Old topic, new crowd - How many of you have your certs in your work email sig?

I know this was a good laugh when I read it years ago, how some people would only put their certs in their email signatures if someone else did, just to out-do their show off stuff.

I personally know of someone who puts things like "Mensa Representative" and such in their email signature (even on internal emails), I assume just to stroke their own ego about how great they are.

I use them only on external emails where I have to make an authoritative to a customer or vendor, to kind of puff my chest showing I've been there and done that, otherwise I leave them off most emails I send.

How about you ladies and gentlemen?

EDIT:

I should clarify, I only put the mini-logos underneath my company name, as the 4 cert logos listed fit it perfectly and the Meraki green symbol at the end looks pretty damn cool when sending external emails

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Comments

Iristheangel

I put the CCIE and thats it... but I work at Cisco so it's pretty relevant.

When I did consulting on the side, I had my own business email with some of my better certs in the signature. It's useful for branding and credibility with certain types but I've seen folks have stuff like their VCA, VCPs, CCNAs, CCIEs, etc all mixed in the same signature and I think that is a little extreme. If you already have a CCNP for example, don't put your CCNA in there.

That's my take on it at least.

Verities

I agree with Iris. Certs in your email are relevant to allow a customer to know they are dealing with a professional. Such situations exist when you are a consultant, work for a managed service provider, or work for a major vendor where something like CCIE instills confidence to clients. Otherwise its probably going to be perceived as pretentious.

jelevated

I put mine in there.

-jelevated
CCIE (Written

), CISSP, GCFA, CEH (Weekends only), IDGAF, WTF, Project+, B.A, B.S, M.S,Ph.D, OMG
Certified Cake Decorator

thomas_

I don't list any certs, but I do put that I'm studying for the CISSP with an, as of yet, undetermined test date. I'm looking forward to the day I can update it with "CISSP study book putchased."

xxxkaliboyxxx

I had a comment made to me the other day telling me how refreshing it was for me not to list any certs and all I could think of was "I only have Sec+" lol.

PC509

Nope. It's 99% in house emails, so they know my credentials. Others don't care, don't know what they mean. I was hired to do something, and that's what I do.

If I were doing contract work, I might put some of the more relevant ones there. Just to boost the confidence of the end user.

DatabaseHead

Personally for me I think it's weird.

alias454

I don't put certs and I don't add in my BS degree either. I have seen some in my org, put in higher level professional certificates though. Personally, listing a slew of non-related certs comes off as tacky but otherwise, I don't see any real problem.

UncleB

Think of the psychology behind why you need to put these achievements in your signature and also how the audience will perceive them.

I believe the people who have the need to list all their achievements (unless it is strategic such as with Iris) subconsciously feel the need for validation for their efforts - there is rarely anything to be gained from it outside of interviews and it often comes across as boastful when used in communications with colleagues.

It speaks to a lack of confidence as well if you need to brag (in your signature) to your colleagues in every email about the letters after your name and is probably the opposite of what you are trying to achieve.

Just my opinion of course.

Personally I am a strong advocate of the "speak softly and carry a big stick" approach when it comes to knowledge.

dialectical

Funny story, we had this guy acting as an interim manager for our company (pretty big company) and his signature looked something like this:

NAME

Network+

ITIL Foundations v3

Manager of xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Ok so, everyone from then on remembered him as the guy who has that signature. Not a good thing to be known for. He also had some other garbage in there verbosely explaining something about the company or company policy. But he kept like the two most lowly certs you can possibly get and spaced them 10 lines apart in his sig like it was the Nobel Prize and the Medal of Honor.

UncleB wrote: »

Think of the psychology behind why you need to put these achievements in your signature and also how the audience will perceive them.

Obvious answer, but raw insecurity. We're in the clear though for filling in the certification bit to the left, right??

OctalDump

I'm curious what other people's qualifications are, so if I saw them in a sig, I don't think it would make me think that they are bragging. Besides, mine's bigger and longer...

hurricane1091

If I had my CCIE I would. I'd make sure everyone in the IT department knew who the triple OG was.

Mike7

While waiting for ISC2 endorsement....

-Mike7
CCSP (Certified Chiropractic Sports Physician®)

scenicroute

My last boss wanted me to put them in my email sig, but I didn't. I felt weird about it.

tunerX

I only put

Thanks,
tunerX
certifications available upon request

Fulcrum45

I don't feel I have the certs to warrant anything like this but even if I did 99.999% of my emails are internal to people who wouldn't have a clue what they were anyway.

scenicroute

Fulcrum45 wrote: »

I don't feel I have the certs to warrant anything like this

I feel the same way. Boasting my current certs would be like saying I can play chopsticks on the piano.

Now, if I had a CCIE, I'd probably put something like this at the bottom of every email:

tunerX

scenicroute wrote: »

I feel the same way. Boasting my current certs would be like saying I can play chopsticks on the piano.

Now, if I had a CCIE, I'd probably put something like this at the bottom of every email:

Most people don't know what a CCIE is. I have had people with different certifications ask me what certifications I had.

I said CCIE and they said what's that... so I say Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert... and they say oh that's like the CCNA.

paul78

Not me. I don't do it. In the past, I would sometimes do it when responding to a customer if the query came from an auditor or risk assessor as professional courtesy if the sender included their certs. It was a subtlety so that the customer knew that the response wasn't coming from an account manager or product manager.

Although, admittedly when I get emails and I see that someone has added their certs - it's actually helpful since it's resets my expectations on how I need to adjust the conversation.

scenicroute

tunerX wrote: »

Most people don't know what a CCIE is. I have had people with different certifications ask me what certifications I had.

I said CCIE and they said what's that... so I say Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert... and they say oh that's like the CCNA.

Reminds me of something similar Eli mentioned: https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=2m25s&v=8u-q8LVnNss

Legacy User

I personally don't but that may change if I ever get a CCIE. Some people at my work do though as we find it funny because people from different non technical departments list CCNA in there signature and/or network engineer. Its a running joke now because nowadays everyone is a "network engineer".

Our local CCIE doesn't like to advertise it because he said if people know you are a CCIE they expect to much out of you.

SteveLavoie

I am working for as an IT Architect for a small IT firm (50-60 peoples), I have my most important one. I dont' list A+, Network+ or even my Linux+ anymore. I am branding my VCP6-DCV and my ISC2 SSCP.

It add credibility for my customer, and many times it added the edge between getting a contract or not.

Legacy User

Well I have to admit when I see a server guy list his/her VCP, MCSE I automatically assume they know there stuff.

OctalDump

scenicroute wrote: »

Reminds me of something similar Eli mentioned: https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=2m25s&v=8u-q8LVnNss

This is interesting. I think even if 1 in 100 clients view it positively and the other 99 are indifferent, it's worthwhile. I'm not sure it would ever count against you (maybe it would, I just can't think of a circumstance with a client where it might). And so what if they don't know exactly what it means.

Personally, I've recommended to clients to check that their contractors have relevant certifications. It's one of the few things you can easily check for some random person you hire to install your WiFi or replace your server or configure the firewall or whatever.

I hope that IT does become properly professionalised, though. With real accountabilities to professional bodies and licensing authorities. A bad system engineer or developer could probably do as much damage to a company as a bad accountant or lawyer (or plumber etc). Then you could just put down your professional association or license authority or something, and they could check a website to see you are legit.

Verities

tunerX wrote: »

Most people don't know what a CCIE is. I have had people with different certifications ask me what certifications I had.

I said CCIE and they said what's that... so I say Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert... and they say oh that's like the CCNA.

I've had a number of Linux admin/engineer related interviews lately where the interviewer had no idea what the RHCE was.

Verities

OctalDump wrote: »

This is interesting. I think even if 1 in 100 clients view it positively and the other 99 are indifferent, it's worthwhile. I'm not sure it would ever count against you (maybe it would, I just can't think of a circumstance with a client where it might). And so what if they don't know exactly what it means.

Personally, I've recommended to clients to check that their contractors have relevant certifications. It's one of the few things you can easily check for some random person you hire to install your WiFi or replace your server or configure the firewall or whatever.

I hope that IT does become properly professionalised, though. With real accountabilities to professional bodies and licensing authorities. A bad system engineer or developer could probably do as much damage to a company as a bad accountant or lawyer (or plumber etc). Then you could just put down your professional association or license authority or something, and they could check a website to see you are legit.

There are plenty of contractors that have licenses to work as such, but often do a piss poor job and are unqualified to be working as they do (I love this show):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhR3J-K4Tkg

Professional bodies can only do so much and we both know there is plenty of corruption, where you can pay someone a fee to get a contractor's license regardless of your qualifications.

josephandre

I've never put my certs in my signature block. Hell, half the people I work with don't know that I have a CISSP.

I don't really care what anyone else does, just not something I advertised unless necessary.

Danielh22185

Nope. My email signature at work simply shows what group I am a part of inside the company. That's it.

I agree with the previously said... I feel it's tacky and boastful.

I agree with UncleB's philosophy and I follow the same approach.

thomas_

Verities wrote: »

There are plenty of contractors that have licenses to work as such, but often do a piss poor job and are unqualified to be working as they do

My favorite is when you are in a state that requires an electrician for low-voltage cabling and you have electricians that know a little about running telephone cables and they think it's the same thing for data cables. You end up with telecom outlets that are daisy-chained together instead of having all of the data cables being home runs back to the IDF.

Mike7

tunerX wrote: »

Most people don't know what a CCIE is.

When I do a search for CCSP, I get Cisco Certified Security Professional or Certified Chiropractic Sports Physician instead of Certified Cloud Security Professional. CCSP® and Certified Chiropractic Sports Physician® are apparently trademarked by American Chiropractic Association (ACA). I sense a potential lawsuit coming. Oh well.