[NCLUG] Re: SAIR or what cert? (Crawford Rainwater)

[Mike Loseke]

Thus spake DJ Eshelman:
> 
> Sounds like you have some good experience-  does anything stand out to go
> for first?  Do you think Certs matter at all to anyone?

 I think that any cert will be most useful to an individuals personal
skillset, or at least that's where I believe they should be most effective
- used as a self-measure more than for something to line your resume with.

 From a hiring side, certs like this (any MS cert, A+, etc) are about the
equivalent to having a learners permit for driving a car and applying to
truck driving school (IMO). It shows that the applicant is interested in
the field and that they have some familiarity with it but it is by no means
a ticket to ride, especially by itself. Not even Cisco certs anymore as
they are teaching them at community colleges and even high schools. Without
experience, certs are pretty transparent.

 From within the job ranks, certs take a far back seat to actual training.
Some jobs will promise raises for certain certs attained while on the job
but this sort of employer is using your cert to charge more for your
services.  In a self-contained company, they are going to stress the classes
far more than any cert and many jobs won't pay for your certs if you do
decide to go after them as they are time intesive and can be expensive to
obtain in this economy of tight IT budgets - and when on the job, a cert
is a waste of time compared to a class.

 As to the HR angle, I've never witnessed an HR department make yes/no
decisions based on certs on a resume. The tried and true method of having a
good resume (experience, training, goals) still seems to be the stongest
method of getting HR to pass your resume on to a manager who is looking to
fill a position.


-- 
                  | An upturned tortise is the ninth most pathetic thing
   Mike Loseke    | in the entire multiverse.  An upturned tortise that
 mike at verinet.com | knows what is going to happen next is, well, at
                  | least up there at number four.
                  |                  -- Terry Pratchett, Small Gods