What are best entry-level certs for initial internship/employment?

sendalot

What are the best entry-level certs for initial internship/employment? (I'm a fresh college grad with 0 IT experience).


I so far have CCENT and Network+ and they don't seem to get me much interviews yet.


Is it A+ and/or MCTS 70-680 (Win 7)?


Help me and thanks ya'll.


Oh and if you ask what I want to do, I want just enter into anything. Whether it'd be tech support OR network associate, etc

Polynomial

There's so much more to this than just certification.

What is your degree in? Location? Resume?

sendalot

I have a B.S in Information System and Process Management. I'm in Mid-west. But willing to re-locate, given employment. My resume has been reviewed by multiple experienced people and they liked it.
I so far had 2 final interviews and 1 rejected, 1 waiting.

MAPL

Those two certificates that you have should be more than enough to land you an entry level position. Rather than spending more time studying for other certs, focus your efforts on landing an internship or volunteer position so you can obtain experience. Having 3 months of IT experience with two certs looks alot more attractive than having 4 certs and no experience. Not to mention, you have two great certificates + a bachelors degree.

I'm sure you've heard it before, but experience is the key in this field.

sendalot

You would really call the certs I hold more than enough? I thought CCNA (ICND-2) and MCTS were minimum.
Yes, I've heard that kind of sayings.

N2IT

Your certs are kind of all over the place. CAPM and Networking certs with a IS degree with an emphasis in process management. Don't get me wrong very well rounded but not valuable enough to take a flyer on for a meaningful position right off that bat IMO. Most of the IT pros who slip right into the market have CS degrees with extensive programming knowledge.


Are you capable of automating those processes? Can you write some code?

If not you are probably looking at a coordinator role or the service desk.

sendalot

I'm trying to complete a minor in CS. I've had two semesters of Java and a semester of C++.
I can write some code, but just not hardcore data-structure implementation kind of things. My debugging skills are not best either.

CAPM was acquired a year before I decided to change career path. (From Business to Networking).

I got Network+ and CCENT within 2 months after each other. So would these two help me get entry network associate engineer position or techy stuff?

Shall I get rid of CAPM on my resume?

N2IT

Probably can leverage those networking certifications into a NOC and get some experience from there. Service desk is an option, but I really don't care for it.

I would leave the CAPM on if you are going for coordinator type roles, but if you are applying for a pure technology role I would leave it off. They will wonder why you are applying for the position if you have a project management certification. I know I would.

Just recently I took all my certifications off except for Excel and ITIL and landed a nice asset management position, where I do all the data mining and reporting. Very cool getting to work with SRSS and Sybase.

When I kept my resume loaded with certs all the freaking offers were for PM or BA roles. UGH no thanks!

UniqueAgEnT

Post your resume on here so we can see what you have on there.

sendalot

I don't feel comfortable posting it here. Could you show an example?

MAPL

sendalot wrote: »

You would really call the certs I hold more than enough? I thought CCNA (ICND-2) and MCTS were minimum.
Yes, I've heard that kind of sayings.

For an entry-level position? Definitely.

I was in the same position as you when I graduated college. I got by BA in Information Systems, passed my A+/Network+, and had 0 IT experience. I had a hard time finding a job having those two certs alone. I volunteered for a small business around my area doing IT work and once I put that experience on my resume, I received more calls about job openings.

If you want to get another cert, then go for the A+. That seems to be the industry norm in regards to entry level positions.



I know you

YuckTheFankees

Take the second part of the CCNA and you should start getting more interest. Also, update your resume everyday on indeed, monster, linkedin, simplyhired, careerbuilder..this will keep your resume near the top of searches performed by HR, recruiters, etc.

sendalot

I thought ICND-2(CCNA) without work/job experience is worthless?

N2IT

Naaaa CCNA would help for sure. Would it solve world hunger, no. It would however put a very well known certification on your resume. More so than any of the others and it does seem to be a req for a lot of solid jobs.

I am not a cert freak, but the CCNA does seem to be one that propels peoples career along. Several well known poster on this forum propelled out of the depths of service desk and desk side support into desired positions. This along with your degree could be a nice combo to hit the job market. Not to mention you would learn a lot and that would be very advantageous while in technicial interviews and/or if you had to take a less than desirable job. That way it would hopefully move you out faster than the rest in those other positions.

Tooms

Keep your salary expectations low and take the first job you can get that seems like you will get experience in the industry. Experience is the biggest piece you need to focus on. You can get all the certs in the world and their value is really diminished when you have hardly any experience.

YuckTheFankees

Exactly what Tooms said.

sendalot

I applied to a tons of places for internship lately. Hope I hear back from some. Also, I'll work on programming skills.

Tooms

Good luck. I've been in IT for 15 years - most of it server & networking. My first job was making crap pay at like $23,000 a year. The experience key though. Good work ethic + experience and you will get roughly a 15-25% increase in pay every 2 years via promotions or job changes (which should also be promotions).

I tell people a lot of the time that things dont really sink in until you actually do them yourself regularly and in stressful "system is down" type situations. Its a lot like the stock market. If you want to learn a lot about the stock market and investing in individual stocks, try it and lose money in it.