MCITP / CCNA Certifications

[Sociopathic]

Just curious what people's thoughts are on these certifications, I only found out about them today and 'apparently' they are real good for helping you find a job in IT.

What are your thoughts on these? Hard to get? Worth it at all?

Please share your thoughts, you guys will know about this far more than I do.

[Xirrohon]

These are good starter certifications. You would prob like to also get CompTIAs Net and Sec+ as well.

[Belize]

Well. If you have a college degree that should be plenty to get an IT job. Unless you live in the west-northwest U.S. like parts of Cali and Seattle (whom are stupidly oversaturated) most places are craving college educated CS/CIS majors.

[Vash The Stampede]

A lot of people I know don't get certifications and get jobs. If the job requires it they then go and get certified. Sometimes the job even pays for it.

[Tradewind]

Depends on the other job seekers. A certification can help you stand out a bit more if there's a lot of competition. Can usually help squeak a bit more salary out of the job too, especially if you're consulting or something since they can bill you out to a client at a higher rate.

[Zelendria]

Do you have a degree? Are you young? Are you already in IT?

MCITP is a withdrawn qualification so no point even trying to find that. IIRC MS have moved back to MCSA specializing in various fields.
CCNA is a good starter point into a networking role (I have it), and should set you up for a career in that field of work.

Qualifications can help you stand out, but quite a lot of companies have seen past the paper in recent years. What's better:

Newly qualified CCNA guy
or
Highly experienced guy at the job without the CCNA qualification....

Who trumps who? Formal knowledge or experience. Ideally you would have both

If you're young and without any formal qualifications in IT I'd probably go down the line of 1st line support, and work my way through the pyramid.

[Gaidax]

CCNA is good, it's like alphabet of networking, MCITP is pointless on the other hand.

If you want to work in IT, CCNA is a decent starter, but it's not really something you smash on a table and get torrent of jobs that instant, it's pretty basic and nobody really gives a damn if you have CCNA or not, CCNP is where the shit starts being real - CCNA is like "oh this guy knows some basics".

But... CCNA does teach you the very important fundamental stuff. It's literally like finishing Elementary School of networking, it's important step, but you won't impress anyone with it.


As for whether you need this right this instant? Probably not, but eventually if you do plan a career in networking, you will have it one way or another at some point.

[EyelessCrow]

Well. If you have a college degree that should be plenty to get an IT job. Unless you live in the west-northwest U.S. like parts of Cali and Seattle (whom are stupidly oversaturated) most places are craving college educated CS/CIS majors.

Yeah, I moved from Kansas City to PNW and it was a night and day difference. I got a ton of offers in KC just off my degree alone but I hated the state(s). Out here it was all "what kind of certifications do you have?" I almost got a job at Amazon in Oregon but they did a hiring freeze after giving me a freaking nearly 5 hour interview rotation.