Who has the most active IT Certifications?

Over the last ten years I've racked up loads of IT certifications. Some I pursued purposely, some my employer required, some came with my degree, and the rest were because I got free vouchers (so why not?)

I think it would be cool to set a Guinness World Record. But I'm curious if anyone knows anyone with a ridiculous number of active IT certifications and what that number is? I'm sure there must be several people who have more than I do. It would give me a good sense of how much work I'd need to do to surpass them.

Thanks!

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Comments

urstuffplz1

Denis Zuev has 6xRHCA, 6xCCIE, 3xJNCIE, CCDE, HCIE and VCIX-NV.. pretty incredible really! He is going for more too. He has 61 certificates listed overall.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/denis-zuev-52998447/

xxxkaliboyxxx

me, I have one...Sec+.....eat it Scott

nisti2

wowww thats really inspiring and in the same time insane!!

urstuffplz1 wrote: »

Denis Zuev has 6xRHCA, 6xCCIE, 3xJNCIE, CCDE, HCIE and VCIX-NV.. pretty incredible really! He is going for more too. He has 61 certificates listed overall.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/denis-zuev-52998447/

OctalDump

urstuffplz1 wrote: »

Denis Zuev has 6xRHCA, 6xCCIE, 3xJNCIE, CCDE, HCIE and VCIX-NV.. pretty incredible really! He is going for more too. He has 61 certificates listed overall.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/denis-zuev-52998447/

This is scary. From what I'm reading he got CCIE R+S in Dec 2012, CCIE SP in March 2013, CCIE Sec in May 2013, CCDE in Nov 2013, CCIE Wireless in Dec 2013, CCIE Data Center in Feb 2014, CCIE Collab in May 2014. That is an insane pace. He has 6 CCIE + CCDE in less time than it takes most people to get one CCIE.

I don't think it's a coincidence he looks like this guy. Clearly.

PJ_Sneakers

Hit up the free certifications thread and take all of those. lol

Hammer80

Having that many certifications is crazy. Anybody with that many certifications has failed the most important test and that is being Certified in Life, nobody will remember your certifications once you're 6 feet under but everybody will remember how you lived. Get the the certifications you need for your career, then just enjoy life. Step outside and breathe the fresh air, enjoy the company of a man or woman, eat good food, laugh, be daring, show kindness. I feel sorry for these people, there is no practical application to having passed 100 certifications and having to maintain them, in the end you're just feeding your own ego.

NetworkNewb

What's most important in life is you enjoy the time while your here. And what people enjoy is different for everyone. Maybe learning new things and expanding their intelligence about technologies is something they enjoy and they think playing outside or having a large social circle is waste of time. To them, they might think a lot of what you do is wasting your life away when you could doing something more valuable. Everyone sees things a little differently.

urstuffplz1

OctalDump wrote: »

This is scary. From what I'm reading he got CCIE R+S in Dec 2012, CCIE SP in March 2013, CCIE Sec in May 2013, CCDE in Nov 2013, CCIE Wireless in Dec 2013, CCIE Data Center in Feb 2014, CCIE Collab in May 2014. That is an insane pace. He has 6 CCIE + CCDE in less time than it takes most people to get one CCIE.

I don't think it's a coincidence he looks like this guy. Clearly.

It's a phenomenal pace to achieve all of that for sure. He must have an eidetic memory to be able to retain all of that knowledge at that pace, I just couldn't see how anyone with a normal memory could achieve that

micchickenburger

rob1234 wrote: »

You have not said how many you have?

I apparently don't have that many at all, compared to those mentioned here!

I'm glad I asked this question! I have about 20 in total. I think some agreement must be made surrounding what can be considered and what can't. For instance:

Are we measuring the number of exams or the number of credentials?
Do the credentials have to be active?
Do legacy certs count?
Do lifetime certs count? (Certs without an expiration date)
Do credentials earned through unproctored (i.e. online) exams count?
Does the certifying agency have to be accredited?
Should the same credential be counted multiple times for each concentration? (i.e. CCIE Wireless versus CCIE R&S)
Do recognitions (i.e. CNSS 4011) count?
So on and so forth...

Based on the resumes of those mentioned here it seems that Datacenter and Networking certs (especially RedHat, VMWare, Cisco, and Juniper) seem to bring that number up quite a bit. That makes sense given the number of vendors out there that offer certification programs.

---

On another note, my question isn't about value to an employer or even about happiness or self-worth. Trying to earn a Guinness World Record is just a fun thing to do. That's all.

I don't consider those with lots of certs any better, any smarter, or any more valuable than anyone with no certs at all. And having certs doesn't boost my ego. I'm just a tiny portion of a massive industry out of probably many thousands of industries about which I know nothing at all.

I travel often around the world and am very lucky to have a great support system, a beautiful life partner, an adorable border collie, and everything I need in life. And I spend a lot of my free time volunteering. But I also like passing tests.

And I like lists and hierarchies that I can climb. I'm competitive (in a friendly way) and earning a World Record would be dank.

So relax people. No hard feelings.

JDMurray

Of all my certs acquired, only the CISSP has been worth my keeping active.

OctalDump

Are we measuring the number of exams or the number of credentials?

Do the credentials have to be active?

Do legacy certs count?

Do lifetime certs count? (Certs without an expiration date)

Do credentials earned through unproctored (i.e. online) exams count?

Does the certifying agency have to be accredited?

Should the same credential be counted multiple times for each concentration? (i.e. CCIE Wireless versus CCIE R&S)

Do recognitions (i.e. CNSS 4011) count?

So on and so forth...

I think that you either measure exams passed, or credentials. Credentials probably makes more sense, although if you go down some tracks like Microsoft, certifications is likely to be larger than exams.

I think, yes, just active ones, but I would include legacy and lifetime. Certifications gained through unproctored exams/work should only count where it is a "proper" certifying authority, and not the equivalent of a diploma mill - although it is probably simpler to just exclude these. I'm thinking of things like GIAC Gold, where you write a paper or something. There's also a number of proctored but open book exams, these should probably count, too.

I'm not sure how accreditation might work in practice. For example you have ANSI/ISO certification, but there are others which are "legit" like Microsoft that don't. I think you could make a list of fairly uncontroversial certifying bodies, eg CompTIA, GIAC, RedHat, LPIC, MS, VMware, Cisco, Axelos (through its agents), (ISC)^2, ISACA. Most of the major vendors in general should be ok, but might also have some certs which are more controversial.

Yes, I think multiple concentrations where they are separate awarded certifications is more than fine.

I think if you are talking about a record, then technicalities matter, and it's the number that matters more than the quality. So a bunch of entry level certs would count more than a big one like CCIE even if the CCIE takes more effort.

If you are talking about "wow, that's impressive" for someone here, then you'd probably care a lot more about quality, difficulty, and diversity. It's more impressive if someone has well known certs (eg MS, Cisco, VMware, CISSP), and difficult certs (eg CCIE). It's more impressive if someone holds difficult certs across multiple areas (CCIE, VCDX, RHCA, MCSE etc), than if they have multiple difficult certs in the same area (eg those network guys with multiple CCIEs and Juniper and Brocade etc).

DatabaseHead

JDMurray wrote: »

Of all my certs acquired, only the CISSP has been worth my keeping active.

Doesn't surprise me at all.

My research showed that the only security certification that was requested on a regular basis was the CISSP, @ ~45% of the time. Next was the C|EH @ ~10% for most jobs. The only exception I could find was the Pen testing positions, where the CISSP came in @~45% but the OSCP was about the same @ ~45%.

The others just seem to be a badge of honor, or "nice to haves".

JDMurray

Certs are very useful for getting yourself invited to a 1st-round interview. But once the interview starts, all that paper is useless. It's only your presentation that will get you to the 2nd round.

JoJoCal19

JDMurray wrote: »

Certs are very useful for getting yourself invited to a 1st-round interview. But once the interview starts, all that paper is useless. It's only your presentation that will get you to the 2nd round.

This is exactly the truth! Ever since obtaining my CISSP, and each cert thereafter, the HR doors have opened wide, but I've been able to sell myself to the interviewers and earn an invite to the 2nd round.

tunerX

urstuffplz1 wrote: »

Denis Zuev has 6xRHCA, 6xCCIE, 3xJNCIE, CCDE, HCIE and VCIX-NV.. pretty incredible really! He is going for more too. He has 61 certificates listed overall.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/denis-zuev-52998447/

So his CCIEs are all suspended. Was he caught up in the CCDE cheating scandal or did he just forget to recertify.

Iristheangel

tunerX wrote: »

So his CCIEs are all suspended. Was he caught up in the CCDE cheating scandal or did he just forget to recertify.

No, he didn't get caught in any cheating scandal. He simply hasn't taken a written after 2 years. He is within the extra year grace period to take the written. There's a nasty rumor going around about Denis which is completely unfair - he didn't get the CCDE during the time of the issues and he has nothing to do with it.

shimasensei

Wow...I'm curious on the effort it takes to keep all of them active / renewed.

Iristheangel

Cisco certs are easy - take one written and call it a day.