Certs, Employment and Career Change

spacemancw

I figure the users at this site are getting certified for a number of different reasons.

You already work in IT and just want to get the cert to have it on paper, or you need the cert for a promotion. Perhaps getting the cert will give you a hike in pay.

Also there are those that may be unemployed, once working in IT, layed off, perhaps fired and want the cert to enhance re-employment potential.

Then there are those who want a career change.

I am wondering about the success rate of those that persue certification for a career change or to get a new or better job.

Are there folks here who have been a jack of all trades, know a bit about a lot of things, but not an expert in any of them who have benefited from certification?

Thanx ....

hamz

Well in my parts of the woods, there isn't too many people getting certified, or going for the MCSE anymore. Most of the boot camps have shut down or went out of business. The IT field became over filled with paper MCSE's. Now what people look for is expierience. You can have MCSE+I+XYZ. And if you don't know what the interviewer asks, your out the door. So Job changes are rare now, because who wants to leave there job to get into a field were if you don't know you stuff, your gone. I have been in the IT field for 7 yrs and I've seen many come and go. But I have seen anybody with a career change stay. The only reason I get certified is so my boss can sell me. Its easier to say that I'm certified, then hey my team knows there sh*t. Hope this answers some of your question.

Webmaster

The only reason I get certified is so my boss can sell me.

Also the same reason I started with certifications in the first place. I was working for an outsourcing company, which could sell me for more of I got a couple of IT titles on my resume, resulting in a higher pay for me of course.

Are there folks here who have been a jack of all trades, know a bit about a lot of things, but not an expert in any of them who have benefited from certification?

If you are aiming to get a high salary in the IT industry it is usually best to specialize, which you can proof by passing several related cert exams. If you 'just' want to get a job, it might be better to be a jack of all trades...

ghaouf

what do you mean by so he could sell you??

spacemancw

Well my aim is not more pay, it's a job (of course I'll take more pay). However I'm not simply changing careers, I'm really trying to prove that I have a clue what I'm doing and also to learn it the microsoft way.

I have a science background, DNA sequecing, which involved a lot of information plumbing .. so much so that I taught myself enuf to set up my own ISP. I got out of science and ran the ISP for a while, web, email, DNS, RADIUS servers and routers (2500, 2600). But not much of this was done the microsoft way. A mixture of Mac (yes u can use mac for internet servers), Linux and NT. ... Got out of that for financial reasons .. worked in a NOC after that deploying SNMP tools. Layoffs forced me to go to nite shift, nite shift almost killed me. So in the current job market all I could find was a manager's position in a microscopy imaging lab, back to science. So I do have a clue about IT and I wanna prove it with the cert, and then get back into IT. But I'm not an expert in any one thing, definately a jack of all trades. By the way I did the CCNA during the ISP years .. came in very handy then.

So it's not really a career change for me .. just a sort of solidification and steering in the right direction. And I'm not looking for a guarantee that it will pay off, I'm wondering if it did pay off for anyone else out there in a similar position.

thanx

Webmaster

Very interesting background... I think you don't have much of a choice even, since there are so many people with certs out there, having experience or a degree is no longer enough. Many employers nowadays expect certifications to 'proof' your skills, even if you know you got them and have the experience to 'proof' it. But with your current certs/exams and experience, is it that hard to find a job? I'm sure a MCSE or CCNP certification would be a good career move for you in many ways and will open new doors.

When I worked for that outsourcing company I could get interesting projects/jobs easily, (partly because of the high demand for IT pro's at that time) but it started to become really interesting (the job/tasks as well as the compensasion for it) when I got my MCSE and CCNA.

What kind of job are you looking for and what certs are you pursuing at the moment? I assume you are going for MCSE... I think with a CCNA in my pocket and with your background I would forget about MS and start pursuing the CCNP certification and maybe some Cisco specialist certification/exams perhaps (i.e. VoIP or Security), in case my main objective was to get a job.

ghaouf

there are some medical IT certifications that might be good if you have a backround in science, but i do not know what are there names. :

JIT

I am in early forty and have decided to change my career to IT arena. I did my engineering, completed my MBA, and worked many years in a factory environment. However, I got quite dejected with the environment, daily fighting/wrangling with workers, machine sounds etc. I left my job (luckily my wife is earning substantially), and decided to learn IT. I am starting with first learning some basics of Computer (a + certificate) and Networking (Net + certificate). Then, I want to learn Java, J2EE and finally IBM Websphere. I want to be an e-commerce solution specialist.

I understand, presently, IT is in downward swirl. But, I always think that nobody can beat Technology. Technology is the future. A few failed dot com cannot obscure the growth of Technology. Technology boom will again return. Have patience. I have put my faith and career on this belief. Let see what will happen!!!

Thanks to Everybody.

bellboy

i had been in the print industry for sixteen years when i got paid-off. i had been trying to leave the compnay i was working for for about five years without much success, though without much effort either.

i got my notice of redundancy about two months after i began my a+. it gave me the kick up the backside i needed to actually study in earnest. i hadn't completed the a+ by the time i was unemployed, but within four weeks i had a job doing some dtp and junior admin in a school.

been there for over a year now, and keeping my eyes open for opportunities

RussS

I'm just in this game for the fun of it. My last gig was as a catering manager and I was on the 12/14 hr day and 6/7 day week treadmill, so I decided to turn my hobby into a job where I could go to work each day and play with technology

JIT

It is nice to hear from Bellboy and Russ that I am not alone in my thinking. Although, I worked many years (at high position also), I never enjoyed engineering type working. Daily go to factory, listen to worker, plan weekly/daily schedule, ensure quality----boring

---

. I like to do different things now. Let see how it works out.

Webmaster, just for information, how much do you make? Give range. I am asking you as you are an experienced IT professional, and you have also seen IT up-turn (mid 90) and down-turn now. Are there a lot of differences in salary/working/projects etc. I would appreciate your inputs.

Thanks!

JIT

Hello Webmaster,

As I could not elicit any reply from you, I feel, you did not like my question. I did not intend to offend you. Since you are an experienced IT professional, you can give honest feedback about the salary/ working condition and future of IT etc. That was my intention.

Thanks!

Webmaster

Fortunately the forums are being filled with new posts now daily, so once in a while I might miss one
Although your question is rather direct, I don't mind answering it and certainly don't feel offended.

Please keep in mind that I live in The Netherlands. A couple of years ago I had plans to move to the states and work on the other site of the pond, and figured out using many many jobs boards that whatever amount I earned in my country, in my country's local currency (which was the Guilder at that time, now it is that darn Euro...) I would earn the same amount in the states, but then in dollars... (which at the time was 2.5 Guilder) (living in the states is also twice as expensive, so I wouldn't have gained that much )

Also, I haven't worked for a company for over a year now, so I'm not sure how things have changed since then.

As you said, I have seen IT up-turn (mid 90) but I never really experienced a real down-turn. I would however if I would apply for the same job(s) I had 2 years ago. (consultant(ms exchange)/trainer(MCSE and CCNA)/project manager(expanding large infrastuctures, mainly MS and Cisco). I would have dosens of jobs and companies to choose from, they wouldn't offer me the same big fat car (incl. fuel), laptop, mobile phone (unlimited minutes) and salary. Former colleagues still working at that company wih a similar job and still have the same privileges however... once you got them they are very hard to take away (at least in my country).
The last year that I worked for an outsourcing company, I got a fixed monthly salary including benefits, even if they didn't have a job for me, but when they did sell me for a couple of weeks/months they would charge about $85 per hour. I think I got about a third or a quarter of that and that's before tax (which is rather absurd over here...)

Again, I don't think it is the same in my country as in the states, but I hope it answers your question somewhat. First we had the millenium bug, and than the conversion to the Euro; everyone that knew how to find the keys on a keyboard could get a job including free training (MCSE primarily), this resulted in a terrible decrease of the level of the average IT professional. For some people it was either the army or IT
Around 2001/2002 you could get an MCSE for just a quarter of the cost 1 or 2 years earlier... resulting in MCSEs having to start at a call-desk or other entry level job... even the good ones.

I participated in CompTIA’s Q1 2003 IT Training Barometer survey, end the other participants almost all seem to agree that 3 months form now it will be better, but 12 months from now it will be much better.
(and hopefully in 18 - 24 months boooming again )

Johan

JIT

Thanks Webmaster, for your reply, and that shows the depth of your experience and knowledge. As you have said, twilight is already there for IT field, which will be turned full on in coming future. Let see what happens then.
I have visited your country couple of times during my previous assignment (I used to visit HOLECH, a company dealing with Gas Switchgear). Nice country!!!