How many Beta/free certifications have you obtained?

N2IT

Free could be from a vendor beta release or paid for by someone else. WGU wouldn't count because you end up paying with the cost of the course. I've only had one paid for that was ITIL V3 Foundations. This was in part to a requirement on a USDA contract. Other than ITIL F I have had to pay for everything.

nosoup4u

While I agree with you on the WGU part, my employers has reimbursed me 100% so I'd still say I haven't paid for anything

bndabbs

I have obtained 3 through my employer and I just took my first beta yesterday.

the_hutch

The only beta exam I ever took was CASP (CompTIA Advanced Security Practitioner)...and I failed it. It still bothers me to this day, how I could pass CISSP on my first attempt but fail the CASP beta. I think it came down to the non-sensical simulations that CompTIA concocted for that one

chanakyajupudi

MCP - HTML 5 with CSS3 and Javascript 70-480 . Did that one for free. The rest I have paid for myself.

ChooseLife

I generally pay for the certs out of my own pocket and later get offered to have them reimbursed by the employers. Sometimes I take them up on the offer, sometimes not.

Microsoft exam #1 - paid by 1st employer
Microsoft exams #2-4 - paid myself
Cisco CCNA - paid by 2nd employer
ITIL Foundation - paid myself
Cisco CCNA Sec - paid myself
VMware VCP - paid by 3rd employer (including training)
GIAC GSEC - paid by 3rd employer
Security+ - paid myself

f0rgiv3n

As I've gone through my career I started out paying for all my certs until I found a good job where the employer would pay for them. So as you can see below it was all out of my own pocket till half way through:

A+ - myself
Network+ - myself
Security+ - myself
MCSA exams - myself
CCNA - myself and employer (I paid for first attempt, employer for second after I failed the first one)
CCNA security - employer
CCNP exams - employer
JNCIA - employer
JNCIS - employer
CISSP - employer

Unfortunately, I haven't had the opportunity to take any beta exams. I remember when CASP came out, they were only offering it at a testing center about 6 hours drive away from me. I didn't end up enrolling in it (which I regret!).

dave330i

I've taken 3 Beta exams and passed 2.
7 employer paid exams and passed 5.
11 self paid exams and passed 7.

meadIT

VCAP4-DCD Beta was half price.
VCAP5-DCD Beta was free.
VCAP5-DCA Beta was free, but testing kits crashed the day before my scheduled date, so I received a voucher to take the GA version for free.

canoj

Net/Sec+ - Employer (US Army)

tbhouston

A+,Net+,Sec+, CCNA all paid for by my company

Kinda funny because i do budgets and fiance but its a tech company and they pay for whatever you want to take lol

YFZblu

CCNA and CCNA: Sec were reimbursed by my employer after I passed.

GIAC GSEC was covered up front - They paid my work study fee and SANS provided a free exam challenge.

boobobobobob

I've never paid for an exam out of pocket. All the companies i've worked for have had a policy of paying for 2 tries per test (after that it's out of pocket). But I work for resellers and they benefit alot from keeping engineers certified as much as possible.

baracuda1121

70-480
70-243

had vouchers for both

Master Of Puppets

Up until now, it has all been on me. However, my employer is going to pay for my CCNP R&S and Security. We haven't talked about it but probably for the others as well.

NinjaBoy

Just over 50% of my exams that I've taken have either been beta's or sponsored/paid for by my employer, the rest I've paid for...

About7Narwhal

I am starting to think my previous employers weren't so great... I have never had anyone pay for mine other than me. No one has offered and no one has really even cared that I got them.