Why do people list prereq certs for higher level certs in addition to the highest?

CodeBlox

I've seen it several places like at work in some folks email signatures. They list for example, CCNA, CCNP, CCNP Voice...

If they simply list CCNP Voice it is implied that they have the rest listed right? Is this preferred or should I only list the "highest" cert?

NetworkVeteran

CodeBlox wrote: »

They list for example, CCNA, CCNP, CCNP Voice... If they simply list CCNP Voice it is implied that they have the rest listed right?

CCNP Voice implies no more than a CCENT from the R&S track, so at least "CCNP, CCNP Voice" is completely non-redundant. The CCNA R&S item is redundant, since CCNP R&S implies CCNA R&S.

Is this preferred or should I only list the "highest" cert?

Colleagues or those with the purse strings to pay a CCNP salary will know it's worth more than a CCNA. Those outside our industry may not realize the relationship. There's no right or wrong answer here, but I don't want to list more than a few certifications in my e-mail signature for formatting reasons. Thus, in the past I listed both my CCNA and CCNP, but now I omit my CCNA.

networker050184

If it is on a resume you are posting to job boards you will probably want to list them all to hit key word searches.

Email signatures there is no right answer. Follow any company guidelines. I prefer not to list any in mine though.

About7Narwhal

networker050184 wrote: »

...list them all to hit key word searches.

^ This. I tend to omit certifications in interviews that I have listed in my resume simply because they have no value. But if they get me a hit in an automated search, it was worth listing it at least on the job site.

santaowns

networker050184 wrote: »

If it is on a resume you are posting to job boards you will probably want to list them all to hit key word searches.

Email signatures there is no right answer. Follow any company guidelines. I prefer not to list any in mine though.

I was going to write about keyword searches as well. Basically recruiters and HR are looking for specified key certs that are listed in job listings. So maybe ccna is required but if you only put ccnp you might not ever get noticed by their search.

JDMurray

Spell out the name of the certification on your resume or CV. This will help resolve any ambiguities between another job-search-related acronym that happens to be the same as a certification's. I've never run across a reason to spell out the name of a certification vendor, such as CompTIA, CWNP, and (ISC)2.

Also be mindful of the problem of certs with multiple monikers, such as Security+ and Security Plus, and CEH and C|EH.

krjay

CodeBlox wrote: »

I've seen it several places like at work in some folks email signatures. They list for example, CCNA, CCNP, CCNP Voice...

If they simply list CCNP Voice it is implied that they have the rest listed right? Is this preferred or should I only list the "highest" cert?

On resumes I would put all of my certifications as you have proven that even people currently going down the Cisco path might not be 100% certain about all the prereqs. That's not a knock on you, I was about to look up the CCNP Voice prereqs before I read NetworkVeteran's post as I didn't know the prereqs for it either.

As far as email signatures, I have no idea why anyone would want to list certifications there. Subtle brag opportunities when communicating with other tech people maybe?

NetworkVeteran

krjay wrote: »

As far as email signatures, I have no idea why anyone would want to list certifications there. Subtle brag opportunities when communicating with other tech people maybe?

Not at all. Instant recognition that I know what I'm talking about. Priceless when you're trying to sell something. Or more accurately, it has some positive market value I have not precisely pinned down, which is why I continue to do it.

JDMurray

krjay wrote: »

As far as email signatures, I have no idea why anyone would want to list certifications there. Subtle brag opportunities when communicating with other tech people maybe?

For going along with the corporate culture. Where I work, training for IT certifications is very common, and so is displaying your "heavy hitter" certs in your email sig. Other places I've worked this would have been seen as presumptuous, confusing ("what are certifications?"), or in violation of the business' email sig policy.