IT Certifications and Careers (Official Discussion Thread)

[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

 

[Apollo Creed]

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

I Didnt think It would be beneficial prior to being a manager, seemed best for when you want to be a director or above.

 

[duckbutta]

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.

First of all, how would you even know what a masters degree has helped you do or hasn't helped you do?

You can only speak about the job you did get. You can't speak about the job they never called you back about because it is highly unlikely they ever called you back to tell you why they not calling you back...

If everyone at your company has a masters degree...and you working in IT...you either working in management or you working in some weirdo utopia IT place and you should never leave their...ever...I mean fukking ever...

As someone who works in management, and is a hiring manager...and works closely with an HR department full of people who have worked at HR departments for other fortune 100 companies...I promise you...to many certs...to many degrees...to advanced of a degree...and somebody somewhere is going to say "no this guy is to perfect is going to want to much money want to move into a management position that we don't even have is going to become a headache that we don't want to deal with so let's look at someone else who is less polished and sees this job as a opportunity and not a stepping stone."

You say you don't know what it's like working at a smaller company...and it's highly likely you never will, because it is the smaller companies that are the ones that are going to look at your advanced degree and say "nope to much can't do it guy will want to much money I got 178k max to pay an IT department and this guy and his masters degree are going to want almost all of it"

Also the bit about recruiters blowing up your phone is so beyond useless as to have no merit whatsoever...I get recruiters blowing up my phone for windows admin positions where my title for the last 3 years are so far past that AND I haven't done windows administration for over 4 years...

Yet Smita from Technoscope Resources calls me every 72 hours telling me how some windows admin job in dikkinthass, Iowa is perfect for me and all I need to do is send her my resume with my rate and she can get me an interview by Friday...

 

[Apollo Creed]

First of all, how would you even know what a masters degree has helped you do or hasn't helped you do?

You can only speak about the job you did get. You can't speak about the job they never called you back about because it is highly unlikely they ever called you back to tell you why they not calling you back...

If everyone at your company has a masters degree...and you working in IT...you either working in management or you working in some weirdo utopia IT place and you should never leave their...ever...I mean fukking ever...

As someone who works in management, and is a hiring manager...and works closely with an HR department full of people who have worked at HR departments for other fortune 100 companies...I promise you...to many certs...to many degrees...to advanced of a degree...and somebody somewhere is going to say "no this guy is to perfect is going to want to much money want to move into a management position that we don't even have is going to become a headache that we don't want to deal with so let's look at someone else who is less polished and sees this job as a opportunity and not a stepping stone."

You say you don't know what it's like working at a smaller company...and it's highly likely you never will, because it is the smaller companies that are the ones that are going to look at your advanced degree and say "nope to much can't do it guy will want to much money I got 178k max to pay an IT department and this guy and his masters degree are going to want almost all of it"

Also the bit about recruiters blowing up your phone is so beyond useless as to have no merit whatsoever...I get recruiters blowing up my phone for windows admin positions where my title for the last 3 years are so far past that AND I haven't done windows administration for over 4 years...

Yet Smita from Technoscope Resources calls me every 72 hours telling me how some windows admin job in dikkinthass, Iowa is perfect for me and all I need to do is send her my resume with my rate and she can get me an interview by Friday...

wut I`m gone do breh

 

[duckbutta]

wut I`m gone do breh

That's the cost of advanced degrees breh in any field...there is always going to be that section of the field that thinks that since you got an advanced degree...you paid a 100 grand for it and now you think you better than everyone and now you won't work less for 100k and this section of the field thinks all of this about you just by looking at your resume to see where your advanced degree is from...

Sure I told this story before...but I know this network guy...ridiculously good...he retired...got bored...wanted to get a gig...DID NOT WANT a lot of responsibility or big title or fancy job with long hours just something to suck up 40 hours of his week...ha a CISSP...that is a big boy cisco cert..and when this dude left he was making WELL over 100k...

So he throws his resume out there...he is getting a ton of responses from the big box companies...but he doesn't want another 100k 60 hour work week job...just 40 at max and super easy work...all he ever got was big box companies trying to get him back into the chief network security role...

So he takes his CISSP off his resume..takes everything off except his ccna...and this dude starts getting calls all day every day...and he is getting calls from just some random local dallas place who needs a network guy to resolve network issues between their office that only has 50 users and this is EXACTLY what he wants...

These type of jobs were not going to even call him after they saw a CISSP...that's a big boy network security cert...all they need is some guy to come in and set up some routers and switches and open some ports...shyt these might not even be enterprise level equipment...aint no way in hell they going to even consider a guy who has a cert that carries an AVERAGE salary of around 100k...

Education...like everything else in this country...has a cost...and like everything else...the real cost of it is NOT the money put into it

 

[Apollo Creed]

That's the cost of advanced degrees breh in any field...there is always going to be that section of the field that thinks that since you got an advanced degree...you paid a 100 grand for it and now you think you better than everyone and now you won't work less for 100k and this section of the field thinks all of this about you just by looking at your resume to see where your advanced degree is from...

Sure I told this story before...but I know this network guy...ridiculously good...he retired...got bored...wanted to get a gig...DID NOT WANT a lot of responsibility or big title or fancy job with long hours just something to suck up 40 hours of his week...ha a CISSP...that is a big boy cisco cert..and when this dude left he was making WELL over 100k...

So he throws his resume out there...he is getting a ton of responses from the big box companies...but he doesn't want another 100k 60 hour work week job...just 40 at max and super easy work...all he ever got was big box companies trying to get him back into the chief network security role...

So he takes his CISSP off his resume..takes everything off except his ccna...and this dude starts getting calls all day every day...and he is getting calls from just some random local dallas place who needs a network guy to resolve network issues between their office that only has 50 users and this is EXACTLY what he wants...

These type of jobs were not going to even call him after they saw a CISSP...that's a big boy network security cert...all they need is some guy to come in and set up some routers and switches and open some ports...shyt these might not even be enterprise level equipment...aint no way in hell they going to even consider a guy who has a cert that carries an AVERAGE salary of around 100k...

Education...like everything else in this country...has a cost...and like everything else...the real cost of it is NOT the money put into it

I`m not looking to be in another entry level/junior roles, I mean I`m still young but I would not leave my job and take less than a senior role, that would be hustling backwards. I`m not planning on leaving my company, just trying to keep my resume competitive, and be one of the top BAs in my company. My company is majority filled with people close to retirement age, so even though I don't plan on spending my whole life in private sector being an employe, I could realistically become a director, if I decided to put in the years of work (I of course plan on having side businesses so thats another subject). At the end of the day though I want to stay relevant,the days are over of staying 20-40 yrs at a company.

 

[FreshFromATL]

First of all, how would you even know what a masters degree has helped you do or hasn't helped you do?

You can only speak about the job you did get. You can't speak about the job they never called you back about because it is highly unlikely they ever called you back to tell you why they not calling you back...

If everyone at your company has a masters degree...and you working in IT...you either working in management or you working in some weirdo utopia IT place and you should never leave their...ever...I mean fukking ever...

As someone who works in management, and is a hiring manager...and works closely with an HR department full of people who have worked at HR departments for other fortune 100 companies...I promise you...to many certs...to many degrees...to advanced of a degree...and somebody somewhere is going to say "no this guy is to perfect is going to want to much money want to move into a management position that we don't even have is going to become a headache that we don't want to deal with so let's look at someone else who is less polished and sees this job as a opportunity and not a stepping stone."

You say you don't know what it's like working at a smaller company...and it's highly likely you never will, because it is the smaller companies that are the ones that are going to look at your advanced degree and say "nope to much can't do it guy will want to much money I got 178k max to pay an IT department and this guy and his masters degree are going to want almost all of it"

Also the bit about recruiters blowing up your phone is so beyond useless as to have no merit whatsoever...I get recruiters blowing up my phone for windows admin positions where my title for the last 3 years are so far past that AND I haven't done windows administration for over 4 years...

Yet Smita from Technoscope Resources calls me every 72 hours telling me how some windows admin job in dikkinthass, Iowa is perfect for me and all I need to do is send her my resume with my rate and she can get me an interview by Friday...

We just gonna have to agree to disagree (on the theory that you shouldn't get an advanced degree). Not saying your experience is wrong (matter fact you're right in some cases) but I don't regret my MBA at all and I'm never gonna not list it on my resume because some hiring manager somewhere might get shook that I'll be looking to take his job or my salary demands might be too high, lmao. I work in the Business Intelligence world (Senior BI Developer) and my MBA has helped me greatly because I can get down on the tech side as well as interact and understand the needs of business units in a way that most tech people can't...and for THAT very reason...you damn right I'm asking for a high-ass salary and if a company ain't willing to meet it then It's plenty of companies willing to throw $$$ at high level skillsets with advanced degrees. Once again i don't know where you work but in Atlanta, cats I know in the field as well as myself haven't had any problems.

@CashmereEsquire you do what you gonna do but don't be one salty when a young nikka come through and straight pass you by.

 

[Apollo Creed]

We just gonna have to agree to disagree (on the theory that you shouldn't get an advanced degree). Not saying your experience is wrong (matter fact you're right in some cases) but I don't regret my MBA at all and I'm never gonna not list it on my resume because some hiring manager somewhere might get shook that I'll be looking to take his job or my salary demands might be too high, lmao. I work in the Business Intelligence world (Senior BI Developer) and my MBA has helped me greatly because I can get down on the tech side as well as interact and understand the needs of business units in a way that most tech people can't...and for THAT very reason...you damn right I'm asking for a high-ass salary and if a company ain't willing to meet it then It's plenty of companies willing to throw $$$ at high level skillsets with advanced degrees. Once again i don't know where you work but in Atlanta, cats I know in the field as well as myself haven't had any problems.

@CashmereEsquire you do what you gonna do but don't be one salty when a young nikka come through and straight pass you by.

Any specific BI tools you recommend looking into just to get familiar with? Industry constantly changing so when you get into a gig you can get comfortable and outside your company a ton of stuff could be diff from the time you got in.

 

[Regular Developer]

We just gonna have to agree to disagree (on the theory that you shouldn't get an advanced degree). Not saying your experience is wrong (matter fact you're right in some cases) but I don't regret my MBA at all and I'm never gonna not list it on my resume because some hiring manager somewhere might get shook that I'll be looking to take his job or my salary demands might be too high, lmao. I work in the Business Intelligence world (Senior BI Developer) and my MBA has helped me greatly because I can get down on the tech side as well as interact and understand the needs of business units in a way that most tech people can't...and for THAT very reason...you damn right I'm asking for a high-ass salary and if a company ain't willing to meet it then It's plenty of companies willing to throw $$$ at high level skillsets with advanced degrees. Once again i don't know where you work but in Atlanta, cats I know in the field as well as myself haven't had any problems.

@CashmereEsquire you do what you gonna do but don't be one salty when a young nikka come through and straight pass you by.

I'm working in BI as well as a couple colleagues I started out with. None of us have advanced degrees and are eating pretty well as well. As far as interacting with the business, after a couple of years experience working with business users, its that difficult how to figure out what they need. I think the main issue is the personality of tech ppl. From what I see in BI, though, most people here aren't technical enough. Got me wading through these bs ass data models...

 

[FreshFromATL]

Any specific BI tools you recommend looking into just to get familiar with? Industry constantly changing so when you get into a gig you can get comfortable and outside your company a ton of stuff could be diff from the time you got in.

There's so many different tools depending on the type of systems y'all run. You have Microsoft's stack of BI Tools (SQL Server, SSIS, SSRS, SSAS), you have Oracle, you have Business Objects, you have shyt like SAS, Tableau, Qlikview, Informatica, Microstrategy, and then you have big data systems like Teradata, Hadoop, and all that. I would just advise you to learn the concepts of BI (you have some school programs dedicated to that) and once you understand it, you'll kind of know what tools fit where. BI is a huge-ass subject that will take some time to learn.

I'm working in BI as well as a couple colleagues I started out with. None of us have advanced degrees and are eating pretty well as well. As far as interacting with the business, after a couple of years experience working with business users, its that difficult how to figure out what they need. I think the main issue is the personality of tech ppl. From what I see in BI, though, most people here aren't technical enough. Got me wading through these bs ass data models...

Yea most people aren't technical enough. Hell, you have a lot of people in BI that can't even write SQL.

 

[Regular Developer]

There's so many different tools depending on the type of systems y'all run. You have Microsoft's stack of BI Tools (SQL Server, SSIS, SSRS, SSAS), you have Oracle, you have Business Objects, you have shyt like SAS, Tableau, Qlikview, Informatica, Microstrategy, and then you have big data systems like Teradata, Hadoop, and all that. I would just advise you to learn the concepts of BI (you have some school programs dedicated to that) and once you understand it, you'll kind of know what tools fit where. BI is a huge-ass subject that will take some time to learn.



Yea most people aren't technical enough. Hell, you have a lot of people in BI that can't even write SQL.

Thats so crazy to me. SQLs learning curve is so flat.

I'm on the Qlikview side of things. Its pretty fun, but I was the only black person the first conference I went to. I had one black couple come up to me and ask me if I worked at the resort we were at. I was like, I know I'm black, but damn bro.

 

[FreshFromATL]

Thats so crazy to me. SQLs learning curve is so flat.

I'm on the Qlikview side of things. Its pretty fun, but I was the only black person the first conference I went to. I had one black couple come up to me and ask me if I worked at the resort we were at. I was like, I know I'm black, but damn bro.

Lol it was like that for me when I went to a Tableau conference. How do you like Qlik? I'm working a lot with Tableau and Microstrategy right now...

 

[Regular Developer]

Lol it was like that for me when I went to a Tableau conference. How do you like Qlik? I'm working a lot with Tableau and Microstrategy right now...

O cool! I got a look at Tableau. The ease of use for self service on the business user end is great. And some of them charts man, look great. I haven't seen much of microstrategy.

I really enjoy Qlikview though. Its definitely more of a tool for IT to direct on. It allows you to build a data model in qlikview quickly, so you don't have to worry about building it out in a database first. And while the charts and UI are kinda shytty, they have this thing called extension objects that allow you to customize an application with javascript. Luckily, with my time using it, I've been able to create some dope and useful applications/dashboards.

How's life with those tools?

 

[Ice_MF_Mike]

That's the cost of advanced degrees breh in any field...there is always going to be that section of the field that thinks that since you got an advanced degree...you paid a 100 grand for it and now you think you better than everyone and now you won't work less for 100k and this section of the field thinks all of this about you just by looking at your resume to see where your advanced degree is from...

Sure I told this story before...but I know this network guy...ridiculously good...he retired...got bored...wanted to get a gig...DID NOT WANT a lot of responsibility or big title or fancy job with long hours just something to suck up 40 hours of his week...ha a CISSP...that is a big boy cisco cert..and when this dude left he was making WELL over 100k...

So he throws his resume out there...he is getting a ton of responses from the big box companies...but he doesn't want another 100k 60 hour work week job...just 40 at max and super easy work...all he ever got was big box companies trying to get him back into the chief network security role...

So he takes his CISSP off his resume..takes everything off except his ccna...and this dude starts getting calls all day every day...and he is getting calls from just some random local dallas place who needs a network guy to resolve network issues between their office that only has 50 users and this is EXACTLY what he wants...

These type of jobs were not going to even call him after they saw a CISSP...that's a big boy network security cert...all they need is some guy to come in and set up some routers and switches and open some ports...shyt these might not even be enterprise level equipment...aint no way in hell they going to even consider a guy who has a cert that carries an AVERAGE salary of around 100k...

Education...like everything else in this country...has a cost...and like everything else...the real cost of it is NOT the money put into it

CISSP isnt a cisco cert nor is it a networking cert.

Regarding a masters, its all about what you want to do. There is no purpose getting a masters if you want to be a sysadmin. but there are plenty IT roles where a MS will serve you well. Anything in the security sector for example will respect a MS. Solution architect, consulting, sales engineering type roles all would welcome them as well. So to the person whose company will pay for it, thats free money. Go get that. Then you can decide who you want to leverage it.