would assume a Senior Analyst + MS on my resume would keep me competitive. Of Course getting a MS/MBA and your a Analyst 1 or Developer 1 looks foolish. I wasn't going to touch an MBA unless I was looking to become a Director/exec of a company. I`m just like heck, my job will pay for it, and having an advance degree makes getting an MBA easier.

 

[FreshFromATL]

You should know that a masters degree is going to make it hard for you to get another IT job outside of your company if it isn't in management.

As a hiring manager I can tell you first hand that our HR department is trained to tossed away resumes that have anything past a bachelors for any non managerial jobs unless the manager of the department specifically says "give me x number of resumes with master degrees." And since our HR department is full of people who used to work at other HR department, I believe this practice is the norm and not the exception for my company.

The thinking is that someone with an advanced degree is going to want to get into upper management, so even if he is a great sys admin he is going to want to move into the management ranks sooner rather than later and they want you to be a sys admin forever...it's a problem for them if you want to advance past that...seeing as how those positions are usually full or already have some other manager waiting in the wings for them..

Now if you plan to get into management...sure it's a no brainer especially if they are paying 50% which is about as good as you can hope for for a company investing in your future as an employee. But just be aware that IT is a "price yourself out" job market and nothing is going to scream "you have to pay me top dollar" like an advanced degree of any kind.

LOL...having a Masters Degree has NEVER stopped me from getting an opportunity and has NEVER stop internal/external recruiters from blowing up my phone, breh...NEVER. And I have it listed on my resume, LinkedIn, etc. Matter fact, I don't even recall working around anyone that DOESN'T have a Masters Degree. fukk kinda shop y'all running?

Edit: I work for a fortune 50 here in Atlanta BTW. I don't know what it's like working at a smaller company if that's where you work.

 

[Apollo Creed]

LOL...having a Masters Degree has NEVER stopped me from getting an opportunity and has NEVER stop internal/external recruiters from blowing up my phone, breh...NEVER. And I have it listed on my resume, LinkedIn, etc. Matter fact, I don't even recall working around anyone that DOESN'T have a Masters Degree. fukk kinda shop y'all running?

Edit: I work for a fortune 50 here in Atlanta BTW. I don't know what it's like working at a smaller company if that's where you work.

I`m in ATL too breh

 

[FreshFromATL]

I mean I know that applies for an MBA, but I didnt think it would for anything else, I would think it would be a notch higher than getting a CBAP or PMP cert. I`m looking to become a Senior Analyst at my company next summer (hopefully via promotion, maybe with a diff team), In general I look at my title and higher titles at other companies to make sure my resume is competitive, and many companies are throwing in Advance Degree preferred but not required. I`m still young, but I would assume a Senior Analyst + MS on my resume would keep me competitive. Of Course getting a MS/MBA and your a Analyst 1 or Developer 1 looks foolish. I wasn't going to touch an MBA unless I was looking to become a Director/exec of a company. I`m just like heck, my job will pay for it, and having an advance degree makes getting an MBA easier.

Breh, If your job gonna pay for it, go and get it. It's your world. Also, if you're looking to be a Senior Analyst (I'm assuming a Data Analyst?), why would you be worried about a project manager cert? You should be focusing and building your career towards BI Development. A MBA would definitely help your cause because you'll need to be able to interact and understand the business side of the house and not just the tech side (A lot of people lack that ability). Once again, everyone I've worked with so far in BI has some type of advanced degree.

 

[Apollo Creed]

Breh, If your job gonna pay for it, go and get it. It's your world. Also, if you're looking to be a Senior Analyst (I'm assuming a Data Analyst?), why would you be worried about a project manager cert? You should be focusing and building your career towards BI Development. A MBA would definitely help your cause because you'll need to be able to interact and understand the business side of the house and not just the tech side (A lot of people lack that ability). Once again, everyone I've worked with so far in BI has some type of advanced degree.

I work in software dev as a BA

 

[Bernie Madoff]

I'm going to go through all the Professor Messer videos on youtube and put all the notes and pictures from the video into note form on a blog. I think it will be a lot easier for me to study without having to go through each video every time I want to get some information.

http://studyforyourcerts.blogspot.com/

After I go through all of Messer's videos I'm going to obtain this book

and post whatever study guides I can online with it. I was aiming at having this A+ in May but after talking to some people I think I can be ready for it in about 45 days, we'll see though

 

[FreshFromATL]

I work in software dev as a BA

Oh so you're a business analyst. Well why wouldn't you go and get your MBA? lol