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Which certification is more valuable?

J

JoeKing

Lifer
Having recently graduated college I want to make myself more marketable and I'm thinking about getting computer certified at my local community college. The colleg is offering classes in Novell and MCSE...as well as A+

For those in the network admin field which certificate would you recommend getting first? How often do you have to get recertified? And how much does it costs to take the test?
 
Well, I'm not an IT person, but from what I see right now is that companies are replacing Novell with Active Directory.

I think if you're making a move on getting certificated, the ideal certification that you want to look into will be MSCE and A+.

Just a suggestion, hope I helped you.
 
A+ is worthless. Novell is a dying technology.

Out of the 3, I would definately go with the MCSE, although even that will not get you very far these days. If you are serious, I would look at getting the MCSE, and then back it up with a CCNA. Then you can move up the Cisco chain... high-level Cisco techs are still relatively in demand these days.
 
Originally posted by: AbsolutDealage
A+ is worthless. Novell is a dying technology.

Out of the 3, I would definately go with the MCSE, although even that will not get you very far these days. If you are serious, I would look at getting the MCSE, and then back it up with a CCNA. Then you can move up the Cisco chain... high-level Cisco techs are still relatively in demand these days.
Click to expand...

Just my thought.....

I do think A+ is kind of useless also, but it does help to obtain a PC Technican type job. That piece of paper proofs to employer that you can meet the requirement to be a Technican.
 
Originally posted by: AbsolutDealage
A+ is worthless. Novell is a dying technology.

Out of the 3, I would definately go with the MCSE, although even that will not get you very far these days. If you are serious, I would look at getting the MCSE, and then back it up with a CCNA. Then you can move up the Cisco chain... high-level Cisco techs are still relatively in demand these days.
Click to expand...

Just my thought.....

I do think A+ is kind of useless also, but it does help to obtain a PC Technican type job. That piece of paper proofs to employer that you can meet the requirement to be a Technican.
 
A+ is not worthless if you can back it up with real-world knowledge and experience. I know tons of people have A+, but i'd say at least half of them don't know anything about computers.
 
The ONLY job A+ will help you with is at best buy, gateway, etc. A corporate level job isn't going to care too much about your certs or lack thereof. That being said, I would certainly NOT waste time with A+. Active Directory is for sure not a bad idea, especially if you are looking for corp. type jobs. Cisco is not bad, but a lot of companies will pay for you to go to the classes, so your better off try to get hired somewhere before spending two years trying to get certs.

A+ to many companies is showing that you can take a test. That's it. It's a stupid test with a lot of crap that doesn't apply to any of today's technology.
 
Go for the MCSE. It may just be a piece of paper, but corporations seem to like it better than A+. If Network+ is an option you may look at that one also. It'll help yo understand the MCSE courses and be another cert.
 
I would get the Novell over the MCSE. MCSE is overlooked now, and IMO, Novell is on the rise. We use Novell at work and it is far better than the Microsoft Suite. People who hate it have never used it. Do yourself a favor... get the Novell Cert and go work for a Novell company. Your life will be much more pleasant.
 
Originally posted by: edro13
I would get the Novell over the MCSE. MCSE is overlooked now, and IMO, Novell is on the rise. We use Novell at work and it is far better than the Microsoft Suite. People who hate it have never used it. Do yourself a favor... get the Novell Cert and go work for a Novell company. Your life will be much more pleasant.
Click to expand...

O-K, that's a bad idea. If you work for that ONE company, or a school, then learn novell. By far most companies are going to active directory.
 
Ok Active Directory is microsoft right? Would that fall under MCSE?

Looking over some of the prices...its damn expensive to get certified. though "Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) certification earned an average of $63,900 last year" looks promising.

Do you guys recommend taking a class, I'm pretty computer savy, could I get away with reading a few books. I've also got a 4 year degree in communications.
 
Originally posted by: edro13
I would get the Novell over the MCSE. MCSE is overlooked now, and IMO, Novell is on the rise. We use Novell at work and it is far better than the Microsoft Suite. People who hate it have never used it. Do yourself a favor... get the Novell Cert and go work for a Novell company. Your life will be much more pleasant.
Click to expand...

What he said. Novell is <b>not</b> a dying technology and 10x better than AD. Too many people beleive Micro$oft FUD. MS certs are good to have too. I am also looking at getting more experience in MS SQL server and maybe a MCDBA cert.
 
Paper MCSE
rolleye.gif


Experience is everything. But then again, we all have to start somewhere. :beer:
 
Originally posted by: se7enty7
Originally posted by: edro13
I would get the Novell over the MCSE. MCSE is overlooked now, and IMO, Novell is on the rise. We use Novell at work and it is far better than the Microsoft Suite. People who hate it have never used it. Do yourself a favor... get the Novell Cert and go work for a Novell company. Your life will be much more pleasant.
Click to expand...

O-K, that's a bad idea. If you work for that ONE company, or a school, then learn novell. By far most companies are going to active directory.
Click to expand...
No sh!t that is a bad idea. I've worked for some BIG companies and they ALL are making the transition from Novell to MS AD. The ONLY thing I see Novell certs doing is to help companies move from Novell to MS AD. AD has so many benefits over Novell you just have no other choice. Novell is a good product but since everything is being intergrated into AD, it just makes for a MUCH easier way to administer a network. Having SMS, Exchange and SQL integrate into AD is a beautiful thing. 🙂

As for certs, I'd get the MCSE. If you aren't a cheating bitch (braindump memorizer) you'll come out learning alot. I'd get some books and set up a lab at home and you'll get alot out of it. I'd also get a CCNA. It should be pretty easy to get if you study and have your subnetting down. CCNA is one test, compared to 7 MS test for the MCSE. So if you pass it, your done. You can go further with CISCO if you like later. If you want to pick up an easy cert, do the A+. This is about the dumbest test out there and if you can't pass it, I'd get into another field. A+ is good to put on your resume, as some retarded employers put this down as a requirement for the job, and I'm not talkign about a Best Buy job either. I'm talking about a network support position. 😕
 
Originally posted by: Joeyman
Ok Active Directory is microsoft right? Would that fall under MCSE?

Looking over some of the prices...its damn expensive to get certified. though "Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) certification earned an average of $63,900 last year" looks promising.

Do you guys recommend taking a class, I'm pretty computer savy, could I get away with reading a few books. I've also got a 4 year degree in communications.
Click to expand...
This is the biggest pile of sh!t ever! This comes from IT schools that are just trying to take your money. Sh!t, they were saying you could make $50,000+ in 2001 and 2002 which were the WORST years for IT. Very talented people were looking for jobs and you think someone right of school with some paper is going to make that money, with the competition out there? I don't think so. If you do, consider yourself EXTREMELY lucky!
 
Originally posted by: JackBurton
Originally posted by: Joeyman
Ok Active Directory is microsoft right? Would that fall under MCSE?

Looking over some of the prices...its damn expensive to get certified. though "Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) certification earned an average of $63,900 last year" looks promising.

Do you guys recommend taking a class, I'm pretty computer savy, could I get away with reading a few books. I've also got a 4 year degree in communications.
Click to expand...
This is the biggest pile of sh!t ever! This comes from IT schools that are just trying to take your money. Sh!t, they were saying you could make $50,000+ in 2001 and 2002 which were the WORST years for IT. Very talented people were looking for jobs and you think someone right of school with some paper is going to make that money, with the competition out there? I don't think so. If you do, consider yourself EXTREMELY lucky!
Click to expand...

hmm maybe I should have put a 🙂 after that quote from the article. But no of course I'm not expecting to make that much. Hell I'd be happy to make 30K a year right now.

Real world experience wise I've setup a bunch of home LANS and helped admin my High schools network 5 years ago (PERL 0wns jooo!!) What I'm asking is what certificate will get me hired. I mean I wish I had 10+ years real world experience but I'm just to young and spent 4 years getting a degree. Its the old catch 22, we won't hire you unless you have xx years experience.....but HTH am I supposed to get that experience unless I'm hired? 😕
 
Originally posted by: JackBurton
Originally posted by: se7enty7
Originally posted by: edro13
I would get the Novell over the MCSE. MCSE is overlooked now, and IMO, Novell is on the rise. We use Novell at work and it is far better than the Microsoft Suite. People who hate it have never used it. Do yourself a favor... get the Novell Cert and go work for a Novell company. Your life will be much more pleasant.
Click to expand...

O-K, that's a bad idea. If you work for that ONE company, or a school, then learn novell. By far most companies are going to active directory.
Click to expand...
No sh!t that is a bad idea. I've worked for some BIG companies and they ALL are making the transition from Novell to MS AD. The ONLY thing I see Novell certs doing is to help companies move from Novell to MS AD. AD has so many benefits over Novell you just have no other choice. Novell is a good product but since everything is being intergrated into AD, it just makes for a MUCH easier way to administer a network. Having SMS, Exchange and SQL integrate into AD is a beautiful thing. 🙂

As for certs, I'd get the MCSE. If you aren't a cheating bitch (braindump memorizer) you'll come out learning alot. I'd get some books and set up a lab at home and you'll get alot out of it. I'd also get a CCNA. It should be pretty easy to get if you study and have your subnetting down. CCNA is one test, compared to 7 MS test for the MCSE. So if you pass it, your done. You can go further with CISCO if you like later. If you want to pick up an easy cert, do the A+. This is about the dumbest test out there and if you can't pass it, I'd get into another field. A+ is good to put on your resume, as some retarded employers put this down as a requirement for the job, and I'm not talkign about a Best Buy job either. I'm talking about a network support position. 😕
Click to expand...


Umm what do you think AD is? its fvcking NDS!!

you mean having Exhange SQL and SMS integrarte into AD is sweet, kind of like having Groupwise, Zenworks, and Bordermanager, NDPS, Backup Exec, Mcafee, etc etc etc integrate into NDS has been great for years and years! Go MS, steal someone elses technology, release it years later, bill it as your own, and call it new tech.
 
Originally posted by: se7enty7
The ONLY job A+ will help you with is at best buy, gateway, etc. A corporate level job isn't going to care too much about your certs or lack thereof. That being said, I would certainly NOT waste time with A+. Active Directory is for sure not a bad idea, especially if you are looking for corp. type jobs. Cisco is not bad, but a lot of companies will pay for you to go to the classes, so your better off try to get hired somewhere before spending two years trying to get certs.

A+ to many companies is showing that you can take a test. That's it. It's a stupid test with a lot of crap that doesn't apply to any of today's technology.
Click to expand...

Wrong. Try looking at job requirements for state govt/education. They pay almost twice what best buy pays (salaried with bennys too), and many are entry level that only require something like an A+ cert.
 
I also believe there is alot to be said for being certified in a niche market like the CNE would give you. A lot less competition for those jobs that come open, and you would be amazed at the number of places running Netware.
 
Originally posted by: TC2181
Originally posted by: se7enty7
The ONLY job A+ will help you with is at best buy, gateway, etc. A corporate level job isn't going to care too much about your certs or lack thereof. That being said, I would certainly NOT waste time with A+. Active Directory is for sure not a bad idea, especially if you are looking for corp. type jobs. Cisco is not bad, but a lot of companies will pay for you to go to the classes, so your better off try to get hired somewhere before spending two years trying to get certs.

A+ to many companies is showing that you can take a test. That's it. It's a stupid test with a lot of crap that doesn't apply to any of today's technology.
Click to expand...

Wrong. Try looking at job requirements for state govt/education. They pay almost twice what best buy pays (salaried with bennys too), and many are entry level that only require something like an A+ cert.
Click to expand...


Having hired two entry level IT positions for state government in the last 6 months, I will say this, I couldnt even consider someone with less than 5 years of solid professional experience, and at least a couple certs. The applicants were just too strong.
 
Originally posted by: Joeyman
Ok Active Directory is microsoft right? Would that fall under MCSE?

Looking over some of the prices...its damn expensive to get certified. though "Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) certification earned an average of $63,900 last year" looks promising.

Do you guys recommend taking a class, I'm pretty computer savy, could I get away with reading a few books. I've also got a 4 year degree in communications.
Click to expand...

to be honest you should really learn a lot more about the Windows OS before you attempt your MCSE. If you are not sure what active directory is, you will have a dog of a time. Employers look for certs, but experience on your resume is key.
 
Originally posted by: Frdm51472
I also believe there is alot to be said for being certified in a niche market like the CNE would give you. A lot less competition for those jobs that come open, and you would be amazed at the number of places running Netware.
Click to expand...

This is true. I have my CNA in Netware 5 (haven't updated lately), and its helped me in my career. There are many fortune 500 companies running netware, and quite a few goverment agencies running it too.
 
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