Situation

My current cert plan was based off of three things: 1 my career goals, 2 what my company wants, and 3 what my company is willing to give money for. That said

CCNA:S>S+>L+>SCSA>SCNA>JNCIA:ER>CCNP>RHCE>....

Now I found out today that I would not be approved for cert money until late January, possibly even Feb or March. Which means that even if I complete CCNA:S and S+ I would not get any money back. This will not deter my studies but I was curious if anyone else was in a similar situation. Me personally I feel like the $300 is a worth while investment for ones career. I am sure many of you would say the same thing. But what about some of the more expensive test on my list. The SCSA totally is somewhere between $300-600 (depending on if I can get the student discount). The RHCE is over $700 and witch the other cost involved, it would probably be like $1000 or more.

My question is, at what point do you draw the line as far as paying out of pocket? I know I won't be completing the RHCE anytime soon (maybe a year or 2 out) but the SCSA/SCNA are in my plans for this year. Is there a dollar amount that at which yall say, Ok, I gotta get the employer to pay this (if possible)?

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Comments

tpatt100

Save the receipts to claim the exam fees/books on your taxes next year at least.

I think I have paid thousands out of my own pockets over the years. What are your goals and do they line up with your current employer? Meaning do you want them to pay for your certs but your education is for potential career moves? My last employer did not pay for my Security+ or CISSP even though it was required for the job. They got me an extra 10K at my next job so it was worth it to me.

impelse

My company pays only for the boloks, I have to pay for the rest.

kalebksp

I pay for everything myself, so thousands of dollars out of pocket. I don't have a problem with that because I enjoy it.

EDIT: I also don't have to support anyone but myself, so I can do whatever I want with what I earn. If you have a family to support I can see that making a difference.

Bl8ckr0uter

tpatt100 wrote: »

Save the receipts to claim the exam fees/books on your taxes next year at least.

I will do this. I had not even thought about that at all.

tpatt100 wrote: »

What are your goals and do they line up with your current employer? Meaning do you want them to pay for your certs but your education is for potential career moves?

My immediate career goals are to get to *nix admin and security, network engineering and security type of work.
I am not 100% sure that they line up with my company. I mean they wanted me to be a CCNA and they would like for me to be a CCNP, and they also pay for the SCSA/SCNA, RHCE, most juniper certs, any microsoft cert, any cisco cert and many others but I am just not feeling like they are big on career development. When you have people who have been in the noc for 6+ years with nothing to show for it but an MCP it makes me wonder...
But some people have moved up so I think it is a 50/50, and I am sure it is different for every person.

kalebksp wrote: »

I pay for everything myself, so thousands of dollars out of pocket. I don't have a problem with that because I enjoy it.

EDIT: I also don't have to support anyone but myself, so I can do whatever I want with what I earn. If you have a family to support I can see that making a difference.

It is my wife, my cat, my fish and me but we do have bills (just like anyone else). Plus we are both in school so it is important. If it were just me I probably wouldn't care.

I mean I know my career is my responsibility but still....

impelse

Jajajaajaja, you can not imagine my company, they still ask themselves why do I need to certify. We do not need that and later they said: After you get the certification you will leave.

So I am doing my certificationa agains the normal thinking in the company, but anyway I like it and somebody will pay my salary increase.

laidbackfreak

knwminus wrote: »

My question is, at what point do you draw the line as far as paying out of pocket?

Is there a dollar amount that at which yall say, Ok, I gotta get the employer to pay this (if possible)?

I dont have any figure in mind where I draw a line, but I always ask my current employer if they will fund any training\exams costs if I feel they are benefitting them as much as me.

I asked my current place to fund my cisco exams but not my cissp for example as my current role couldnt justify that cost to them.

Although there are some interesting developments coming on that front I feel.

Bl8ckr0uter

laidbackfreak wrote: »

I dont have any figure in mind where I draw a line, but I always ask my current employer if they will fund any training\exams costs if I feel they are benefitting them as much as me.

I asked my current place to fund my cisco exams but not my cissp for example as my current role couldnt justify that cost to them.

Although there are some interesting developments coming on that front I feel.

I just feel like I am going to do what I want no matter if I am getting money for it or not. For an example, my company does not care for comptia 1 bit, but I still want security+ and linux+ on my resume. Why? Well for 1 I have an interest in security and in linux, and for 2 I feel like they well help make the difference between my skillset and the 8 other noc guys. No one has/will/wants to/cares for Linux in the noc at all besides me. Everyone is a cisco/microsoft jock and can't see anything else. And that is ok.

I was just wondering was there a figure that anyone puts to it, like 10% of my income goes to career development or something along those lines. That is about the number I am thinking, 10-12%.

stephens316

Well first off thanks for the idea about the Taxes any way to screw Obama out of some money is great because it's not being spent on anything I approve of that said:

I would go ahead with your plans for a couple of reasons even if the company doesn't pay you for taking them you have them, that's a good chip to get a pay raise at some point late next year when the economy rebounds.

Second it gives you skills you need to perform better in your job and the options if you decide to leave your current company.

Finally, I am doing this I have a second like savings account for exams and other things you can put $50 to $150 from each check in there then you know that you have money to go and take the exam.

I do have a lot of money secrets , but they are for me to know and you to Google.

JockVSJock

tpatt100 wrote: »

Save the receipts to claim the exam fees/books on your taxes next year at least.

Woa...I didn't know you could do this. How do you deduct this from your taxes?

I've always paid for my own certs, so this would be wonderful if I could do this.

laidbackfreak

knwminus wrote: »

I was just wondering was there a figure that anyone puts to it, like 10% of my income goes to career development or something along those lines. That is about the number I am thinking, 10-12%.

Nope I dont have a set amount I have a fair amount of disposable income (keep in mind i've been around the block a few times) so for me as long as the bills are paid and swmbo hasnt booked any holidays without me knowing then I buy books as and when I want them. Exams\Hardware I tend to restrict to 1 a month otherwise I'd spend thousands without blinking

That said it works out about 5-10% for this year, but I've only sat 4 exams this year the CISSP took a big chuck of study time. I intend to do more next year.

tpatt100

JockVSJock wrote: »

Woa...I didn't know you could do this. How do you deduct this from your taxes?

I've always paid for my own certs, so this would be wonderful if I could do this.

I always claimed it when I used Turbo Tax under "education for improving professional skills" or something like that.

JockVSJock

tpatt100 wrote: »

I always claimed it when I used Turbo Tax under "education for improving professional skills" or something like that.

Ok, that's kind of what I figured. Thanks for the tip, I'm gonna make that claim then for 2009 for my MCSA/CCNA.

thanks

Turgon

knwminus wrote: »

My current cert plan was based off of three things: 1 my career goals, 2 what my company wants, and 3 what my company is willing to give money for. That said

CCNA:S>S+>L+>SCSA>SCNA>JNCIA:ER>CCNP>RHCE>....

Now I found out today that I would not be approved for cert money until late January, possibly even Feb or March. Which means that even if I complete CCNA:S and S+ I would not get any money back. This will not deter my studies but I was curious if anyone else was in a similar situation. Me personally I feel like the $300 is a worth while investment for ones career. I am sure many of you would say the same thing. But what about some of the more expensive test on my list. The SCSA totally is somewhere between $300-600 (depending on if I can get the student discount). The RHCE is over $700 and witch the other cost involved, it would probably be like $1000 or more.

My question is, at what point do you draw the line as far as paying out of pocket? I know I won't be completing the RHCE anytime soon (maybe a year or 2 out) but the SCSA/SCNA are in my plans for this year. Is there a dollar amount that at which yall say, Ok, I gotta get the employer to pay this (if possible)?

I pay for all my training out my own pocket. I run my own business so can get a bit of a tax break for training costs incurred but it doesn't come close to what I paid out and I don't get any money back so to speak. If you are permanent I would advise you to expend what training funds you can get from your employer on the most useful/expensive certifications. I think we will see training budgets squeezed even more next year with employers expecting employees to make do and fearful that you are training yourself *out* of the company so to speak.