Too many certs?

In this age of brain ****, is it possible to have too many certs too quickly?

I made a career switch to IT about a year ago and in that time, I've received 5 certs (CCENT, CCNA, Security+, MCTS-640, VCP4) and about to get a 6th one (MCTS-642). Granted my certs are all entry level certs, but does this make me look like a paper cert?

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vCole

dave330i wrote: »

In this age of brain ****, is it possible to have too many certs too quickly?

I made a career switch to IT about a year ago and in that time, I've received 5 certs (CCENT, CCNA, Security+, MCTS-640, VCP4) and about to get a 6th one (MCTS-642). Granted my certs are all entry level certs, but does this make me look like a paper cert?

Do you have any relative experience with what you're cert'd on?

Lord Nikon

dave330i wrote: »

In this age of brain ****, is it possible to have too many certs too quickly?

I made a career switch to IT about a year ago and in that time, I've received 5 certs (CCENT, CCNA, Security+, MCTS-640, VCP4) and about to get a 6th one (MCTS-642). Granted my certs are all entry level certs, but does this make me look like a paper cert?

I've seen people on here and other various tech forums, call people who get tons of certs in a short period of time, "Paper Tigers". Personally I dont think there is anything wrong with it. But I guess from an employer stand point, the IT Manager is going to see tons of certs, but no real experience, he might think twice about hiring the person. Not saying he wont hire them, just make him think about it more.

dave330i

vCole wrote: »

Do you have any relative experience with what you're cert'd on?

I do. I work for a small company. My boss is a software/Linux guy who has 0 interest in Windows, network and VMware infrastructure. The company moved into a new office space, so I had to configure the switches, IPS as a router, VM infrastructure, Windows Active Directory, and Win 7 clients.

vCole

dave330i wrote: »

I do. I work for a small company. My boss is a software/Linux guy who has 0 interest in Windows, network and VMware infrastructure. The company moved into a new office space, so I had to configure the switches, IPS as a router, VM infrastructure, Windows Active Directory, and Win 7 clients.

As long as you have the experience, I'd say you're fine. Just make sure you outline that on your resume.

Devilsbane

You don't need to list on your resume the dates you became certified. Versions maybe, but you don't need to say that you got 3 certs in 3 months.

They might ask you a question about that, and if they do answer it. But you don't need to advertise it. Plus with experience and knowledge (which should come off in the interview), it won't matter.

chrisone

Yes its possible to obtain these certs to fast especially if you have no experience or better yet not even employed. Some may consider you a cheater using brain ****. Most honest cert takers around here tend to obtain a cert with 3 to 5 months. Others can do it faster if they dont work as many hours, which is logically and obviously legitimate. I question those who get multiple associates and professional level certs within 6 to 12 months, i just think it is bogus. I personally take 3 to 5 months on a cert, mainly because of my work hours, but mainly i have been averaging 4 to 5 months per cert. My CCDP took me 6 months. I started studying for it in december and finished in May.

So in my personal experience I work very hard for my certs and i know how hard it is to study for such exams and what it takes and what is required to pass them. So when i here john doe passed XYZ exam within 1 to 2 months and with no previous experience i usually would just rather not comment. You can tell the ones who have paper certs because they perform poorly at there jobs, or cant answer simple CCNA questions.

tpatt100

I used to be really gunho on my certs back when I first started in IT. I don't even acknowledge some of the certs I had from years earlier because I pursued them because they were the "hot" cert at the moment. I am upgrading my Microsoft certs now but only going for the Server admin MCITP since that is my main focus security wise for Windows. I really struggle studying for stuff that I don't actually work on, the interest is never there.

mikej412

dave330i wrote: »

In this age of brain ****, is it possible to have too many certs too quickly?

Only if you can't demonstrate the knowledge and skills the certification imply you possess.

Some people do collect pieces of paper and then promptly forget everything they learned -- at that point it's probably only useful as toilet paper (just like dumped certs).

JDMurray

If you don't list on your resume the year you received each cert then there's no "too quickly" to worry about.

What can be a problem is listing too many certs period. Hiring managers may consider a lengthy cert list to be an indication of someone who is too experienced for a position (i.e., will be bored with the job and will leave), or of someone who expects to receive a lot of training. So listing too many extraneous certs can get your resumed circular-filed before you get to the first interview. But probably you wouldn't want to work at places that don't like people with lots of certs anyway.

TesseracT

The easy solution is to modify your resume to only state the certs you need for the job (+ maybe a few others to get the interview). I have a bunch of Microsoft certs (like MCSA, Exchange 2010) that I don't bother listing sometimes. Plus if I don't list it they won't get me to troubleshoot crappy servers when I'd rather be working on the network hehe