systems certification

[letsgetsilly]

Hello everyone, I have a quick question. I am a student working towards a Information Systems degree. Right now, I have no on-paper experience working in any sort of computer-related work, but I want/need to get some as soon as possible. It is not that I do not possess the knowledge, it is just that I have been unable to find work, even grunt-work.

My question involves getting systems certifications. What certifications are out there, and which ones are valuable to someone like myself, or even after I graduate? Are they necessary to get work, or are they just a bonus?

Any assitance would be great, thank you.

-Adam

P.S.--I am not sure if this is the right forums, i apologize if I chose incorrectly

 

[LiLithTecH]

It all depends on what particular area of IT you are persuing.

System Adminstration, Network Services, DBA, Program Specialist etc...

Have you asked your educational institute if they have a Internship program?
Many large and not so large Corporations have IT internships for students in the summer.
The pay is low (or nothing at all), but you can learn a great deal about how things go in the
real world very quickly.

 

[Saltin]

As Li mentioned, it depends on what you want to do.

If you like plumbing, cabling, routers, switches, networking in general, the CISCO certs are pretty much the standard. CCNA would be a good place to start (though I have heard the CISCO certs are in a period of re-design right now, maybe someone could speak on that?)

If you like Systems Administration (designing network services, DNS, DHCP, VPN, Email admin, User accounts, etc), then I recommend the MCSE as a good intro.

Getting experience can be tough. A million and one people will post here and tell you

"certs don't mean anything"
"I know guys who are certified and can't add a printer to a machine"
"I hire people and never take certs into account"

The long and short of it (IMO), is that these people are
1) Experienced, and got thier IT jobs back in the day when all you needed was practical experience/ an interest in computers
2) Not certified
3) Working with people who are certified but are "paper only" people

You can learn alot of valuable information by becoming certified. I went from being a casual power user to a full fleged Windows 2000 Active Directory/Exchange admin in two years. I started down that road with my MCSE. I know where I work now, that I wouldnt have been considered for my position (IT Manager) without my cert. They simply sorted the resume's into certified and non-certified and dumped the non's.
Is that smart on thier part? Probably not, but that's they way they did it. Alot of large corporations won't take on new hires without certs these days. It's not the smartest way to hire, but it's a fact.

The long and short of it is, a cert can't hurt your chances at all. It can only improve them. if you're going to do it, go all the way, study hard, eat/breath/live your systems. It will pay off. Most of all, love computers....there isnt alot of room in IT anymore, loving what you do will ensure that there is always a place for you.

 

[letsgetsilly]

Hey everyone,

Thank you very much for your posts, you have been incredibly helpful, and I appreciate the time that you have taken to respond.

I plan on doing some research in my area for some internships, and I plan on pursuing the certs asap.

Thanks again,
Adam