Which certifications have brought you the most success?

N2IT

sieff wrote: »

The most success came from the "CCNA" certification. Without it I wouldn't have been able to take any of the other Cisco Partner specializations or meet prerequisites for training classes.

THe CCNA is coming in strong. If I had to make an assumption off this small data set, I would lean towards the CCNA. Dare I say if all you get is a CCNA you could still be in a very good place.

sidsanders

mcse got me a promotion. nothing else really did much alone. security clearence would be a nice thing combined with sec+/cissp/some of the gov certs for security.

Turgon

The CCIE. Although I haven't completed it the process has paid off in many ways in the field.

mikedisd2

MCSE has been the one that kept on giving. I doubt I'd be anywhere without it.

zerglings

CCNA helped to get me started in Networking field. CCNP helped to get better salary and become more marketable. It'll probably take me longer to go back to the bay area if I didn't have the NP.

Claymoore

My original NT4 MCSE. Completing that got me a 100% pay increase within 3 months. It has taken 12 years and a whole pile of other certifications to increase my pay another 100%. I studied biochemistry in college, so the MCSE was a way to prove to potential employers that I knew what I was doing.

darkladdie

CISSP was what did the trick for me. I got a 27% raise after the annual reviews. As my manager told me during the annual review, "I saw a great improvement in your work items and the impact of your mentoring other employees while you were pursuing your certification." As other people have said, if you apply the knowledge you learned in obtaining a cert, people around you will notice!!!

Mike-Mike

great thread

N2IT

Mike-Mike wrote: »

great thread

There have been some really awesome replies.

I've actually learned a lot from this post.

TheMechanic

This is a great thread. I want to double my salary in a year (currently 52) so I have to get started.

CCNA/VCP first I guess. Might skip microsoft all together

Devilry

N2IT wrote: »

There have been some really awesome replies.

I've actually learned a lot from this post.

+1, kinda wild to see the overwhelming response of "CCNA."

Joshuab009

What an awesome thread. Great read.

historian1974

A little late to the party I know, but I was recently offered a career boosting job based off my expereince in IT asset management. So, for me it's my CITAM (Certified IT Asset Manager).

N2IT

historian1974 wrote: »

A little late to the party I know, but I was recently offered a career boosting job based off my expereince in IT asset management. So, for me it's my CITAM (Certified IT Asset Manager).

That's an interesting certification

Did management steer you towards that certification or was that something you set out to achieve on your own?

mario21

Informative thread. It makes people alter their goals lol

Mike-Mike

This thread totally made me go for my CCNA. I was already going for the CCENT due to WGU, but this thread encouraged me to change my major to IT Security to get that CCNA ASAP

historian1974

N2IT wrote: »

That's an interesting certification

Did management steer you towards that certification or was that something you set out to achieve on your own?

It was a combination of a personal goal and career trajectory. I have been doing IT asset management for the past six years. It's something that's sort of grown on me and I've come to really enjoy. It's still somewhat a niche discipline, but is growing fast as organizations look at IT cost saving opportunities.

N2IT

historian1974 wrote: »

It was a combination of a personal goal and career trajectory. I have been doing IT asset management for the past six years. It's something that's sort of grown on me and I've come to really enjoy. It's still somewhat a niche discipline, but is growing fast as organizations look at IT cost saving opportunities.

Absolutely

Lots of potential waste in asset management if not managed and controlled properly.

N2IT

Mike-Mike wrote: »

This thread totally made me go for my CCNA. I was already going for the CCENT due to WGU, but this thread encouraged me to change my major to IT Security to get that CCNA ASAP

Mike sounds like a good decision. You should be ready to roll once you get out of WGU.

UnixGuy

RHCE. Not that I took any job offer, but I had a handful of recruiters contacting me because they have jobs that require RHCE.

RomBUS

No certification has every gotten me a pay raise but its gotten me more of the intangibles such as pushing for knowledge and more recognition

The biggest booster is my most recently acquired MCSE certification, Ive never gotten so many calls from employers now than the past (definitely helped getting my current position) and just people wanting to learn from my journey to acquire it. Plus it makes my resume look so much better

MickQ

Driving licence. Getting one of them in this country is a trick in itself.

After that, CCNP.

MAC_Addy

MickQ wrote: »

Driving licence. Getting one of them in this country is a trick in itself.

No kidding. Before I left England I got my license, it was truly a waste of time and money as I didn't even buy a car and then I moved to America. Though, all those driving lessons taught me a lot.

The certification that has brought me the most success would be my A+ and Network+, as they were the first certifications for me to get and helped me get my first job in IT.

N2IT

CCNA the overwhelming winner.

When I went back to "school" for IT I took a PC repair course and operating system course (client/server) I should of went with the damn Cisco route

NightShade1

I would say CCNA
It let me enter in the networking world without having no experience...

I dont configure or manage cisco anymore and wlel my other certs are the ones that have given me my salary raises but CCNA opened me the door to all this.

TLeTourneau

MCITP:EA and my CCNA have been equally important for me.

Mike-Mike

Check the left! I got my CCNA based on this thread, and now that I'm slowly starting to look around, it feels damn good to put that on my resume

WGUGeekGirl

Wow, reading this thread makes me very happy to know that the CCNA is one of the certs in my WGU degree program!

MAC_Addy

Although I don't have my CCNA yet - I have been offered a position within my company on the networking department when I pass the ICND2.

N2IT

I told this story in another thread a while back.

I used to smoke cigars after work almost daily. There was a Linux/Networking engineer who would smoke up there all the time. I knew of his position, but work generally never came up. At the time I was making 38-42 range. One day out of the blue he said "Hey N2 you are in IT are you looking for a job"? I said of course I am always looking and we went back a forth a few times. Come to find out there was two requirements. 1 was to have 2-3 years IT experience or a degree plus 1-2 years. CHECK and then CCNA BOOOOOOOOO. Never got the job, and what makes me sick the pay at the time was 65,000 a year with AT&T.

I still shake my head at that. O well