certifications -- thoughts?

[kr651129]

This might be the wrong place to put this but I thought it was the best unless a mod tells me otherwise.

I'm a Windows System Admin and I've been in the business since I was a kid, never had any formal training. Never even got my A+ so I'm suprised that I got this far without any actual training. So I'm back in college for IT because I want to further my career. I'm taking the A+ certification next week just to be able to ask for a pay bump this year.

I'm thinking about the Linux+ certification, has anyone here taken it? What do they think of it's worth and has it helped you in your career in IT at all?

I don't want to get Microsoft certified but it's the way the world works so I know I'm going to have to, any sugestions on what should be after A+, Linux+, Server+, and Security+

Thanks for all the input!!

[simeon87]

I don't want to get Microsoft certified but it's the way the world works so I know I'm going to have to

Why do you think that? Countless people in IT don't have a degree and they've made it as well. You don't want to work for employers who look for certifications rather than skills anyway.

[karlson]

I'm thinking about the Linux+ certification, has anyone here taken it? What do they think of it's worth and has it helped you in your career in IT at all?

No but I have had others.

Unless you can find a job posting on Monster or otherwise that has it as a requirement or a preference you can assume it's worth your satisfaction of knowing you have passed.

[kr651129]

Well I said that's the way the world is in regards to it's a microsoft world and I'd rather it be Linux.

I have experience because it's what I've been doing my whole life and I'm already a system admin but I want to get into coding and project mgmt and I need to complete my degree for that

I want to get certified to 1. Keep up to date 2. Have a competitive edge in the interview process and 3. Moral booster (Kinda like a post count )

[karlson]

Well I said that's the way the world is in regards to it's a microsoft world and I'd rather it be Linux.

I have experience because it's what I've been doing my whole life and I'm already a system admin but I want to get into coding and project mgmt and I need to complete my degree for that

I want to get certified to 1. Keep up to date 2. Have a competitive edge in the interview process and 3. Moral booster (Kinda like a post count )

I had CSA, MCSE, RHCE and I don't remember anyone looking for these. CCIE on the other hand has had a direct impact on salary. So what I can tell you is this:

1. Learning the obscure features of Linux that most people don't use is not keeping up to date.
2. Unless you can find a job description that talks about certification it won't help you. Piece of paper is not a substitute for experience.
3. This one I can see.

[slavik]

when you are being interviewed, the interviewer (if he knows what he is doing) will be looking for the following 3 things:
1. knowledge - do you know enough for the job (you can't always know 100% of the subject or everything that is needed)
2. thought - based on knowledge, can you think about a problem that you might not have come up against? example: using a tool you know enough about to do something that you have never done before
3. clue - if you are dropped into the control room of a nuclear power plant, do you proceed to press every button and turn every dial randomly or will you try to figure out how the damn thing works

typical types of questions:
1. how does X work? if there is a problem Y with Z, what is the likely solution?
2. using X, do Y (writing a small program or some such).
3. you are told to reboot a server hosting an application that makes gazillion dollars per second, what do you do?

[Dragonbite]

3. you are told to reboot a server hosting an application that makes gazillion dollars per second, what do you do?

Tell the intern to push the cherry red button and blame him for it! Why would *I* tell him to do such an obvious, dangerous thing?! Probably a good thing we find out how impulsive he is now, rather than when he's working on something really, really important...

[karlson]

Tell the intern to push the cherry red button and blame him for it! Why would *I* tell him to do such an obvious, dangerous thing?! Probably a good thing we find out how impulsive he is now, rather than when he's working on something really, really important...

That's just evil! I like it!