More Certs

Well..it has been a while since I have been on the board. Work has been crazy....But, they did send me to some good training for two weeks..I was able to pick up 3 new Juniper certifications.

And during my time away from technology, I picked up 2 more fun certs.... NAUI Rescue Diver and TA ...

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Webmaster

Congrats!

Always nice to get some employer-sponsored training and end up with a couple of extra certs.

How do the Juniper certs compare to Cisco in terms of difficulty?

Ten9t6

haha...the JNCIA-M was pretty easy(If you have done ccnp level stuff)....The JNCIS-M...well..imagine one test where you can be tested most of the NP and IP material. It was a fun test. I am looking forward to spending a lot more time w/ Juniper gear.

mobri09

Great job with all your accomplishments and your new certs! You should be really proud of yourself.

lordy

Man, you are an insane cert machine

darkmagic

OMG i just saw Ten9t6's certification list, it just goes on & on & on & that too with quality stuff.

Man i am confused, as a newbie, i was preparing for my CCNA, but you guys have all sorts of certifications under your belt.

I don't even know what all of them stand for.

Can anyone guide me what's the best path to follow to go a long way except for hard work.

Ricka182

Congrats!

Any plans to get all the CCIE's?

Ten9t6

well...It will take a while..but I am interested in most of them....except for the SANs.

TheShadow

darkmagic wrote:

OMG i just saw Ten9t6's certification list, it just goes on & on & on & that too with quality stuff.

Man i am confused, as a newbie, i was preparing for my CCNA, but you guys have all sorts of certifications under your belt.

I don't even know what all of them stand for.

Can anyone guide me what's the best path to follow to go a long way except for hard work.

They are easy to recognize after a while. Ten9t6's has a well rounded and impressive set but I imagine he likes network security. You don't necessarily need such a list it just depends on what you are interested in and if you can get your employer to pay for them. If not you will forgo a few autos to collect that set. We basically have three classes Hardware, Software, and Telecommunications and each of these classes have branches. You are doing a branch of telecommunications.

The only real generic hardware ones are CompTIA provided certs www.comptia.org They are the only certs that require you to go inside a box with the exception of vendor specific ones from HP, Dell and Apple. Comptia A+ and Server+ are inside the box certs. Hardware becomes a shrinking part of IT with each passing year and the security section of the software class a bigger part.

Past A+ & Server+, other certs I consider software and cabling certs. For example while not advised you can become an MCSE (Microsoft Certified System Engineer) without knowing how to assemble a computer; I know quite a few that do not. This is not a bad thing as Microsoft makes minimal hardware but people/companies just assume that a MCSE is also a hardware guru. Companies that understand this fault normally want to see demonstrated hardware experience or an A+ to go with everything else. Cisco understands this dilemma and used to recommend A+ as a start or the minimum of the first semester of the Cisco academy before trying to do the job that a CCNA covers. Just about everything else considers hardware as a set of black boxes with cables or wireless connections in between.

Software rules from that point and you branch out into networking, and network security. His CISSP is the premier security certification (hard to get, expensive, and must be scheduled way in advance), SSCP is further down. CEH is basically learn the tricks of the hacker trade so that you can stop them sort of like police profilers. Everything with a + behind it comes from ComTIA a trade organization with about 13,000 members. Everyone that is a force in IT is a member, IBM, Microsoft, HP, Cisco, etc. The J certs that he has are Juniper which is a competitor of Cisco.

Since you are trying to break in after your CCNA, I would try MCSA and Server+ or Security+. Server+ may be difficult without an A+ but you will be forced to learn about everything in a server room that does not have a Cisco of Juniper label on it. The new server+ exam covers all the bleeding edge technologies. Security+ is an absolute entry level security cert but it is gaining more clout around the world as it is accepted by Microsoft and others as a valid path into the security world.

Ten9t6

Yup..that is a pretty good run down. I do tend to lean more towards security now. I like it because you have to learn sooo much about many areas. These days, I do not plan to keep my Microsoft or Comptia certs up to date. The future certs include lab style certs (CCIEs, JNCIE, RHCE...and the wireless stuff keeps coming back to me)

You are correct, that you can spend a lot of money chasing after all of these. I have been lucky in that my employers have paid for a lot of the tests...But, I have covered a majority of the prep materials. As you put it...I have a "nice cars" worth of money in pursuing Cisco certs alone.

These certs in many areas have really helped in Security...but that is not what I intended when I started. A couple of jobs that I had in the past had me working on everything under the sun. People would call for help and my boss would send me out.....even if I had never heard of the product. This forced me to spend a lot of late nights and weekends reading, studying, reading some more, creating labs, reading some more...studying...you get the picture. It was a very stressful time, but I gained a lot of experience.

Currently, I work for a large communications company. My team manages all aspects of our customers Voice and data networks. My area of focus is more of the routing, switching, and security.

As far as getting all these certs....it is not needed. I am not saying "Don't do it"....I am just restating what TheShadow said...Unless your company pays for it all, you will spend a lot of money. Even if they do pay for it, you will be spending a lot of time. If you are cool with this....then go for it. I cannot hurt you. Understanding multiple areas help bring the big picture into focus.

......And thanks "TheShadow".....after reading your post, I started thinking about what you said about fogoing a few autos...Doing a quick run through, I could have had a New Corvette ZO-6...But then again, without those certs, I wouldn't be able to afford the gas or the speeding tickets.

darkmagic

AMAZING

That's the only word that comes to my mind after reading those 2 posts. U guys are just amazing.

Thanks "TheShadow" & "Ten9t6" especially for taking time to reply with that amazing post. I really do appreciate it.

I am already enjoying being a part of this community than anywhere else.

Thanx guys, thanx a lot again.

RussS

Good stuff dude

I really should have a go at re-certification for diving myself. I used to hold PADI divemaster a long while ago, but haven't dived in close to 20 years

TheShadow

Ten9t6 wrote:

Doing a quick run through, I could have had a New Corvette ZO-6...But then again, without those certs, I wouldn't be able to afford the gas or the speeding tickets.

And that my friend is what people in show business call "suffering for ones art"

rossonieri#1

wowowowowwww......

you are the MAN!!!
i was planning to take the JNCIS-FWV and you take the path first,

its about time to take a diversity of certification world, dont you think?

how about Nortel??

Chivalry1

Congrats. We have a couple of Juniper (SSL/VPN) boxes. I will have a look at these certs.

Ten9t6

RussS......20 years? what are you waiting on? It is time to blow some more bubbles!

rossonieri#1......Actually, I took the JNCIS-M (the routing one) and the JNCIA-FWV (the firewall one)....Since I did so well on the IA firewall exam, I am going to step it up this week and go for the JNCIS-FWV. I will let you know how it goes.....It should be fun...especially since I am studying for my ENA (Extreme Networks Associate). I took the class back in April and never got around to taking the exam.

Chivalry1....Thanks... We have a couple of SSL VPN boxes around here. I want to learn more about them. They are not in the area in which I work, so hands on time would be really slow. But, hopefully, I will get more access in the future.

jd_mattos

Ten9t6 you are a cert machine.
I have logged on to here to show my friends all of your certs.
I hope to someday have half as many as you!
Congrats on all of your hard work!!

Ten9t6

Thanks....

Trust me...if I can do it...anyone can! Just continue to hang out and talk to people on this forum. There is a lot of knowledge here. It doesn't matter how many certs you have....you will learn something here everyday. I know I do...everytime I login.

I think part of the driving force for me was people telling me that it wouldn't happen.....you can't do that....you won't make that much money....the jobs aren't out there......blah blah blah..... Everything in life is what you make of it.

Kenny

darkmagic

Ten9t6 wrote:

Everything in life is what you make of it.

So very correct

jd_mattos

Thats true, I log onto this website about 10 times a day.
I love logging on here and ready all the posts. I always learn something new.
There are a ton of knowledge on this board.

Ricka182

Yeah, I'll say it again...this place is wicked pissa!!! TenT96 is like motivation for those who get stuck on a cert, or lose hope. Just goes to prove, if you try, it can and will happen. For the next few words, not everyone may recognize who I'm quoting. It's not even IT related, but to me, it means a lot, and is a good point in life too....I apologize in advance for the huge quote.......from the Espy awards.

Jimmy Valvano wrote:

Thank you, Thank you very much. Thank you. That's the lowest I've ever seen Dick Vitale since the owner of the Detroit Pistons called him in and told him he should go into broadcasting.

I can't tell you what an honor it is, to even be mentioned in the same breath with Arthur Ashe. This is something I certainly will treasure forever. But, as it was said on the tape, and I also don't have one of those things going with the cue cards, so I'm going to speak longer than anybody else has spoken tonight. That's the way it goes. Time is very precious to me. I don't know how much I have left and I have some things that I would like to say. Hopefully, at the end, I will have said something that will be important to other people too.

But, I can't help it. Now I'm fighting cancer, everybody knows that. People ask me all the time about how you go through your life and how's your day, and nothing is changed for me. As Dick said, I'm a very emotional and passionate man. I can't help it. That's being the son of Rocco and Angelina Valvano. It comes with the territory. We hug, we kiss, we love. When people say to me how do you get through life or each day, it's the same thing. To me, there are three things we all should do every day. We should do this every day of our lives. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. Number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. But think about it. If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that's a full day. That's a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you're going to have something special.

I rode on the plane up today with Mike Krzyzewski, my good friend and wonderful coach. People don't realize he's ten times a better person than he is a coach, and we know he's a great coach. He's meant a lot to me in these last five or six months with my battle. But when I look at Mike, I think, we competed against each other as players. I coached against him for fifteen years, and I always have to think about what's important in life to me are these three things. Where you started, where you are and where you're going to be. Those are the three things that I try to do every day. When I think about getting up and giving a speech, I can't help it. I have to remember the first speech I ever gave.
I was coaching at Rutgers University, that was my first job, oh that's wonderful (reaction to applause), and I was the freshman coach. That's when freshmen played on freshman teams, and I was so fired up about my first job. I see Lou Holtz here. Coach Holtz, who doesn't like the very first job you had? The very first time you stood in the locker room to give a pep talk. That's a special place, the locker room, for a coach to give a talk. So my idol as a coach was Vince Lombardi, and I read this book called "Commitment To Excellence" by Vince Lombardi. And in the book, Lombardi talked about the fist time he spoke before his Green Bay Packers team in the locker room, and they were perennial losers. I'm reading this and Lombardi said he was thinking should it be a long talk, or a short talk? But he wanted it to be emotional, so it would be brief. So here's what I did. Normally you get in the locker room, I don't know, twenty-five minutes, a half hour before the team takes the field, you do your little x and o's, and then you give the great Knute Rockne talk. We all do. Speech number eight-four. You pull them right out, you get ready. You get your squad ready. Well, this is the first one I ever gave and I read this thing. Lombardi, what he said was he didn't go in, he waited. His team wondering, where is he? Where is this great coach? He's not there. Ten minutes he's still not there. Three minutes before they could take the field Lombardi comes in, bangs the door open, and I think you all remember what great presence he had, great presence. He walked in and he walked back and forth, like this, just walked, staring at the players. He said, "All eyes on me." I'm reading this in this book. I'm getting this picture of Lombardi before his first game and he said "Gentlemen, we will be successful this year, if you can focus on three things, and three things only. Your family, your religion and the Green Bay Packers." They knocked the walls down and the rest was history. I said, that's beautiful. I'm going to do that. Your family, your religion and Rutgers basketball. That's it. I had it. Listen, I'm twenty-one years old. The kids I'm coaching are nineteen, and I'm going to be the greatest coach in the world, the next Lombardi. I'm practicing outside of the locker room and the managers tell me you got to go in. Not yet, not yet, family, religion, Rutgers Basketball. All eyes on me. I got it, I got it. Then finally he said, three minutes, I said fine. True story. I go to knock the doors open just like Lombardi. Boom! They don't open. I almost broke my arm. Now I was down, the players were looking. Help the coach out, help him out. Now I did like Lombardi, I walked back and forth, and I was going like that with my arm getting the feeling back in it. Finally I said, "Gentlemen, all eyes on me." These kids wanted to play, they're nineteen. "Let's go," I said. "Gentlemen, we'll be successful this year if you can focus on three things, and three things only. Your family, your religion and the Green Bay Packers," I told them. I did that. I remember that. I remember where I came from.

It's so important to know where you are. I know where I am right now. How do you go from where you are to where you want to be? I think you have to have an enthusiasm for life. You have to have a dream, a goal. You have to be willing to work for it.

I talked about my family, my family's so important. People think I have courage. The courage in my family are my wife Pam, my three daughters, here, Nicole, Jamie, LeeAnn, my mom, who's right here too. That screen is flashing up there thirty seconds like I care about that screen right now, huh? I got tumors all over my body. I'm worried about some guy in the back going thirty seconds? You got a lot, hey va fa napoli, buddy. You got a lot.

I just got one last thing, I urge all of you, all of you, to enjoy your life, the precious moments you have. To spend each day with some laughter and some thought, to get you're emotions going. To be enthusiastic every day and as Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "Nothing great could be accomplished without enthusiasm," to keep your dreams alive in spite of problems whatever you have. The ability to be able to work hard for your dreams to come true, to become a reality.

Now I look at where I am now and I know what I want to do. What I would like to be able to do is spend whatever time I have left and to give, and maybe, some hope to others. Arthur Ashe Foundation is a wonderful thing, and AIDS, the amount of money pouring in for AIDS is not enough, but is significant. But if I told you it's ten times the amount that goes in for cancer research. I also told you that five hundred thousand people will die this year of cancer. I also tell you that one in every four will be afflicted with this disease, and yet somehow, we seem to have put it in a little bit of the background. I want to bring it back on the front table. We need your help. I need your help. We need money for research. It may not save my life. It may save my children's lives. It may save someone you love. And ESPN has been so kind to support me in this endeavor and allow me to announce tonight, that with ESPN's support, which means what? Their money and their dollars and they're helping me-we are starting the Jimmy V Foundation for Cancer Research. And it's motto is "Don't give up, don't ever give up." That's what I'm going to try to do every minute that I have left. I will thank God for the day and the moment I have. If you see me, smile and give me a hug. That's important to me too. But try if you can to support, whether it's AIDS or the cancer foundation, so that someone else might survive, might prosper and might actually be cured of this dreaded disease. I can't thank ESPN enough for allowing this to happen. I'm going to work as hard as I can for cancer research and hopefully, maybe, we'll have some cures and some breakthroughs. I'd like to think, I'm going to fight my brains out to be back here again next year for the Arthur Ashe recipient. I want to give it next year!

I know, I gotta go, I gotta go, and I got one last thing and I said it before, and I want to say it again. Cancer can take away all my physical abilities. It cannot touch my mind, it cannot touch my heart and it cannot touch my soul. And those three things are going to carry on forever.

I thank you and God bless you all.

The above speech is available for those who want to watch it, here. It's shown every year at the Espys as well.

Ten9t6

rossonieri#1 wrote:

wowowowowwww......

you are the MAN!!!
i was planning to take the JNCIS-FWV and you take the path first,
its about time to take a diversity of certification world, dont you think?
how about Nortel??

Ok rossonierie#1....here is an update:

JUST PASSED THE JNCIS-FWV EXAM!!![/b]

Wow....It was harder than I thought it would be..and much harder than the JNCIA-FWV.....as it should be. It would have been easier, if I had more experience on the devices (Some..but not a lot...I put more time on them everyday)...Didn't score as high as I would have liked...but hey..it was a green bar......

"If your last in your class, they still call you Doctor!"

Kenny

Webmaster

Congrats again Kenny!

Ricka182

congrats to the wow factor!!! An absolute machine!

keenon

how can i be down? lol

filkenjitsu

"Yeah, I'll say it again...this place is wicked pissa!!! " - someone else is from Mass eh?

Man, this guy named OVERCERTIFIED on the ****.com forums is insane also, check out his credentials:

A+, iNet+, Network+, Server+, Security+
MCSE+I (NT4), MCDBA (SQL 7), MCSE (NT4, Win2K, Win2k3), MCSA (Win2k,Win2k3), MCSE-S (Win2k, Win2K3), MCSA-S (Win2K, Win2K3), MCSA-M(Win2k,Win2k3), MCSE+M(Win2K)
CCA, CCNA, ACP, CCP, CSM. CHS-III, CFC
SSCP, CISSP, ISSMP, ISSAP, CISA, CISM, TruSecure ICSA, SCP/SCNP, CEH
IBM Certified Specialist (Warp Admin, Comm Server)
Master CIW Administrator
Master CWP Administrator
CIW Security Analyst
Symantec Product Specialist (SPS) (Web Security 2.5, Enterprise Firewall Advanced Topics 7.0)
Symantec Technology Architect (STA) (Firewalls & VPN Technologies Certification, Virus Protection & Content Filtering Certification)
Symantec Certified Security Practitioner (SCSP)

A+, iNet+, Network+, Server+, Security+
MCSE+I (NT4), MCDBA (SQL 7), MCSE (Win2K, WIN2K3), MCSA, MCSAS, MCSES
CCA, CCNA, ACP, CCP, CSM
SSCP, CISSP, CISA, CISM, TruSecure ICSA, SCNP
Master CIW & CWP Admin
CIW Security Analyst
SPS, STA, SCSP

3 Masters degrees - Computer science, telecommunications, MBA management.
here is his life summary:

Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2005 1:53 am Post subject: Re:

Cymric_Knight wrote:
OC - would it be better to get a Ph.D. instead of another masters? Do you take certifications as a hobby? If you're so much into computers why not a Ph.D. and teach us poor slobs a thing or two in computers. Have you thought of teaching instead of just learning? (but of course you can still learn from students) Just some thoughts ....

Besides if you think you're trying to make some record on the number of certs I read somewhere that a guy (in Texas I think) has the record of 25 (maybe more by now) certifications.

One reason I've dropped out of the cert track is because I feel a degree will get me farther. That is why I'm working on my Masters (MBA) with a minor in Information Security. I am also persuing some (free) certificates when between classes.

As you can see from my previous post, I was on the road to the Ph.D and dropped out. Whether having the Ph.D is an advantage is yet to be seen. My only driver to get the Ph.D was that my mother wanted it and that I could be called "Dr.". Then I came to the realization that having the Ph.D could be a good retirement package, as I could retire, and then teach at a College. But with a Masters and real time experience in the field, I could probably teach anyway.

The Ph.D is more theoretical. A Maters is more practical. Unless you intend to work in a R&D department in a company, the Ph.D doesn't (in my opinion) buy much. In some cases a company might not even want to handle you because there may be a large expectation of salary. I have known people who left the Ph.D off their resume because they could not get a job with it on the resume.

Let me give you some more perspective:

In 1976, which I was 22, I had a AS degree, and that was it. But I was getting paid very well at the time.

In 1981, which I was 27, I still had the AS degree, and was moving. In looking for a new job, I could have a a really great consulting job, but they wanted a Masters, but would settle for a BS. Not having that, I did not get the job, and was disappointed. Once I did complete the move, as I was working for someone else, I decided that I could lose a job interview for many reasons, but I would not allow being underqualified being one of them ever again. I went back to school.

In 1985, which I was now going to be 31, I lost my job because the company decided to fold the division. From 1976-1985, I had worked for the same company for 8.5 years, in three different divisions, in different parts of the country. (In the case of 1981, I ended up getting a transfer as part of the move). So, in looking for a new job, in 1985, I was 2 credits shy from my BS in Comp Science, but got a nice job, with a nice salary. Even though the "degree" may have been helpful, having the "experience" had overwhelmed the need for education.

In 1988 I received my first Masters, in 1993 my second Masters, and 1998 my third masters.

In 2002, I was laid off from my job, after working there at least 16 years. That would make me about 48. My current job, required a BS degree, preferred a MS degree, and also required the CISSP. It also required 10 year experience in the IT as well as in security.

The point I wanted to make is that even with a College or Graduate degree, it will only carry you so far, especially if you are just out of school. Once you reach a point where you have several years of real life experience under the belt, the impact of formal education like the BS and MS has less effect. There will be a certain amount of respect, but you no longer need it to carry you. In may case, although I did get hurt for one job, the impact of all the degrees and certs was limited.

As far a certs themselves, my reasons for going for them is many. One major reason is validation of learning, when I go to a training course, get trained, and then take the exam to validate the training. In some cases the cert may actually be required. In some cases it is to SHUT PEOPLE UP. In this area, we have had consultants come in and they don't know anyth

dsa1971

filkenjitsu wrote:

"Yeah, I'll say it again...this place is wicked pissa!!! " - someone else is from Mass eh?

Man, this guy named OVERCERTIFIED on the xxxxxx.com forums is insane also, check out his credentials:

A+, iNet+, Network+, Server+, Security+
MCSE+I (NT4), MCDBA (SQL 7), MCSE (NT4, Win2K, Win2k3), MCSA (Win2k,Win2k3), MCSE-S (Win2k, Win2K3), MCSA-S (Win2K, Win2K3), MCSA-M(Win2k,Win2k3), MCSE+M(Win2K)
CCA, CCNA, ACP, CCP, CSM. CHS-III, CFC
SSCP, CISSP, ISSMP, ISSAP, CISA, CISM, TruSecure ICSA, SCP/SCNP, CEH
IBM Certified Specialist (Warp Admin, Comm Server)
Master CIW Administrator
Master CWP Administrator
CIW Security Analyst
Symantec Product Specialist (SPS) (Web Security 2.5, Enterprise Firewall Advanced Topics 7.0)
Symantec Technology Architect (STA) (Firewalls & VPN Technologies Certification, Virus Protection & Content Filtering Certification)
Symantec Certified Security Practitioner (SCSP)

A+, iNet+, Network+, Server+, Security+
MCSE+I (NT4), MCDBA (SQL 7), MCSE (Win2K, WIN2K3), MCSA, MCSAS, MCSES
CCA, CCNA, ACP, CCP, CSM
SSCP, CISSP, CISA, CISM, TruSecure ICSA, SCNP
Master CIW & CWP Admin
CIW Security Analyst
SPS, STA, SCSP

3 Masters degrees - Computer science, telecommunications, MBA management.
here is his life summary:

Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2005 1:53 am Post subject: Re:

Cymric_Knight wrote:
OC - would it be better to get a Ph.D. instead of another masters? Do you take certifications as a hobby? If you're so much into computers why not a Ph.D. and teach us poor slobs a thing or two in computers. Have you thought of teaching instead of just learning? (but of course you can still learn from students) Just some thoughts ....

Besides if you think you're trying to make some record on the number of certs I read somewhere that a guy (in Texas I think) has the record of 25 (maybe more by now) certifications.

One reason I've dropped out of the cert track is because I feel a degree will get me farther. That is why I'm working on my Masters (MBA) with a minor in Information Security. I am also persuing some (free) certificates when between classes.

As you can see from my previous post, I was on the road to the Ph.D and dropped out. Whether having the Ph.D is an advantage is yet to be seen. My only driver to get the Ph.D was that my mother wanted it and that I could be called "Dr.". Then I came to the realization that having the Ph.D could be a good retirement package, as I could retire, and then teach at a College. But with a Masters and real time experience in the field, I could probably teach anyway.

The Ph.D is more theoretical. A Maters is more practical. Unless you intend to work in a R&D department in a company, the Ph.D doesn't (in my opinion) buy much. In some cases a company might not even want to handle you because there may be a large expectation of salary. I have known people who left the Ph.D off their resume because they could not get a job with it on the resume.

Let me give you some more perspective:

In 1976, which I was 22, I had a AS degree, and that was it. But I was getting paid very well at the time.

In 1981, which I was 27, I still had the AS degree, and was moving. In looking for a new job, I could have a a really great consulting job, but they wanted a Masters, but would settle for a BS. Not having that, I did not get the job, and was disappointed. Once I did complete the move, as I was working for someone else, I decided that I could lose a job interview for many reasons, but I would not allow being underqualified being one of them ever again. I went back to school.

In 1985, which I was now going to be 31, I lost my job because the company decided to fold the division. From 1976-1985, I had worked for the same company for 8.5 years, in three different divisions, in different parts of the country. (In the case of 1981, I ended up getting a transfer as part of the move). So, in looking for a new job, in 1985, I was 2 credits shy from my BS in Comp Science, but got a nice job, with a nice salary. Even though the "degree" may have been helpful, having the "experience" had overwhelmed the need for education.

In 1988 I received my first Masters, in 1993 my second Masters, and 1998 my third masters.

In 2002, I was laid off from my job, after working there at least 16 years. That would make me about 48. My current job, required a BS degree, preferred a MS degree, and also required the CISSP. It also required 10 year experience in the IT as well as in security.

The point I wanted to make is that even with a College or Graduate degree, it will only carry you so far, especially if you are just out of school. Once you reach a point where you have several years of real life experience under the belt, the impact of formal education like the BS and MS has less effect. There will be a certain amount of respect, but you no longer need it to carry you. In may case, although I did get hurt for one job, the impact of all the degrees and certs was limited.

As far a certs themselves, my reasons for going for them is many. One major reason is validation of learning, when I go to a training course, get trained, and then take the exam to validate the training. In some cases the cert may actually be required. In some cases it is to SHUT PEOPLE UP. In this area, we have had consultants come in and they don't know anyth

I'm wondering after collecting degrees and certs and studying for certs and degrees how he has had time to apply what he has learned. also, how does he have time for a life.