Certs for recent grads?

Haze

I graduated in May with a BS in Comp. Sci. After a few months of not finding a job, I discovered this forum, and upon reading through dozens of threads I decided to take the CompTIA A+ exam and passed it.

However, I have still not been able to land a job. I have work experience, but my last job was as a Tutor/TA in CS for my university and it seems that that hasn't impressed the employers I have been applying to.

It seems Network+ is something recommended on these forums, but I was wondering that since I have the free time, maybe I should just go for the harder CCNA exam right off the bat and bypass the Network+.
The MCITP also seems like a good option, but there are so many versions of the exam that I can't figure out which would be most valuable.


Any direction that you can offer me would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

veritas_libertas

Welcome to TE!

I know it's hard getting out of college and trying to find IT work. I applaud you for not giving up. Make sure you get your resume together and place it on Monster.com. What is your long term goals for your IT career?

My advice: Knock off the CCNA, and then pursue the MCITP:Enterprise Administrator path. To be honest the Network+ is close to useless unless your employer finds special value in it.

dynamik

Welcome to TE.

It really depends on what direction you want to go in. Do you want to do programming, networking, or systems administration?

The A+ is a good starter cert, but it's not going to do a whole lot for you. If you're doing the CCNA, I'd definitely skip over the Network+.

The MCITPs still aren't very well known, and you may be better of doing something like the MCDST and then upgrading that to a newer equivalent MCITP, such as the Enterprise Support Technician.

bwcarty

dynamik wrote: »

It really depends on what direction you want to go in. Do you want to do programming, networking, or systems administration?

I second this. Start by identifying what you want to do now and 5/10/20 years down the road, and see what certs would put you on that path.

Also, any relative documented experience on your resume is going to help you out, so if you're having a hard time finding a job due to lack of experience, consider some graduate studies that include an internship or even volunteer work.

pert

I think Network+ is kind of pointless in hindsight. I passed it, but it doesn't really matter for help desk or desktop support, and for network support jobs it's nowhere near good enough. CCNA may not be an entry level cert, but there really aren't any entry level networking jobs either and you're going to need to have one to be competitive. If you don't want to go into networking skip both, if you want to go into networking just go CCENT > CCNA.

Haze

Thanks for the responses!

I think down the line I would like to get into Networking, but in all honesty my experience is pretty limited right now, so the best I can hope for is landing some sort of Help Desk/ Tech Support type job for the time being. I'm open to a number of career paths, but right now my concern is a job to get my foot in the door to an IT career.

So the consensus is that Network+ is not worth it. Being jobless I do have the time right now to study for the CCNA while I keep applying to jobs, so I think I'm going to go in that direction.

Besides the A+, which I already have, is there anything which is relatively entry level that I can knock off quickly to give me more immediate value in the job market?

veritas_libertas

Haze wrote: »

Besides the A+, which I already have, is there anything which is relatively entry level that I can knock off quickly to give me more immediate value in the job market?

Security+ is valuable and not that hard to achieve, it does require some networking knowledge though. If you have had an entry level networking class you should be good for studying for that.

stephens316

Welcome to TE

Here is track for you :

Network + Jan 15
Security + Feb 15
70-680 MCTS: Windows 7 Jan 30
CCENT Feb 30
70-640: MCTS: Active Directory, Configuring March
Linux + April
70-642: MCTS: Network Infrastructure, Configuring March
70-643: MCTS: Applications Platform, Configuring April
70-646: MCITP: Server Administrator May
70-647: IT Pro: Enterprise Administrator June
C|EH
CCNA

You can change the date I just set them out there to give something to shoot for because with out dates you keeping pushing it off to later.

Do not discredit the first couple of Comptia certs, most government jobs require these certs for a job, as I am finding out.

phoeneous

Haze wrote: »

Thanks for the responses!


So the consensus is that Network+ is not worth it.

I strongly disagree. It landed me my first job. Its a great foundation for networking, a good primer if you plan to hit the ccna.

Do you know the layers of the OSI and TCP/IP models? Do you know how many meters between Ethernet segments? These topics might not be directly Cisco related but they are important to know.

stonedtrout

Have you tried being a contractor? It’s often a nice place to get your feet wet and get some experience. It worked for me after contracting for a few months I was hired on full time. It worked well as a resume builder.

jovan88

gotta say get the CCENT

dynamik

phoeneous wrote: »

I strongly disagree. It landed me my first job. Its a great foundation for networking, a good primer if you plan to hit the ccna.

Do you know the layers of the OSI and TCP/IP models? Do you know how many meters between Ethernet segments? These topics might not be directly Cisco related but they are important to know.

You don't think the CCENT/ICND1 covers all of that?

Bl8ckr0uter

phoeneous wrote: »

I strongly disagree. It landed me my first job. Its a great foundation for networking, a good primer if you plan to hit the ccna.

Do you know the layers of the OSI and TCP/IP models? Do you know how many meters between Ethernet segments? These topics might not be directly Cisco related but they are important to know.

I think that he should go for A+/N+ if he:

A: Plans to do the MCSA/MCSE track (you could also do the S+ instead)
B: Plans to go for a government job
C: Would rather have a vender neutral look at hardware and networking.

A+/N+ along with knowledge (and blessings) did help get me the job I have now. They have also helped me get the previous job I had before my current one. I think they are worth something, maybe not the damn near $300 dollars you have to pay for the test, but they are worth something.

I think MS if offering their test for like 60 bucks a pop. So if you are hit for cash, that is something to consider.

phoeneous

dynamik wrote: »

You don't think the CCENT/ICND1 covers all of that?

I do but I also think it is good to know this stuff before tackling anything Cisco.

phoeneous

knwminus wrote: »

I think that he should go for A+/N+ if he...

You're missing my point. It's about having a foundational understanding of the technology. It's not about being certified. I've been studying icnd2 for a year because I want to learn as much as I can at this level before moving on to more advanced material.

Bl8ckr0uter

phoeneous wrote: »

You're missing my point. It's about having a foundational understanding of the technology. It's not about being certified. I've been studying icnd2 for a year because I want to learn as much as I can at this level before moving on to more advanced material.

You know, you can get knowledge without getting a certs. People do it a lot (it is called school man ). He can study A+/N+ material without getting the certs. But my response said he should do A+/N+ if.....not he should study A+/N+ if. I would hope everyone knows that the certs you do are not the only things you study. I am studying VMware, but I probably won't do a VCP anytime soon.

You are more than your certs and your value and knowledge should more than the collection of your certs. That is what it means to be a true IT pro. In my job we have a guy doing above CCIE level work and he doesn't even have any certs.

phoeneous

knwminus wrote: »

You know, you can get knowledge without getting a certs. People do it a lot (it is called school man ). He can study A+/N+ material without getting the certs. But my response said he should do A+/N+ if.....not he should study A+/N+ if. I would hope everyone knows that the certs you do are not the only things you study. I am studying VMware, but I probably won't do a VCP anytime soon.

You are more than your certs and your value and knowledge should more than the collection of your certs. That is what it means to be a true IT pro. In my job we have a guy doing above CCIE level work and he doesn't even have any certs.

Dude, thats basically what I just said...

Haze

Thanks for all the advice.

I've decided to take the CCENT first and go from there.

On a related note, I have three interviews coming up, so hopefully I wont even need it.

For a while I had no bites at all, but I guess when it rains it pours.

UnixGuy

Welcome to TE forums, you reached the right place


I'll add "CompTIA Linux+" to what the guys suggested above. See whether you enjoy it or not. If you do, then you might go for higher *NIX certification...this is one nice path if you like it.

IT is interesting and broad...don't limit yourself with one thing, try everything, specially that you're new now. Then you can see what you enjoy the most and move up to higher level certs/work.

CSCOnoob

Ask yourself on what you want to do. That's the very first step in my opinion.

Do you want to do Microsoft? Cisco? Programming?