Top IT certs

What TWO certs do you think EVERY employee in IT should have as a requirement.

I know there are a million variables such as expierence and career tracks, but if there was a req to have two certs, which would you choose for yourself and your coworkers.

I say CCNA or equivalent and CISSP or equivalent.

Life would be great if all my coworkers had these...

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Comments

4_lom

I think it really depends on the area of IT that the person works in. For example, I would expect a Network Engineer to at least have a CCNA, but I wouldn't expect the same of Systems Engineer.

So, based on that, here's my opinion:

Network Engineer:
CCNA
Network+ (?)

Systems Engineer
Server 2012 R2 MCSA
MCSE (Communications, Messaging, Desktop Infra, Server Infra, etc) (Their choice of MCSE depending on what interests them)

Security Engineer (My knowledge of the security certifications isn't he greatest....)
(This would largely depend on whether they are in a CSO position or a more technical position, such as pentester)
Security+ and CEH

ITSpectre

Network Engineer
- CCNA/CCNP

System Admin
- MCSA/MCSE

Linux Admin
- RHCSA/RHCE

Penetration Tester
- OSCP/eJPT

CIO/Infosec Manager
- CISSP

HR Dept
ITIL Foundations
HRCI

Field Services
- A+, Net+

Data center tech
- MCSA/MCSE

Help Desk Personnel
- A+, Net+, or Sec+
- ITIL Foundation

Help Desk Lead/Manager
A+, Net+ or
A+ Sec+ or
Sec+, Net+
ITIL Foundations
MCSA or HDI

Watch officer
CISSP
GSEC
OSCP

NetOps Personel
CCNA/Net+
MTA/MCP

SysOps team
MCSA/MCSE
MTA/MCP

SysOps Lead/Net Ops Lead
CCNP/MCSE/

This is just a basic guide that I came up with.....

Ritual

If I had to pick two as "universal baseline", it would be a certification in Windows and Linux. Think like RHCSA/Linux+/LinuxFoundations, and the MCSA in Windows, Windows Server.

Anything beyond that, depends on the job. Some people never need to know how to do networking, or how to harden systems, or how to setup servers. But the universal thing EVERYONE needs to know, is how to use their operating systems.

devilbones

If its for a DoD position, you will need SEC+ CE and an OS cert. Cant go wrong with those two.

Remedymp

I'm very surprised that CASP is not mentioned.

OctalDump

Remedymp wrote: »

I'm very surprised that CASP is not mentioned.

I'm not.

Definitely I think Security+ or equivalent is needed for everyone in IT. And something like ITIL Foundation, so that people can put it into an organisational context and have some structure to their approach.