Current IT Professionals, Do your employers value CompTIA Certs?

shaX 07

I'm interested to hear from others who are currently working in the IT field, if your employer puts any value/stock into employees acheiving the CompTIA certifications? I'm curious because I work at a 600 bed hospital with a 220 person IT department and the environment is extremely complex (over 400 different clinical applications in use) and I feel like the environment would not be as complex if more of the staff were acquiring certifications and gaining an understanding of how standardization could be utilized.

From what i've gathered from others in the department, it seems as though they're not putting a lot of value in the CompTIA certifications, meaning it's not getting employees higher pay in comparison to people who have no certs, or even allowing us to be considered for higher jobs. I also don't see management encouraging people around here to get certified in anything, and a lot of the IT people here don't have certifications/education, they just have tons of experience.

networker050184

The CompTIA certifications are entry level so they aren't really going to help you move up past an entry level position. If you are trying to move up to higher technical position then higher level certification is what you will need. If you want to move into a managerial role than it's usually about education.

N2IT

shaX 07 wrote: »

I'm interested to hear from others who are currently working in the IT field, if your employer puts any value/stock into employees acheiving the CompTIA certifications? I'm curious because I work at a 600 bed hospital with a 220 person IT department and the environment is extremely complex (over 400 different clinical applications in use) and I feel like the environment would not be as complex if more of the staff were acquiring certifications and gaining an understanding of how standardization could be utilized.

From what i've gathered from others in the department, it seems as though they're not putting a lot of value in the CompTIA certifications, meaning it's not getting employees higher pay in comparison to people who have no certs, or even allowing us to be considered for higher jobs. I also don't see management encouraging people around here to get certified in anything, and a lot of the IT people here don't have certifications/education, they just have tons of experience.

My organization cares more about your metrics and customer surveys than your formal education.

You are required to have a degree from an regionally accredited school, but that's the extent. When I started all I had was a non IT related bachelors degree.

I've job hopped back and forth and picked up some new job task and responsabilities it seemed like the job I was with before my most recent really loved the PMP and ITIL.

brianeaglesfan

My last organization required certain CompTIA certs in order to be promoted to the higher tiers of help desk / desktop support (were tiered 1-3). My current one, not so much.

TheSuperRuski

shaX 07 wrote: »

I'm interested to hear from others who are currently working in the IT field, if your employer puts any value/stock into employees acheiving the CompTIA certifications? I'm curious because I work at a 600 bed hospital with a 220 person IT department and the environment is extremely complex (over 400 different clinical applications in use) and I feel like the environment would not be as complex if more of the staff were acquiring certifications and gaining an understanding of how standardization could be utilized.

From what i've gathered from others in the department, it seems as though they're not putting a lot of value in the CompTIA certifications, meaning it's not getting employees higher pay in comparison to people who have no certs, or even allowing us to be considered for higher jobs. I also don't see management encouraging people around here to get certified in anything, and a lot of the IT people here don't have certifications/education, they just have tons of experience.

It sounds like that's pretty much yours or your type of environment. In a hospital setting or anywhere for that matter, if everybody had tons of experience than yea, entry-level certs wouldn't mean much there.

I don't have an employer as i am a contractor, but i can say certifications, especially the higher level ones(Microsoft, Cisco) definitely hold weight and open up new doors. Net+ got me in the door to do router replacements but if i want to be apart of the team that does the initial install/configuration and troubleshooting of routers...I need my CCNA.

erpadmin

The only good thing A+/Network+ ever did for me was get me $600 off my tuition every term. Other than that, not so much. I would have never bothered with Security+ or Project+, tbh, but they were required for WGU and if I was gonna get Security+, I might as well have gotten the lifetime one instead of having it expired.

I don't hate my CompTIA certs or find them worthless. But they're not anything to brag about either....in fact the one cert IMHO that might be worth bragging about is the CCIE. You just can't earn a CCIE by BSing your way through the way you can with other certs. That cert is by far undumpable, AFAIK. The CISSP is said to be undumpable too, and it is a worthy cert to get, but one has to put in work and experience to have the CCIE earned. Though CompTIAs do have their place in the entry-level world, as long as one knows what they were tested on.

VAHokie56

When I first started working for the company I am with now I was on desktop support, it was not required to have the A+ but it got me more money and my resume look better.

SWM

shaX 07 wrote: »

I'm curious because I work at a 600 bed hospital with a 220 person IT department and the environment is extremely complex
Fr.

WOW, 220 IT staff sounds massive !, How many staff in total work at the hospital? :

I worked as a contractor supporting a small 36 bed hospital, I averaged from 2-4 hours a week (one person).

cisco_certs

My employer thinks the only entry level that is worth it is CCNA since we are partnered with Cisco.

But we have another department that deals with Systems or Databases which cares abut Microsoft - MCSE/MCSA/MCITP, Oracle and Citrix.

The security side are people that doesn't have certs but elite in their own field.

If you want to make more money then get Cisco certs: CCNP,CCVP,CCIE or Microsoft certs: MCITP:EA/SA or Security = CISSP

SteveLord

SWM wrote: »

WOW, 220 IT staff sounds massive !, How many staff in total work at the hospital? :

I worked as a contractor supporting a small 36 bed hospital, I averaged from 2-4 hours a week (one person).

Yeah I was going to say that's what the problem is. Who cares about certs or training when you have 219 other people?

That number can't be real.

shodown

When I was working DOD it mattered. Outside of DOD nobody gave a flying XXXX

rwmidl

If you work for the DoD (contractor or as a Fed. employee) they value Security + as it's one of the 8570 requirements.

VAHokie56

cisco_certs wrote: »

My employer thinks the only entry level that is worth it is CCNA since we are partnered with Cisco.

But we have another department that deals with Systems or Databases which cares abut Microsoft - MCSE/MCSA/MCITP, Oracle and Citrix.

The security side are people that doesn't have certs but elite in their own field.

If you want to make more money then get Cisco certs: CCNP,CCVP,CCIE or Microsoft certs: MCITP:EA/SA or Security = CISSP

This is similar to our setup. Network team we looks for cisco certs , Server side looks for the Microsoft crap. I would say the desktop techs are required to get there A+ now where I work I believe and they can get some raises for various HP certs.

ibcritn

A+, Network+, and Security+ are all parts of DoDD 8570. Having said that my organization only cared about Security+.

shaX 07

SteveLord wrote: »

Yeah I was going to say that's what the problem is. Who cares about certs or training when you have 219 other people?

That number can't be real.

Um it is real, why would I lie about the number of IT staff we have? I failed to mention that we don't Just support the 600 bed hospital. We have over 50 off site locations through out the state, plus we provide IT network, hardware and application support for hundreds of other practices. Our Helpdesk receives calls from dozens of different states and many different countries and we field over 100,000 calls per year.

So yes, we have between 200-220 IT staff and it's actually increasing in the next few months.


Oh and the comment about "Who cares what you have for certs when you have 219 other people". It's not that we have 200 people who know everything. If you read my original post, we support over 400 different clinical applications, no that is not a typo- Four Hundred. We do not have an enterprise solution for clinical documentation, so probably more than half of our IT people are dedicated to the applications alone and our IS department is divided into groups, and each group is responsible for their own piece of the environment. And it is actually scary how many people in our IT department don't even know how to perform basic troubleshooting on their own PC's- we have application support people call us because their keyboard doesn't work, and we simply unplug it and re-boot the PC and voila, fixed. If they had an ounce of IT certification they would know how to fix a keyboard issue.

genXrcist

My employer cares about the CompTIA cert(s) but only for the entry level guys & gals. After that they are expected to move onto Microsoft/Cisco/Citrix/VMware to move up.

SteveLord

shaX 07 wrote: »

Um it is real, why would I lie about the number of IT staff we have? I failed to mention that we don't Just support the 600 bed hospital. We have over 50 off site locations through out the state, plus we provide IT network, hardware and application support for hundreds of other practices. Our Helpdesk receives calls from dozens of different states and many different countries and we field over 100,000 calls per year.

So yes, we have between 200-220 IT staff and it's actually increasing in the next few months.


Oh and the comment about "Who cares what you have for certs when you have 219 other people". It's not that we have 200 people who know everything. If you read my original post, we support over 400 different clinical applications, no that is not a typo- Four Hundred. We do not have an enterprise solution for clinical documentation, so probably more than half of our IT people are dedicated to the applications alone and our IS department is divided into groups, and each group is responsible for their own piece of the environment. And it is actually scary how many people in our IT department don't even know how to perform basic troubleshooting on their own PC's- we have application support people call us because their keyboard doesn't work, and we simply unplug it and re-boot the PC and voila, fixed. If they had an ounce of IT certification they would know how to fix a keyboard issue.

Ok, you got me there...since I only focused on the 600 beds. My wife works at a hospital with just under that, of which is also 1 of 2 chains of hospitals across the state.

Maybe there is a "stupid people in large groups = enough intelligence for us" mentality.

Large organizations like yours have people with very focused skills. Maybe too focused. Or the kind that just learned those focused skills on the job and are just there for a paycheck.

Anyway since I am the only one here, I was able to convince my office to send me to training and cover test costs for all the certs I hold (minus the A+) and cover a handful of books that i have. My boss is very supportive of training if will ultimately benefit the office and budget allows of course.

cisco_certs

VAHokie56 wrote: »

This is similar to our setup. Network team we looks for cisco certs , Server side looks for the Microsoft crap. I would say the desktop techs are required to get there A+ now where I work I believe and they can get some raises for various HP certs.

I might end up taking those Comptia certs if ever I pursue IT degree at WGU. lol

NinjaBoy

shaX 07 wrote: »

I'm interested to hear from others who are currently working in the IT field, if your employer puts any value/stock into employees acheiving the CompTIA certifications?

My current one does, as we're a Comptia ACS and even before that we put value in Comptia certs. My last employer did also.

shaX 07 wrote: »

I'm curious because I work at a 600 bed hospital with a 220 person IT department and the environment is extremely complex (over 400 different clinical applications in use) and I feel like the environment would not be as complex if more of the staff were acquiring certifications and gaining an understanding of how standardization could be utilized?

Comptia certs and the knowledge gained from them will give everyone the same basic level of knowledge. However for standardisation of working practices you should be looking at something along of the lines of ITIL, FITS, MOF, etc...

shaX 07 wrote: »

I also don't see management encouraging people around here to get certified in anything, and a lot of the IT people here don't have certifications/education, they just have tons of experience.

I can kinda understand management not encouraging people to get certified as that is an extra cost, however does that mean that management refuses to support (and I don't mean just financially) the IT Pro's continuing professional development? Certification is only a small part of CPD.

Even though I'm a manager, I've learnt that you (or in my case me) can not rely on just work to pay for further advancement (CPD). Over the course of my time in IT, I've paid more out than my employers have for my development. However my employers have support me in other ways, eg time off for exams/studying, job shadowing/mentoring, etc...

-Ken

Chris:/*

For fulfilling 8570 requirements yes and I will say overall it has improved the DoD and governments understanding of how the world of computers work. I no longer have to say the magic smoke was released or it was FM for why things happen (just a joke but you get the idea).

brianeaglesfan

SWM wrote: »

WOW, 220 IT staff sounds massive !, How many staff in total work at the hospital? :

I worked as a contractor supporting a small 36 bed hospital, I averaged from 2-4 hours a week (one person).

My last employer was a regional healthcare provider with 9-10 hospitals and 20k+ end-users. Our IT dept total was over 600 staff members.

mikedisd2

I guess it depends where you as to what certs are in important. In this part of Oz, no one cares at all about Comptia. Infact, the senior IT guys here had never heard of Net+. To be honest I didn't really know much about it either until hitting this site.

If the hospital doesn't care about x+ then find what they do take seriously and go for that. I'd imagine some Cisco knowledge would go a long way.

shaX 07

mikedisd2 wrote: »

I guess it depends where you as to what certs are in important. In this part of Oz, no one cares at all about Comptia. Infact, the senior IT guys here had never heard of Net+. To be honest I didn't really know much about it either until hitting this site.

If the hospital doesn't care about x+ then find what they do take seriously and go for that. I'd imagine some Cisco knowledge would go a long way.

Yeah they definitely put value in Cisco and Microsoft, and that is certainly understandable, but at the same time, we have Network Engineers here who don't even have their CCNA, as they just have experience. I never expected the CompTIA certs to convince my employer that i'm suddenly capable of managing the entire enterprise, but I certainly feel like I learned a lot just studying for the exams and getting through them. I think it's a good starting point for beginning the journey to higher certification, it is certainly not going to be the end of the road for me.

One of the perks of being in a place this big is if I dedicate myself, I can pretty much try to get into any aspect of IT I choose, whether it's servers, networking, application support or desktop architecture, it's all on the table if I work hard enough, I just need to figure out what I really want to do in IT.

SteveLord

shaX 07 wrote: »

I just need to figure out what I really want to do in IT.

This is the hardest part of all. I guess we'll just know when it hits us.

Daniel333

I think Geek Squad wanted A+, but it wasn't required. My current job actually laughed at the interview when I had A+ and Net+ on there. I believe his exact words are "I think we are a little beyond that now"

I have to agree at this point in my career.

ehnde

shaX 07 wrote: »

Um it is real, why would I lie about the number of IT staff we have? I failed to mention that we don't Just support the 600 bed hospital. We have over 50 off site locations through out the state, plus we provide IT network, hardware and application support for hundreds of other practices. Our Helpdesk receives calls from dozens of different states and many different countries and we field over 100,000 calls per year.

So yes, we have between 200-220 IT staff and it's actually increasing in the next few months.


Oh and the comment about "Who cares what you have for certs when you have 219 other people". It's not that we have 200 people who know everything. If you read my original post, we support over 400 different clinical applications, no that is not a typo- Four Hundred. We do not have an enterprise solution for clinical documentation, so probably more than half of our IT people are dedicated to the applications alone and our IS department is divided into groups, and each group is responsible for their own piece of the environment. And it is actually scary how many people in our IT department don't even know how to perform basic troubleshooting on their own PC's- we have application support people call us because their keyboard doesn't work, and we simply unplug it and re-boot the PC and voila, fixed. If they had an ounce of IT certification they would know how to fix a keyboard issue.

It's easy to underestimate how vast the world of healthcare informatics is....I myself had no clue until I talked to my aunt - she's a Nursing Informatician. Doctors write prescriptions electronically now. Inventory is tracked electronically as well as patient records. This aspect of I.T. is a multibillion $$ industry and growing.

erpadmin

Daniel333 wrote: »

I think Geek Squad wanted A+, but it wasn't required. My current job actually laughed at the interview when I had A+ and Net+ on there. I believe his exact words are "I think we are a little beyond that now"

I have to agree at this point in my career.

The response to that is "You are right about that, but I at least wanted to show that I had it at some point in my career." Yes, I most likely won't do any more break/fix but hey, I did sit for those exams...

Heck, for IT management careers, I would even list the CIW Web Associate cert, just because that cert tested me on virtually everything I ever did in IT...and I do mean everything. Even modems....where today's A+ technician probably isn't even dealing with...I had to in my break/fix days...but they have pretty much gone the way of the telegraph now. I think the only exception to that is if they have to deal with some fax servers, but I think that's about it though.

rob7278

I personally think you have to view CompTia certs as more prep courses- kind of like pre-algebra.
Is pre-algebra going to make you a math whiz? no.
Is pre-algebra going to help you pass algebra, possibly geometry, maybe trig? definitely.
Are CompTia certs going to impress employers and pave the way to the IT job of your dreams? no
But they may help you understand the concepts being covered on a Microsoft or Cisco exam a little easier than if you just jumped right in to the tougher cert; obviously if you already have a good grasp of say- networking, then taking Network+ before working towards the CCNA might be a waste of time and money; but if you don't have much of a clue about networking and are really looking for a good place to start- Network+ may be great to learn fundamental knowledge. The same for A+, Security+, etc- again think pre-algebra in helping to learn algebra or Intro to Psychology in helping to learn Psychology.
Also certs, without experience, can only take you so far- you will never get a job as a Systems Administrator with an MCSE and no experience.

Armor149

rob7278 wrote: »

I personally think you have to view CompTia certs as more prep courses- kind of like pre-algebra.

This is how I view CompTIA certs. I have only been doing IT for a little over 3 years now and I look at A+, N+ and Sec+ as the foundation I should have as I move forward in my career. You have to start somewhere.

My work doesn't value any certification. The only thing they remotely take serious is a college degree. I don't have any expectation of my CompTIA certs being of any use toward me getting promoted or getting a pay raise, let alone another job.

Now you may ask, why pay the (ridiculous amount) money for the certs and not just study the material. Well, for me it is a way to stay motivated. It's kinda like school, you have a final exam at the end of the semester and its a pass/fail exam. Additionally, I plan on using my CompTIA certs toward course requirements at WGU.

Unforg1ven

The CompTIA certs without a doubt lay that foundation. I am in Tier 2 role as of now, but seeking a NOC or Admin position somewhere out of state.

I believe it gives some sort of job security. If you want to move up, your experience along with your certs pad the resume. If there is any doubt in an employers/recruiters mind regarding experience, at least it shows your dedicated and the baseline is there. Also, as well all know, recruiters look for buzz words in the resume so whenever that Security+ keyword search comes back... you at the very least get a call.

Plus if you're working as a gov. contractor like me, satisfying DOD reqs. are always a good thing