End of certifications :(

DevilWAH

Well after being certified for over 10 years it comes to an end this month.

Due to family illness and parenthood the task of keeping my certs updated is not longer a priority. So I am letting them elapse at the end of the month. I am still heavily involved in networking, but no more certs for me!

Been fun

TheFORCE

You spend time and effort on those certs, I wouldn't let them expire if i was you. If you only have the ones on your profile then you only need to maintain the CCNP since that will renew all the lower certs. So really you only have 1 to maintain and that should be easy since you are still working on networks.

negru_tudor

DevilWAH wrote: »

Well after being certified for over 10 years it comes to an end this month.

Due to family illness and parenthood the task of keeping my certs updated is not longer a priority. So I am letting them elapse at the end of the month. I am still heavily involved in networking, but no more certs for me!

Been fun

..

I see where you're coming from but it'll be a shame to just let them expire seeing how you put in time and resources. Just take SWITCH again. If you're doing networking etc. on a daily basis I'm pretty sure you'll knock it out of the park and that will renew all your other Cisco certs.

brewboy

I totally know where you are coming from. I almost let my CCNP expire but sucked it up and passed T-Shoot a few months ago. I will never stop reading and learning but certing for 15 years may be enough. My 4 co-workers let their CCNA's and CCNP's expire and they are still amazing engineers. Then again, I may change my mind in 2.5 years and re-cert.

hurricane1091

My boss let his CCNP expire after it stopped really meaning anything. I'm in no position to let mine expire of course, but if I had 10+ years experience and was a Sr Network Engineer for at least half of those years, I probably wouldn't need the CCNP to be "valid" to prove anything. I have no intentions as of today to keep these CompTIA certifications current for what it is worth.

pitviper

With all of the unexpected twists and turns that life throw our way who knows if sometime down the road you’ll regret letting them lapse. I agree with the others – any chance you could re-take SWITCH or ROUTE?

cyberguypr

Agree with hurricane1091. Once you hit 10+ years of solid progressive experience certs become less significant. I'm 16 years into IT and keep doing them selectively when I have the time and desire. They have never played direct any role in any job I've had.

And kudos to DevilWAH for prioritizing the important stuff. Wish you the best.

DevilWAH

To be honest I do as much Vmware, AD, Exchange and Voice as I do network. And where as when I started I needed Cert to show I had knowledge I now have multiply large projects to my portfolio, I give talks at network conferences and a lot of other stuff to show I know my way around technology both hands on and management.

I did think about taking T shoot but really theres lots of other stuff I want to do both in and out side of work. I want to write a book, build some drones and generally enjoy family life. Wife under went heart surgery last year and thankfully is now on the mend, the plan was to get back to certs. But As Cyberguy and Hurricane said, I don't need certs any more. They are great for getting in to IT and working up in to a good position, but got that now, so time to do the things I want to do

I will still go on training courses when they fit the roles I am working on, and don't think stopping certs is going to mean stopping learning. Just that I can pick and chose what I lean and when I learn it, no more sticking to certification paths.



PS thanks for all the well wishes but don't think I will be disappearing from here. Hoping the opposite in fact and to be spending a bit more time here as well as getting back in to writing up my blog about some of the stuff i have been doing so have more to demonstrate my skill set.

Node Man

Life is a long time. If its in you, you will be back for more certs. If not, you still have the experience.

shortstop20

Sounds like you're reached a level where you no longer need the certs which is something to be proud of in itself.

Hope the family stuff works out OK.

chrisone

Only time I will let my certs expire is when I have two to three successful running franchises and my money is working for me.

DevilWAH

Forget money working, Life is working for me!

Rather be in the position I am turning down the higher paid jobs, because who cares about the moeny and even more who cares about the stress of it all!

DevilWAH

OH I did deliberately post this in the CISCO area as I am currently looking for my Prince 2 and Agility certifications, as for what I do they are still worth while having.

Hondabuff

Sounds like to me you already made the decision since you waited so long to renew. Knowing how much time and money that has been vested into taking Cisco certifications It would be very hard to let my Certs lapse but taking care of family always comes first.

chrisone

DevilWAH wrote: »

Forget money working, Life is working for me!

Rather be in the position I am turning down the higher paid jobs, because who cares about the moeny and even more who cares about the stress of it all!

Well the point of having your money work for you is to not HAVE to work for someone else lol So you can enjoy life even more and not building someone else's dream. Well I wish the best for you and the family, certs seem to be temporary for all of us at some point in life.

ande0255

I will try to avenge your elapse by beating the troubleshoot for you big guy

DevilWAH

Well ****, so decided to stop chasing certs and what do you know, less than a month later and a call out of the blue asking if I would be interested in a new role. Start next month, better hours, bigger company and pretty much the exact role I want. Will be doing a lot with the could which is where every thing is going so will keep me current with IT trends.

Do think I will get some Cloud courses under my belt, but its a management role not so much hands across a large range of IT systems not just networking so this really is the end to Cisco certs just Project management and cloud for the next few years.

negru_tudor

Good luck There comes a time when you have to move on I guess.

DevilWAH

negru_tudor wrote: »

Good luck There comes a time when you have to move on I guess.

preferable make sure moving on is moving upwards

negru_tudor

DevilWAH wrote: »

preferable make sure moving on is moving upwards

Well said!

DatabaseHead

I wish you the best. Your priorities are most certainly in-line.

Certs are nice to haves, not required. You know this, most people know this. Keep focusing on your priorities you'll be much happier. You never know though, you may get the itch again!

Until then take care.

SpetsRepair

Kind of like me and the comptia ce units, Copmptia sure does want me to pay for the title of being net + certified as if it means anything in my role

E Double U

Family > Certs