Which certifications have brought you the most success?

N2IT

I purposely kept this title generic and broad.

Success can be defined in a number of ways, so please answer how you see fit. (***Not that you need me to tell you that )

Which certifications have brough you the most success? This can be measured by, financial gain, knowledge, respect, promotion, self worth, confidence, hireability and so on.

For me it has been the ITIL framework. This certification has given me insight into a new way of thinking. In meetings you can tell who is truly ITILIAN and who is not. The framework has help me take my business education and boil it with my IT experience. This has created synergy between the two and has given me a powerful view into the future of IT and business.

So enough about me what about you?

ehnde

CCNA has proven more valuable to me than my college degree. I've gained more respect from it, more pay, more hireability....really boggles the mind.

Nobody has given a crap about my other certs (Microsoft and CompTia).

NOC-Ninja

CCNA. It got me a lot of interviews but what got me hired was because I answered correctly all the questions that the Network Architect was throwing at me.

veritas_libertas

To me this all about what you want to do. Certain certifications are going to be good for obtaining specific job roles. It would be interesting to hear from everyone that replies what their goal was.

N2IT

ehnde wrote: »

CCNA has proven more valuable to me than my college degree. I've gained more respect from it, more pay, more hireability....really boggles the mind.

Nobody has given a crap about my other certs (Microsoft and CompTia).

I find this interesting. My CompTIA's have done a little bit for me, but nothing like my degree or ITIL certications. I believe the security + helped me get some interviews and a federal job offer, but overall they haven't helped out as much as I initally thought. I learned a lot of high level knowledge about networking which helps when discussing networking issues in meetings and other situations. The Project + provided me with some good high level knowledge as well.

So for me the CompTIA's have given me a solid base of high level knowledge, but nothing granular that you can take with you into a technology role and be effective.

Bl8ckr0uter

CCNA raised my salary 25%.

Zartanasaurus

CCNA, CCNP and MCITP were about equally important to me at the time I was getting them. Going forward, I doubt I will trade much on my MCITP but that has little to do with the cert and everything to do with my career direction.

N2IT

Bl8ckr0uter wrote: »

CCNA raised my salary 25%.

That's pretty darn impressive. That was money and time well spent.

Zartanasaurus

Bl8ckr0uter wrote: »

CCNA raised my salary 25%.

Some combination of CCNA/MCITP got me a 50% raise.
CCNP got me a 28% raise.
I think with no more certs and another year of experience, my CCNP could get me another 20%.

Well that and my winning smile.

Bl8ckr0uter

N2IT wrote: »

That's pretty darn impressive. That was money and time well spent.

The funny thing about it is that it wasn't even the CCNA that caused the raise, the promise of getting the CCNA within 90 days of my hire date got me the raise. I did get it (w/in 60 days).

Zartanasaurus wrote: »

Some combination of CCNA/MCITP got me a 50% raise.
CCNP got me a 28% raise.

Baller. So you almost an 80% raise based on 3 certs (and experience and knowledge)? Well done sir.

N2IT

Bl8ckr0uter wrote: »

The funny thing about it is that it wasn't even the CCNA that caused the raise, the promise of getting the CCNA within 90 days of my hire date got me the raise. I did get it (w/in 60 days).

Sounds like that relationship got off to a fast and solid start. They trusted you enough to deliver to pay you in advance. In return you finished your end of the bargain 30 days before you had promised.

That's called a win win situation.

networker050184

CCNP helped me the most monetarily I'd say. The fact that I was working on it helped me break out of the $50k range jobs and into the higher paying engineering roles. Since then I think experience has been a much larger factor than the CCIP or JNCIA, the certs I've gotten after the CCNP, in moving up.

NetworkingStudent

N2IT wrote: »

I purposely kept this title generic and broad.

Success can be defined in a number of ways, so please answer how you see fit. (***Not that you need me to tell you that )

Which certifications have brough you the most success? This can be measured by, financial gain, knowledge, respect, promotion, self worth, confidence, hireability and so on.

For me it has been the ITIL framework. This certification has given me insight into a new way of thinking. In meetings you can tell who is truly ITILIAN and who is not. The framework has help me take my business education and boil it with my IT experience. This has created synergy between the two and has given me a powerful view into the future of IT and business.

So enough about me what about you?

I would say the A+ certification…infact one employer said I got the interview because of my A+



Worst cert

HDI customer service representative…I can’t even begin to tell you how many employers asked what the cert was and who is HDI, what do they do? Almost every interview I had had has had at least one or more questions about that cert and HDI as ana organization. It was a bad response , but I told them that I didn’t think that cert was worth much since it wasn’t proctored. I felt like I was doing a PR campaign during every interview, because I had to to explain the cert and what I learned. Furthermore, I had to explain HDI existence and purpose as an organization.. I dropped the cert off my resume.

I know now that HDI didn’t well know among most organizations.

NetworkingStudent

N2IT wrote: »

I purposely kept this title generic and broad.

Success can be defined in a number of ways, so please answer how you see fit. (***Not that you need me to tell you that )

Which certifications have brough you the most success? This can be measured by, financial gain, knowledge, respect, promotion, self worth, confidence, hireability and so on.

For me it has been the ITIL framework. This certification has given me insight into a new way of thinking. In meetings you can tell who is truly ITILIAN and who is not. The framework has help me take my business education and boil it with my IT experience. This has created synergy between the two and has given me a powerful view into the future of IT and business.

So enough about me what about you?

alittle off track
Is ITIL an advance cert? I get some advance help desk interviews and they almost always want a good understanding of SLA agreements. Also, they prefer ITILv3 certifited canidates. However, I heard someone on TE say that ITIL cert isn’t good if you aren’t currently working on the help desk. What do you think?

it_consultant

CCNA gets me around the 4 year degree requirements and my extensive knowledge of windows and the platform software that runs atop it gets me paid.

it_consultant

networker050184 wrote: »

CCNP helped me the most monetarily I'd say. The fact that I was working on it helped me break out of the $50k range jobs and into the higher paying engineering roles. Since then I think experience has been a much larger factor than the CCIP or JNCIA, the certs I've gotten after the CCNP, in moving up.

My project management and migration experience busted me out of the $50K roles.

N2IT

NetworkingStudent wrote: »

I would say the A+ certification…infact one employer said I got the interview because of my A+



Worst cert

HDI customer service representative…I can’t even begin to tell you how many employers asked what the cert was and who is HDI, what do they do? Almost every interview I had had has had at least one or more questions about that cert and HDI as ana organization. It was a bad response , but I told them that I didn’t think that cert was worth much since it wasn’t proctored. I felt like I was doing a PR campaign during every interview, because I had to to explain the cert and what I learned. Furthermore, I had to explain HDI existence and purpose as an organization.. I dropped the cert off my resume.

I know now that HDI didn’t well know among most organizations.

Please don't take this the wrong way, but I find this hiliarous. I can visualize you in there for the 10th time explaining this certification and who HDI is.

If I had that many bad experiences with that certification I would of left it off as well, unless the job strictly mentioned something about HDI.

Zartanasaurus

Bl8ckr0uter wrote: »

The funny thing about it is that it wasn't even the CCNA that caused the raise, the promise of getting the CCNA within 90 days of my hire date got me the raise. I did get it (w/in 60 days).



Baller. So you almost an 80% raise based on 3 certs (and experience and knowledge)? Well done sir.

The math doesn't work that way. It's 1.28(1.5x) = 1.92x or a 92% increase over the original salary. Of course 1.92x isn't so great if X is a really small number to start with. =p

If we go back to my help desk days 6 years ago it looks like:
X = help desk salary
1.25X = tech support/app support salary
1.875X = Jr Network Support (MCITP/CCNA)
2.4X = Sr Network Support (CCNP)

N2IT

NetworkingStudent wrote: »

alittle off track
Is ITIL an advance cert? I get some advance help desk interviews and they almost always want a good understanding of SLA agreements. Also, they prefer ITILv3 certifited canidates. However, I heard someone on TE say that ITIL cert isn’t good if you aren’t currently working on the help desk. What do you think?

There are some advanced ITIL certifications you can get once you get the foundation level, but to be honest most people I work with just have the foundational level. If you read the material to utilize it in the work place it can be very useful. If you just read it to pass the exam, then it becomes like any other certification you just rush through to pass.

N2IT

it_consultant wrote: »

My project management and migration experience busted me out of the $50K roles.

IT complete one off item here.

What PM material would you recommend if you wanted to start prepping yourself for a project manager / project coordinator type role?

NOC-Ninja

NOC-Ninja wrote: »

CCNA. It got me a lot of interviews but what got me hired was because I answered correctly all the questions that the Network Architect was throwing at me.

Also, I want to add that I got a 35% raise after I obtained my CCNP.

it_consultant

N2IT wrote: »

IT complete one off item here.

What PM material would you recommend if you wanted to start prepping yourself for a project manager / project coordinator type role?

You know what, I learned it by picking up the pieces of poorly executed projects and I learned to start asking questions and gathering details. You learn fast when you analyze how other projects failed to deliver.

For example, I have no idea how faxes work, really. My client is getting a new EMR system that will handle all the faxes. I know (from bad experience) that for X number of faxes you need a T1 and an adtran and or a brooktrout digital card. If you are good with 8 ports or less we can buy one 8 port analog fax card and pull 8 analog lines and have the ISP pool the inbound fax numbers. OK Mr. Client, now that you haven't considered this at all because you were enamored with the capabilities of the system, which would you prefer? I only really need to know a couple of key facts about faxes in order to PM their EMR project. Full disclosure, another guy is working on this with me because of the potential cost to the client.

Get your nose into the planning phase of things, even if they are not strictly IT related. Basically most bosses are looking for people to step up, so even though you haven't done it yet, you will be given the opportunity if you are willing.

swild

I was tired of the job I was in and got my A+, Net+, and Sec+ in about 3 months. Those certs doubled my pay. Literally.

Personally happiest with my CISSP. That is about to give me an 80.5% boost over my current pay.

More than tripled my salary in 6 months.

the_Grinch

I've been looking at ITIL as it looks like it could really help with my current position and possibly moving up. I can honestly say that my degree has been what has gotten me my various positions (or the process of getting the degree). My certs have often been treated as icing on the cake.

rogue2shadow

As of right now, my CCNA has brought me the most success.

Essendon

I have been with my current company for about 4 years now and got all my certs, except for the CCNA, during my time here.

My CCNA got me a role with Mobil, like I've said in the past, just the company name and having worked with real gear got me into my current role.

Looks like the CCNA is the most prized entry-level cert going around, eh?

undomiel

I would say my MCSE has brought me the most success. My studies and labs done for that helped me gain the ground work of knowledge that I've been using successfully ever since then. Everything else I've learned through experience has built upon that knowledge. Now if the question was what certification had the most direct impact upon a hiring decision on just the basis of the certification bereft of the experience surrounding it that would be the MCITP:EA. My current employer is a Microsoft Gold Partner so naturally the points from that were desirable. And considering our difficulties with getting other employees certified lately they've been pretty darn necessary too.

powerfool

It's hard to say. My immediate reaction was the CISSP, as it is was a contractual obligation for my current position, which was an initial raise of 21%. However, I whole-heartedly doubt that I would have been considered for the position without my MCSE 2000 and CCNA. My employer is big on certifications because I clients require them. It is hard to say which of those had the greatest impact... I would have to say they were weighted nearly equally as my initial role was packet analysis and deploying a new packet analysis solution enterprise-wide that was built on Windows appliances. I have always been told that I should specialize, but it is being well-rounded that put me in this position.

My main requirement was to have CISSP, but I was also told that I would need to update my MCSE to 2003... I did that and was told that the client wanted 2008 now, as well... so I did that. So, they all play a role in my work. And I received a 9% after my first year. We shall see what happens after year number two (half-way there now). My new assignment is an Exchange 2010 migration, which the success of this project can help determine not only another raise (2-5%) but a promotion (potentially another 8%, which would be 13% as I would only have the promotion with a top rating on my review).

instant000

Security+

Of course, by the time I had Security+, I had years of exp, college degree, and military IT experience.

I've risen 25% since this time last year primarily because of Security+.

I could have said something outlandish like 100% via CISSP, but I didn't want to move to Wichita when the recruiter tried to get me to move back there.

pham0329

My MCITP:SA landed me my last job as a system engineer, my MCITP: EMA got me my current job, as an Exchange/Network admin.

Hopefully, my CCNA and soon to be CCNP will get me into the networking field

ColbyG

CCNP helped the most, but I think the CCNA opened the door. The CCNA gave me a little bump, but got me into networking. I've doubled my salary since getting the CCNA (~3.5 years ago). Obviously not solely due to certs, but I think they've definitely helped me move up much quicker than I would've if I hadn't gotten them.