Do most if not all IT Qualifications and Professions require Continuing Education?

lister

Am I correct in assuming that every IT Profession requires continuing education credits?

Thanks

Forsaken_GA

Nope. Some folks are perfectly happy to stagnate at the job they do until what they know is completely obsolete.

If you're smart, you continuing learning to stay relevant and make more money, not because some governing body says you have to.

My continuing education credits are contained within my paycheck.

DigitalZeroOne

All of IT requires continuing education since things change all the time; however, certifications may or may not require continuing education credits. You don't need to have continuing education credits for Microsoft exams, once you are certified you stay that way, now the cert could become outdated, but you are still certified. Cisco has certs for 3 years and then you retest or your cert actually expires (not sure if that is for every Cisco cert). Certain CompTIA certs require continuing education and some do not.

With that being said, regardless of the certification, IT is a lifelong learning process, and that's why I like it.

erpadmin

lister wrote: »

Am I correct in assuming that every IT Profession requires continuing education credits?

Thanks

[SARCASM] What do you mean? I'm still using DOS 5.0/Windows 3.11 connecting to the Internet via my 2400 BPS modem on my 386/sx16 box with 2MB RAM and a 40 MB IDE Hard Drive. I don't know what this SATA stuff is and I don't want to know.....PC is still working and dialup is just fine.

My users are happy with a Foxpro database. What's the problem? [/SARCASM]

That right there should highlight the need to stay current on PCs and IT in general. With or without certifications in mind. Heck there are those who are MCSE NT 4.0 that are still in the industry that have adapted to AD. He may not have a cert in MCSE 200x, but knows AD extremely well since NT has been all but dead.

By the way...that PC set up I described in my sarcasm field...was my first PC--back in 1991.

lister

Thanks - I just want to make sure what I am getting myself involved with

DigitalZeroOne

lister wrote: »

Thanks - I just want to make sure what I am getting myself involved with

Actually, a lot of people actually get out of IT for that reason, they get tired of relearning. Of course with time and experience, picking up new changes in software does become very easy, and it gets easier to learn completely new products just from the constant day-to-day use of programs. My main irk is re-certifying for an exam when the new product hasn't changed enough to really warrant a brand new cert. Other than that, I'm eager for all the new stuff: Windows 8 and Windows 8 Server, the next version of vSphere (even though 5 just came out last year), heck, even SQL 2012, and I'm not even a database guy.

joshmadakor

Forsaken_GA wrote: »

Nope. Some folks are perfectly happy to stagnate at the job they do until what they know is completely obsolete.

This made me lol, so true.

techdudehere

Although a lot of learning can happen on the job, I think a certain amount of reading/labbing needs to be done at home. There are also certain tasks that I simply feel more comfortable experimenting with in a test environment on my own network. One could just as easily set up test environments at work, but I just prefer to take care of it myself. The types of training that companies will pay for varies. When I was doing my MCSE, most of my classmates were not only getting their training paid for but were getting raises if they passed! In my case, I could only get the tests paid for. It's worth asking about such policies when considering a position. If a company refused to pay for any training at all, I would be tempted to ask for a little more $ to cover the costs.

Asif Dasl

I think that continuing education for CompTIA exams is comical... But for things like CCNA & MCITP:EA etc. it just makes perfect sense... I really hate to see NT4 MCSEs strutting around these days...

Daniel333

You must keep up. You must compete. Or you will fall into a $40k job and eventually get replaced my automation or a off-shoring.

If you're not interested in keeping up, you're in the wrong career.

N2IT

Forsaken_GA wrote: »

Nope. Some folks are perfectly happy to stagnate at the job they do until what they know is completely obsolete.

If you're smart, you continuing learning to stay relevant and make more money, not because some governing body says you have to.

My continuing education credits are contained within my paycheck.

I agree with this.

Sometimes it works out for folks and sometimes it doesn't.

My mother worked for the government for years before switching over to a contractor. She was a DBA for CSC along with a group of other teammates. Most of them were let go, she was not. It's because she could program in COBOL. Sometimes those obsolete skills can get you paid. She makes really nice coin. She is collecting a retirement from the government and making a fair big salary with CSC. I guess a little bit of luck plays into that as well.

Some of those other people who didn't stay current are making 10-15% less than what they were making before. That's why I agree with Forsaken, most of the time it will bit you in the arse.