Justifying / Defending certifications?

At this point I want to become viable enough for entry level help desk support with a path to a junior role in either networking or systems admin. I only have about ~3 years of doing external end-user technical support at the moment, but this doesn't seem to translate very well to an enterprise environment supporting internal clients since my previous work was an inbound call center.

I currently have A+ and Net+ with 1/3 of MCSA Server 2012 R2. As I continue with MCSA, I'm starting to have doubts if this is a justifiable certification to pursue because I do not yet have experience in IT proper.

From my understanding, the typical path is someone who starts in help desk and is promoted from within to learn on the job while the employer pays for certification to justify their role after the fact. This is assuming that Tier 1/2 etc tasks will provide some marginal exposure to the OS.

There apparently is an expectation/ideal prerequisite that someone studying for MCSA already has 2 years of experience working in a live environment. My concern is that I will not be taken seriously if I have an MCSA that is not associated with live experience using that OS. I have a student copy of 2012 R2 installed on another machine that I've been tinkering with, but there's only so much I can do in a SOHO environment.

Does it make sense to get this MCSA before I even have a chance to get close to it in a production environment? I'm trying be realistic in expecting that Tier 1 help desk is my only option given my background, but it appears that an MCSA in supporting Windows 7/8 clients makes more sense as a "stepping stone" that I can justify at this point.

Thoughts?

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Comments

Chitownjedi

Why would anyone hold you pursuing your education against you? Those who have an issue, they probably aren't very smart, and would have probably eliminated you for a ton of other superficial reasons other than you showing you care/interested/motivated to improve your skills.

Don't worry about it. Pursue education, lab while you can, and keep trying. Worrying about things outside of your control? /shrug < Don't waste your time.

voytzik

Fair enough, it's just that I'm in a set of circumstances where I have to be smart about using the most of my time on certifications that "make sense" in terms of my current trajectory, and 2012 R2 is starting to look like it's a "skip" ahead of other certifications that may be more relevant to a starting generalist.

Since I am an outsider to the industry, I don't know what I don't know and specializing too early may not be the most effective use of my time. It would be nice to understand more about how all the IT pieces fit together in an environment and understanding the relative hierarchy of roles/responsibilities that tend to exist in a company. Apparently that's not so cut and dry as I read that many job titles are a unique combination of skillsets rather than isolated specializations.

The more I think about it, certs like Sec+, Linux+ and CCNA seem to make more sense to accomplish before Server 2012. The last thing I want is to work on certifications that I cannot justify with no work experience, akin to being a paper tiger as they say.

Heero

First of all, you don't have to list all of your certs on your resume if you don't want to, or if you feel the employer might look down on some specific cert(s).

Second, studying for certs is a very good way to learn new stuff. You may lack experience implementing/troubleshooting in the real world, but at least you have a base level of knowledge to draw from. It is a lot better than knowing nothing.

I did my CCNP before I got my first job. I was in college at the time and figured why not? The real issue are the people who spend a long time trying to earn certs before they break into the field professionally. If you have no experience, the certs are not going to be anywhere near as valuable as if you did have the experience. However, they are still valuable in the job search and in your education.

I guess the big take-away is that you shouldn't spend 2 year "certing-up" before trying to enter the field. Try to get into IT early on in the process so that you can get experience while studying for more certs at the same time.

Chitownjedi

Chitownjedi wrote: »

Why would anyone hold you pursuing your education against you? Those who have an issue, they probably aren't very smart, and would have probably eliminated you for a ton of other superficial reasons other than you showing you care/interested/motivated to improve your skills.

Don't worry about it. Pursue education, lab while you can, and keep trying. Worrying about things outside of your control? /shrug < Don't waste your time.

They'd love to hire an MCSA for cheap on the front lines. Finish it up, and get Security+ ... you will still get tons of people recruiting you for entry level gigs. I still get help Desk Level 1 jobs sent to me. My Wife was a hair stylist before getting her A+, she's had 3 contracts so far in the last 12 months with no IT experience what so ever. You have some experience... you will be FINE. It's more about your soft skills at this point.

Polynomial

Chitownjedi wrote: »

Why would anyone hold you pursuing your education against you? Those who have an issue, they probably aren't very smart, and would have probably eliminated you for a ton of other superficial reasons other than you showing you care/interested/motivated to improve your skills.

My Master's degree scared off a handful of employers during my last job search. I **** you not.

voytzik

The feedback and perspective is appreciated, I'll keep at it and get over my interview jitters to sell myself well while I'm studying rather than continuously wanting to prepare myself and never get any results.

ande0255

I got my CCNA before I had any IT experience at all, and it opened a lot of doors for me in the beginning, and helped me land an interview for my current job as a network engineer (though I don't consider myself at an engineer level just quite yet).

There is absolutely nothing wrong with learning and getting certified, just keep working to find a position that supplements that knowledge, I wouldn't sit around at the same company for an extended period of time waiting for something to open up. That is how you go stagnant, and that's when those aging certifications are just dead weight.

tkerber

I agree with all of the above. Don't ever let anyone make you think your certs or education aren't worth it. If you're learning from it, than it's positive in my mind. Plus the MCSA is a good cert to have, I've noticed several entry-level and mid-level positions either 'require' or 'prefer' a candidate with an MCSA.

damsel_in_tha_net

Chitownjedi wrote: »

Why would anyone hold you pursuing your education against you?

i have tons of certs (amassed over 12+ years) and back when i was on the job market i got all kinds of negative remarks about it. even with experience, when they see that, it's like i get put into a box.

if i ever look for a job again, i may opt to just list skills and mention certs in the cover letter if they're required.

Jon_Cisco

The most important thing is you have to start somewhere. It is very easy to sit back and worry about doing the exact right thing. Since such a thing probably does not exist you could get stuck in the worry stage and never go apply for a job.

Certs work two ways. They can expose you to new things or they can confirm you have already been exposed to them.

Don't let anyone convince you that bettering yourself is a bad idea. The world is full of doubters.

Good Luck!

ande0255

How did you list your certs that you received poor feedback? I would only list 1 or maybe 2 certs per vendor, that are in a simple format to read, not ones that have exam numbers in them or relatively unknown acronym. I think things like MCSE, CCNP, VCP, CISSP would be completely fine though, I'm not sure how someone would give you negative marks for that, unless it's RouteMyPacket doing the interview

Pupil

The way I see certifications is they can only help you and not harm you. If you have them, it's a plus. If you don't wish to inform the employer about them, you can just leave them off your resume. But if they are expecting certs and you don't have them, you lose.

N2IT

Polynomial wrote: »

My Master's degree scared off a handful of employers during my last job search. I **** you not.

Of course - This is a no brainer.

I rarely keep my on my resume, I get less hits with it on than without it on.

Only time it seems to help is when I am going for management positions. People don't want higher educated people under them. You are a threat for obviously reasons and they are insecure. Rightfully so, my last positions was funny. My manager made all sorts of terrible decisions. Silo himself with a couple of guys never addressing other parts of the team. It was really weird to be honest.

I had an awesome managerial mentor for 2 years. The guy was one of the best I swear and I learned A LOT. More than any masters could teach you, but throw an MBA on top of that and other management positions I have had in the past and you get a damn good manager. I know what the hell I am doing, but I can assure you most don't.

If you masters was in CS it wouldn't be a problem. IMO

brianeaglesfan

Polynomial wrote: »

My Master's degree scared off a handful of employers during my last job search. I **** you not.

Mine did too. Like others have recommended with certs, I actually left it off for a time just to progress through the lower ranks to build experience. Now I am in a place where it is valued.

dbzrfl

Keep in good spirits try not to let yourself get discouraged or anyone else get to you.

daviddws

brianeaglesfan wrote: »

Mine did too. Like others have recommended with certs, I actually left it off for a time just to progress through the lower ranks to build experience. Now I am in a place where it is valued.

I can't wait to be in that place....