Futur for IT?

Since the future seems to be virtualization and the cloud, what are your thoughts on where to lean. I currently hold my CCA from Citrix and have been playing a lot with XenDesktop and Hyper-V and have recently introduced App-V into the mix. What certifications or what do you guys think would prepare someone for the future?

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jibbajabba

The only certification you need for the future is of the technology you enjoy most. It is not the market which dictates your success, but you are. If XenDesktop and Hyper-V is what you love. Do both. Read up on both certification paths and prioritse.

A hypervisor technology and VDi together are always a good mix so you are on the right path.

DonDeal

jibbajabba wrote: »

The only certification you need for the future is of the technology you enjoy most.

I'd have to respectfully disagree. That's what some colleges tell students when they're picking their college major. You may enjoy something, but that doesn't mean your skills will be marketable down the road. There are many 4 year graduates working at Starbucks and other retail jobs because they can't find employment in their field. My example can be applied to IT certificates, as well.

aderon

You might be interested in starting with a cert path for both cloud AND virtualization. Something like the Cloud route of certs from vmware.

https://mylearn.vmware.com/mgrReg/plan.cfm?plan=32567&ui=www_cert

fredrikjj

DonDeal wrote: »

I'd have to respectfully disagree. That's what some colleges tell students when they're picking their college major. You may enjoy something, but that doesn't mean your skills will be marketable down the road. There are many 4 year graduates working at Starbucks and other retail jobs because they can't find employment in their field. My example can be applied to IT certificates, as well.

You are right about the fact that the market doesn't really care that you are passionate about something, but if you pick something you enjoy (within reason) it's likely that you will study more and become better at it than otherwise. It's also true that chasing the new hot thing isn't necessarily the correct path either because the demand for your skills vary depending on how many other people there are with roughly the same skill set. For example, there's demand for Cobol programmers apparently despite it being a dead language because there's so much existing code to maintain and so few new people who specialize in it.

tpatt100

DonDeal wrote: »

I'd have to respectfully disagree. That's what some colleges tell students when they're picking their college major. You may enjoy something, but that doesn't mean your skills will be marketable down the road. There are many 4 year graduates working at Starbucks and other retail jobs because they can't find employment in their field. My example can be applied to IT certificates, as well.

I think the point of the response was about which "technology" not about which field. Somebody starting out pursuing IT certs should be pursuing the entry level generalist certs and as they advance in the field then worry about the specializations which really should be based on what you are currently doing so the certs add value to your career.

The only thing that can prepare you for the future is figuring out what you are doing currently and find ways to adapt it to trends so your past experience isn't wasted entirely.

jibbajabba

DonDeal wrote: »

I'd have to respectfully disagree. .

How do you expect to excell and become an SME in a technology you hate ? You won't .. you end up hopping through jobs and barely know the basics of the technology in question...

A network guy here was pushed into the role and barely knows the difference between Layer 2 or 3 and can only really copy / paste configs.

Now I am a VMWare guy .. Would I learn for certifications about Linux KVM because someone tells me that it will be marketable in 4 years time ? Of course not .. Technology moves on damn quickly and just because something is "hot" now, it doesn't mean it is still hot by the time you are certified so you may as well do what you enjoy.

Each to their own I suppose

tpatt100

I don't know if you were a VMware specialist it would probably be useful to learn Linux KVM at least at a basic fundamental level so if you were to go to a mixed environment or a place looking to migrate to or from VMware it might be an advantage. At least the two technologies are related in some way, what wouldn't make sense would be to start pursuing Cisco because of some emerging trend if you are a specialist in VMware.

DonDeal

OP, should be more specific on whether he simply wants to increase his knowledge or make himself more marketable in the future.

UnixGuy

tpatt100 wrote: »

.. At least the two technologies are related in some way, what wouldn't make sense would be to start pursuing Cisco because of some emerging trend if you are a specialist in VMware.

+1 and if you're good at VMware, picking up Linux KVM won't be that hard either. It's always smart to diversify your experience within reason. I should follow my own advice because I'm bad at diversifying my experience....