TechRepublic Top Ten Certs

never2late

Saw this today and thought a few might find it interesting.

http://i.techrepublic.com.com/downloads/Gilbert/dl_10_best_certs.pdf

He touts the importance of Microsoft, Cisco, and CompTIA exams in the workforce while downplaying the certs for open source and virtualization.

I wonder if other TE members have the same opinion?

earweed

Leaving off Virtualization and Linux are probably mistakes as is including the Net+ while putting Sec+ in the also ran column. The Net+ has almost no value whatsoever while the Sec+ is mandatory for a lot of government jobs. The author is using his experience at a medium size company (maybe even small) to try to gage the entire IT field.
Throwing the 2 Apple certs on there is just plain wrong. Those should have been replaced with a VMWare cert and a Linux cert. The Apple certs deserve at most an honorable mention.
It looks as if the author is trying to gage the entire IT field by just his own experiences.

dales

Pah rubbish I'm afraid, the world does not run on MS (majority yes world no), A+ and Network+ holds pretty much no value to employers after your first repair workshop job. VCP should be somewhere in there at least, think of all those companies going down the virtualization route right now they are going to need someone who knows what they are doing to impliment and manage it.

Looks very similar to one of those salary checkers which pretty much has no resemblance to the real world. In any case cert's are only as valuable as your next prospective employer thinks they are.

If he's only deployed one linux server in the last several years then I'm going to assume he lives in a very blinkered world.

N2IT

never2late wrote: »

Saw this today and thought a few might find it interesting.

http://i.techrepublic.com.com/downloads/Gilbert/dl_10_best_certs.pdf

He touts the importance of Microsoft, Cisco, and CompTIA exams in the workforce while downplaying the certs for open source and virtualization.

I wonder if other TE members have the same opinion?

CISSP at 9 and A+ at 3 or 4?

chmorin

A+ and Network+ are far to high on that list. While I think they are important to get before the bigger ones, no way they are as important to the employer.

earweed

dales wrote: »

Pah rubbish

Good summation of that article!
It appears that in our age of information being readily available and all sorts of people fashioning themselves to be writers that some publications will publish any writers work that appears to have a valid opinion. This article would be a fairly decent blog entry for the guy but shouldn't have been published by a tech magazine.

phoeneous

SonicWall? Really?

dales

phoeneous wrote: »

SonicWall? Really?

yes thats what I thought! I'm assuming he's basing this on his own workplace or preferred products to deploy.

Mojo_666

That list actually reflects the job market much better than some other I have seen, these certs won't make you the most money but they are probably some of the most commonly asked for certs. And anything else worth noting that was missed is in the honorable mentions.

GT-Rob

I guess it depends what market we are talking about. 'IT' is far to broad of a term these days to classify what is expected. The guy fresh out of highschool working GeekSquad and the CIO at fortune 500 company are both "IT" but do you think their resume shares anything?


I reeeeally can't see apple certs (or even sonicwall) being desired anywhere but a niche market. A+ and Net+ are still your best bet for very entry level jobs, but they become meaningless very fast (I don't even list them on my resume anymore).

earweed

MCITP at #1..huh The HR goons don't even know it exists yet.

networker050184

Those lists are usually pretty bad, but I don't think I've seen such a load of **** labeled as a top ten list before.

za3bour

I think the list should go on Letterman show, it's very biased to MS and not fair toward linux.

chmorin

earweed wrote: »

MCITP at #1..huh The HR goons don't even know it exists yet.

This is true, they are still looking for MCSE's. Heck, I found someone today who thought getting his MCITP's would give him an MCSE.

CompuTron99

I like the top 5 from Networkworld:

5 hot IT certification picks for 2010

chmorin

CompuTron99 wrote: »

I like the top 5 from Networkworld:

5 hot IT certification picks for 2010

Meh. I never saw the big deal with CompTIAs Green cert. CCAr is a great thing but not very realistic a goal as of late.

erpadmin

za3bour wrote: »

I think the list should go on Letterman show, it's very biased to MS and not fair toward linux.

I hate to break it to you, my friend, but Linux is still in the minority. That bias is fair and well deserved....

Blessed Ramadan to you, btw.

Aldur

GT-Rob wrote: »

A+ and Net+ are still your best bet for very entry level jobs, but they become meaningless very fast (I don't even list them on my resume anymore).

I can't agree more. If you are applying for a higher level position do not include your A+ or Net+ on your resume. It just looks silly and gives the impression of inexperience.

I've seen a few resumes lately that have A+ and Net+ listed and it's not a good reaction on my part.

Hyper-Me

That article lost all credibility when I hit # 7 and 8 which are Apple certs.

Extremely few companies use Apple stuff. It's simply not enterprise or even SMB ready. You can "sorta" make it work but in the end you have an expensive, broken mess that could have been done cheaper and more effeciently using MS software.

The day Apple certifications because hot in this industry is the day I change fields, in utter disgust.

Devilsbane

dales wrote: »

Pah rubbish I'm afraid

I agree.

Part of the issue is that this is Erik Eckel's opinion of what is important. So for whatever job he is interested in, this is the order. Certainly if you are looking at being in security, CISSP listed at number 9 and Security+ not mentioned wouldn't work.

Those professionals earning Microsoft Certified IT Professional (MCITP) certification give employers and clients confidence that they've developed the knowledge and skills necessary to plan, deploy, support, maintain, and optimize Windows technologies.

I find this to be funny since a lot of companies have no idea what an MCITP is. I also find it funny that MCTS is on here. I don't think passing a single MS test makes an employee drool over you.

I also agree with your sentiments on the A+ and Net+. If this list was for the top 10 certifications for a person with no experience to 3 years, then yeah these should be there. But for ALL of IT? I think not. I went on several job hunts with these certifications. I think they helped me get the interviews, but once in the interview they were seldom asked about. (And these were for helpdesk and desktop support jobs).

Devilsbane

chmorin wrote: »

This is true, they are still looking for MCSE's. Heck, I found someone today who thought getting his MCITP's would give him an MCSE.

I completely agree. But my bigger beef is with the MCTS that is right below it.

neuropol

Hyper-Me wrote: »

That article lost all credibility when I hit # 7 and 8 which are Apple certs.

Extremely few companies use Apple stuff. It's simply not enterprise or even SMB ready. You can "sorta" make it work but in the end you have an expensive, broken mess that could have been done cheaper and more effeciently using MS software.

The day Apple certifications because hot in this industry is the day I change fields, in utter disgust.

I'd have to agree that the Apple certs are silly. I added mine to my cert list as a joke. There are specialized places that those certs would come in handy. Graphic design, some universities and schools, media production. But even in those areas the back end is often not Mac based.

My guess is some execs decided they wanted Macbooks, and now he thinks he needs Apple certs.

Bl8ckr0uter

This list, Fail?

Devilsbane

neuropol wrote: »

My guess is some execs decided they wanted Macbooks, and now he thinks he needs Apple certs.

Or Ipads. I know several companies that are in the testing phase to see if it would be worth it to deploy them.

Devilsbane

The above logo is found on his website. erik eckel . com He is probably just a Mac lover and wants to force his views on everyone.

varelg

Tech Republic is notorious for peddling their own deals and are just a half- step from spam. The name sounds big but basically it's two- three authors that write up some semi- interesting articles with catchy titles and the rest is "special offers", "save blah blah % over this instructional video/tech support for a no name product", "subscribe to a future podcast and receive x% discount on...". I can't remember when was the last time I actually read something relevant to my interest. The top x countdowns are no exception.
Irrelevant. Wouldn't give it one serious look.

neuropol

Hah! Someone better tell Apple they're going to have a run on certs.

it_consultant

I would think the Sun and Red Hat certs would make any list. Those guys get paid huge sums of money.

Paul Boz

That list is a joke.

Devilsbane

CompuTron99 wrote: »

I like the top 5 from Networkworld:

5 hot IT certification picks for 2010

It is surprising that ITIL is on there. I know lots of companies are interested in it, I just don't see why. Everyone I know who took it essentially dumped it. The instructor gives them half the questions/answers during the training.

And after the test is over everyone admits that they don't know how they passed.

gorebrush

Garbage