How many certifications per period?

For a working full time person:
How many certifications do you focus on (per period, whatever that means to you)?

I just started on certs again.
I find I think I can only focus on 1 certification.

After work, I have 5-6 hours available:
1 hour for commute
1.5 hours for study
1.5 hours for exercise
1 hour for anything else (eat; prep for work next day; shower; etc.)

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Comments

Danielm7

Quality > quantity. Focus on one at a time, learn the material that's helpful for your current and future job and then move on. I never saw a point in trying to learn multiple certs at the same time unless they were all intertwined but even then still one after the next. If if takes you a year to get your MSCA, there is nothing wrong with that and you might know the material better than someone who crammed and passed it in three months.

fitzlopez

I agree. If you study for multiple certifications at the same you run the risk of mixing up definitions. Best to do it one after the other in my case when I did the CISM I focused on that and then I read the material for the ISSMP, the material was pretty similar but the style is different and the practice exams also differed.

Only exception would be if you're doing different exams on the same topic like Windows server 2016 .

Cheers,

MitM

Danielm7 wrote: »

Quality > quantity. Focus on one at a time, learn the material that's helpful for your current and future job and then move on. I never saw a point in trying to learn multiple certs at the same time unless they were all intertwined but even then still one after the next. If if takes you a year to get your MSCA, there is nothing wrong with that and you might know the material better than someone who crammed and passed it in three months.

Well said!

Ashenwelt

Your working on you. Don't over load yourself, but get it done. Focus on the ability to follow through. One complete cert is better that focusing on 3 for years and not completing. Now I like doing complimentary studying. Cert groups planned. Then one at a time.

Jon_Cisco

I prefer to focus on one test at a time. However I find myself drifting to other topics and have to reign myself in every once in a while.

Currently I am spending the year doing MCSA. However I keep drifting towards CCNA which I let expire last year. I plan to renew it as soon as I am done with my MCSA. As a general guideline I hope to obtain one certification per year moving forward.

DatabaseHead

2 a year is a lot, one every other year is about the norm for me.....

I passed one this year and will be working on another and it's taking a lot out of me. I can almost bet 2019 I won't do one.

Agreed with some of the others, quantity vs quality.

lucky0977

I'd say take your time and do one or two a year and spend maybe 3-4 months each to absorb the information. Never understood how people learn anything by cramming it all in two to three weeks.

yoba222

The monkey wrench thrown into doing certs one at time I've found is learning coding. You can't really learn coding for awhile and then stop for a few months to do a cert. It's a constant progression that will never end. Kind of like a curse really.

I'm having good success in backing off learning coding big time when working on a cert to a trickle of like 15 minutes per day, 5-6 days per week. Still leaves plenty of time to dedicate to that one important cert. But if I stop, my coding skills really rust.

Info_Sec_Wannabe

As for me, it depends on current workload and career plans. Two years ago, I did none. Last year, I did two. This year, I did one and will keep it at that for the rest of the year (to work on other things).

cochi78

I agree on quality > quantity and not overworking yourself. Does not help you at all to cram knowledge until you fall off the chair with a brain aneurysm. Try to go at a sustainable pace and when you notice you lack the energy to stay on your plan - take a break.

That being said, the sustainable pace will vary by person. As everybody in this thread is so careful, I gotta represent the other side of the spectrum: Including 3-4 recerts I have been going steadily at 10-15 certs per year in addition to my regular job. A nice mix of topics (project management, security, devops, cloud) and difficulty levels though. I am far from being the norm or to be considered a mentally sane person though

shochan

Ever since I left my MSP job (in 2015), I have managed just to get 1 cert every year after that & that is a goal I have set for myself. I still need one for 2018, but I have a couple of exams booked before the end of the year. I am in sort of that predicament of studying 2 certs at the same time though (Linux+ and CEH). I never had time to study while at an MSP because I was working over 60hrs a week & was sick of computers whenever I came home.

nisti2

This!! Some people don't have social life jejej.

lucky0977 wrote: »

Never understood how people learn anything by cramming it all in two to three weeks.

Spiegel

Some of the easier certs (in my opinion) like A+, Net+, MTA, are maybe doable if you do multiple certs at once but even then I'd rather them one at a time at your own pacing. Once we get to the most specialized certs like Cisco, Microsoft, VMware, I'd dedicate my entire focus on those exams one at a time.

Now if you're talking per period, as in, monthly, yearly, etc... I'd say that varies based and needs. I generally only study for certs if I need it due to a job requirement or for the next job I want in the future. At this point in my career I can see myself getting one once per year or every two years as the ones I have to look forward too are more advanced certs.

10Linefigure

Going to +1 the quality > quantity. Mastery over material is important. If you have 4 certs on your resume and sit for a technical interview, better believe anything that is covered in that material is fair game for them to expect you to know it. So if you only have a few that you genuinely understand, can troubleshoot and can explain clearly to people that can be even more impressive.

I used to time my certs and set deadlines. Now, I just start, study at the pace I can, and when I am ready I schedule a test for about a week out. Spend that final week labbing and going over any areas that are not hammered down.

TechGromit

Panther wrote: »

For a working full time person:
How many certifications do you focus on (per period, whatever that means to you)?

I try to get one a year, this gives me a good personal time and certification balance I think.

malachi1612

One cert a year, as doing 3 or 4 exams to earn 1 cert is enough.

E Double U

One at a time, but I've been doing one immediately after the other for years.

2013 - CCNA Security
2014 - CCNP Security (4 exams which I started in 2013)
2015 - GCIH, CISSP (started in 2014 and failed twice)
2016 - CEH
2017 - GCIA, CISM
2018 - CISA, PSM I, GPEN

And I have had lots of training between all of this, but passed up on getting the certs (Qualys, Splunk, QRadar, etc). I started to feel the burnout while studying for GCIA last year, but powered through and knocked out those others because they had been on my to-do list plus I had the budget to complete them. If the money is there and you can find the time then I say why not keep knocking them out.

FluffyBunny

E Double U wrote: »

One at a time, but I've been doing one immediately after the other for years.

Yup, that's me as well.

I aim for a minimum of one per year, to achieve the required CPE for maintaining my CISSP. Any remaining CPE can easily be gotten by listening podcasts during my daily commute.

However, one per year leaves me with lots of extra free time and I quickly get antsy. I'm one of those folks who just can't sit still. I have to do something! So either I move on to the next cert or project, or I commit myself to learning a new video game thoroughly. A few years back I spent three months studying "League of Legends", hard!

After that, I commited to a whole big wad of certs. Then I went to really learning "Civ6" and after that? Well, this year's been a flurry of beta-exams

EagerDinosaur

I'm trying to limit myself to 2 exams per year, any more and the 50 hours of preparation per exam (approximately) in my own time becomes draining.

I aim to maintain:
- AWS associate architect certification (one exam every 2 years)
- MCSD developer certification (one exam a year)
- MCSA SQL Server (about 1 exam every 2 years, but I like SQL Server, so it's not really a chore).

If my employer wants me to do anything more than that, they will have to allow me to do all the necessary studying during office hours, or pay for commercial training.