I need some advice.

[Phoenix15]

I work for a medium sized company (www.qsn.com lmk what ya think ). Among other things, I'm the IT guy. I have one certification with Windows 98 and I am thinking of getting the rest of my certifications required for MCSE.

These tests are not cheap, so I need to see some gain from taking them. Should I ask my employer if she is willing to offer a raise? I figure it will take a good deal of studying as well as the costs of the test, so this is no easy task. What do you guys think?

 

[SaltBoy]

I'd suggest asking them to pay for it, if it will do their company some good. They should invest in you if they want to keep you.

 

[vi edit]

Getting an MCSE certification will not make you a better worker, learning the materials needed to pass the MCSE test will.

What's this mean? Simply buying a Sybex MCSE off of the shelf at Barnes and Noble and studying it will get you just as far as actually taking the tests and getting the badge.

 

[Muadib]

What's this mean? Simply buying a Sybex MCSE off of the shelf at Barnes and Noble and studying it will get you just as far as actually taking the tests and getting the badge.

I would agree as long as he plans on staying at his current gig. However, the cert will only help if he decides, or is forced to, move on.

 

[Phoenix15]

I do plan on staying with this company for the near future (a year or so at least). I guess I was thinking along ther lines of this would make me a more attractive prospect for other companies, meaning my company would want to try and keep me there. A lot of my work is on stuff that is not common tech knowedge (older software that was written especially for us) and would make it difficult for them to replace me easily. I think that my boss has a very low appreation for the whole IT field. I was just thinking that a certification might make her understand that this stuff ain't easy.

 

[vi edit]

Yeh, my comment was assuming that the orginal poster was intending to stay at his current place of employement.

To add to my original comment, I'm in the same situation more or less. My employer could give a rat's furry butt about certifications. All the certs do is add an additional $100 per test to something that I could learn on my own anyway.