IT Certification Tips

[Boatvan]

So this may not fit the overall topic of this sub-forum, but I am looking for advice on IT professional Certifications. Here is my plan, feel free to critique away:

As a part of my job as a Technician, I am asked to set professional goals. My mind went to certs right away, Comp TIA ones in particular. I have an interest in Networking and Security.

The path I want to take is

Comp TIA A+ ---> Comp TIA Network+ ----> Comp TIA Security+

I like CompTIA certs because they are vendor neutral and stack into specializations. I don't want to be married to Cisco (CCENT or CCNA) and the principles are the same.

Luckily my timetable is two whole years for all three. I feel like I know 80% of what I need to know for the A+ as I have been a technician for 5 years or so. My bachelor's degree was network focused as well (I also studied for the CCNA a while ago too) so I know the fundamentals.

I also may be given access to some online training service (something like TestOut or CertBlaster) in the near future. I may start off with a book. If anybody has any recommendations for books/services, I would appreciate it. Hint: I hit a brick wall whenever I get to subnetting, so any special resource on that would be appreciated too!

Thanks Fellas!

 

[Kursah]

Good questions and always glad to see interest in expanding your knowledge and earning certs!

Seeing that you already have a bachelor degree with an emphasis on any kind of network administration and you have 5 years of tech experience, the A+ cert is a waste of your time and money honestly. It'll be a resume filler at best. If you were 1-2 years in or less, or new to the job then A+ may be a different story. Most places will look past requiring an A+ with enough tech/engineer experience.

The experience you have alone really negates the usefulness of earning or even having the A+ cert IMHO, unless you're really going after constant break-fix work as your career path, which I doubt.

I'd say Net+ and Sec+ are still worth considering as your baseline certs to earn. Beyond that, Project+, Server+ (meh, only if you're new to servers...), CCNA, MCSA, MCSE, CCIE, CCISP, CEH, further vendor specific certs, and beyond may be a good, depends on what you're pursuing and what your employer needs (and may pay or comp for).

I'm debating if I'll continue pursuing my MCSA or if I'm going to change tracks and go after the WCNA (Wireshark). I used TestOut in college as they provided it for the curriculum. I was able to earn TestOut PC Pro and Network Pro along with CompTIA A+ and Net+ from two courses, then did well enough in the course to earn one of the Sec+ vouchers which I earned after graduation. I do hope that TestOut keeps gaining traction and can someday achieve what CompTIA has or close to it for some vendor neutral certs, right now it's not so useful on the resume due to its lower recognition and acceptance in the industry. I felt TestOut provided a great course set though and was better for learning than just studying for CompTIA exams. If you pass TestOUT you really should have little issue passing the comparable CompTIA exam.

There's so many certs and directions to take. What interests you the most? What does your employer recognize or are willing to comp?

 

[Boatvan]

Thanks for the reply @Kursah . I took some practice questions (albeit free ones) to see how much I actually know for the A+. I all but aced the software portion, but am surprisingly deficient in some areas of hardware. I think that I could use a refresher on that and if my employer is willing to train and pay for the test, I figure it would be a good foundation for the rest of my professional development.

I hope that my career will not solely consist of break-fix work as I tend to stray toward the more challenging problem solving issues in my line of work. I work in k12 tech, so I would much rather solve an intricate networking issue than changing a projector bulb. Luckily, I think with this development and the way the department is growing, I may eventually get more of these advanced tasks.

TestOut is being talked about with the higher ups in my department so I'm glad to hear that you endorse it.

My interests are everything and anything security related. That's why I think Network+ and Security+ are a good foundation for this aspiration. Maybe someday you'll see me with a CISSP or something. I can only hope.

EDIT: I'm not married to just security by itself. I like VMware and Server Administration as well.

 

[Solaris17]

I am going to agree for the most part with @Kursah and admire your willingness to seek advice, mostly because I know others and I myself did things the hardway instead of seeking advice went in blindly which made the education experience a bit more difficult.

Your current education level is great and if you persued comptia that is the correct path to take. My advice will slightly differ with Kursah at this point. If your company is footing the bill persuing atleast those 3 (in that order) will be a bit beneficial. If I have noticed anything in my carrier in IT and more specilized fileds it is the following.

Mangement and HR care about

-Schooling

Hiring managers puts weight into

-Certifications
-Shooling

The engineer or admin that will be your SR doesnt give two shits generally about the above. since you will most likely be in a technical interview. They will certainly get you passed the HR door who screens interviewees for the engineer/admin and any kind of schooling will impress management staff if you ever go into it. However in my experience atleast they benefit you more then the employer. The things you learn trying to get the cert will be invaluable once you get to higher level certifications. I hold several.

The problem depending on area once you pass say 50k salary at sign on your third interview is going to be your new Sr. This guy is going to look at the pretty workds you put on the resume maybe get impressed with your lab environment then hes going to hand you a problem to solve, smacking this guy in the face with a stack of certs will get you no where.

However again, like I said agreeing with Kursah whole heartily higher level certs are terrific in that what you get out of them can help you a bit more in the real world, I think I have learned about as much from some of my certifications as I have going for my digital forensics masters. That said I would not be scared of cisco. Vendor lock is bad if you are architecting an infrastructure. However cisco networking certs are a standard not because its what everyone runs but because the way they are taught give you networking in an easy to digest manner.

Like kursah I am deep into windows land though getting some redhat certs wont hurt this is where I also think the comptia certs are valuable.

They teach you about yourself. You have done 5 years of break fix tech work and thats great. However its just that. If you do say

A+
Net+
Sec+
Server+/Storage+

you will be touching and certing in all the primary fields of IT. Hardware, Software, Networking from there you decide which topic was more fun to learn.

A+ was easy but left a bad taste? Avoid onsite/Tech work
Net+ was fun but kind of hard to understand should probably avoid voip/telephony/SMB build outs
Server+ was mega fun and you love it? Perfect now you can chase higher level server class certs.

See what I mean? Not to mention the higher level certs cost more money exponentially. You start paying close to a grand a cert in a high level cisco cert and you hate networking? doesnt make a ton of sense. Best to get a taste of it at the bottom level imo.

As for material. I have books, admittedly specialized for what I do, however I have an active plural sight sub, and used CBT nuggets in the past, My personal learning style is best via video though. Interactive experiences bore me, and books are great for holy shit moments in the data center alone but they outdate quickly and IT books are expensive so I generally dont buy them.

 

[eidairaman1]

Good questions and always glad to see interest in expanding your knowledge and earning certs!

Seeing that you already have a bachelor degree with an emphasis on any kind of network administration and you have 5 years of tech experience, the A+ cert is a waste of your time and money honestly. It'll be a resume filler at best. If you were 1-2 years in or less, or new to the job then A+ may be a different story. Most places will look past requiring an A+ with enough tech/engineer experience.

The experience you have alone really negates the usefulness of earning or even having the A+ cert IMHO, unless you're really going after constant break-fix work as your career path, which I doubt.

I'd say Net+ and Sec+ are still worth considering as your baseline certs to earn. Beyond that, Project+, Server+ (meh, only if you're new to servers...), CCNA, MCSA, MCSE, CCIE, CCISP, CEH, further vendor specific certs, and beyond may be a good, depends on what you're pursuing and what your employer needs (and may pay or comp for).

I'm debating if I'll continue pursuing my MCSA or if I'm going to change tracks and go after the WCNA (Wireshark). I used TestOut in college as they provided it for the curriculum. I was able to earn TestOut PC Pro and Network Pro along with CompTIA A+ and Net+ from two courses, then did well enough in the course to earn one of the Sec+ vouchers which I earned after graduation. I do hope that TestOut keeps gaining traction and can someday achieve what CompTIA has or close to it for some vendor neutral certs, right now it's not so useful on the resume due to its lower recognition and acceptance in the industry. I felt TestOut provided a great course set though and was better for learning than just studying for CompTIA exams. If you pass TestOUT you really should have little issue passing the comparable CompTIA exam.

There's so many certs and directions to take. What interests you the most? What does your employer recognize or are willing to comp?

I took A+ In 2002, just never got to test because of family matters then. They cancelled Networking+ in 2003 due to not enough students at the time, I was in High School then. It wasn't till 4-5 years later I joined TPU.

I'd like to see if I retained anything from A+ then lol.

 

[Kursah]

Thanks for the reply @Kursah . I took some practice questions (albeit free ones) to see how much I actually know for the A+. I all but aced the software portion, but am surprisingly deficient in some areas of hardware. I think that I could use a refresher on that and if my employer is willing to train and pay for the test, I figure it would be a good foundation for the rest of my professional development.

I hope that my career will not solely consist of break-fix work as I tend to stray toward the more challenging problem solving issues in my line of work. I work in k12 tech, so I would much rather solve an intricate networking issue than changing a projector bulb. Luckily, I think with this development and the way the department is growing, I may eventually get more of these advanced tasks.

TestOut is being talked about with the higher ups in my department so I'm glad to hear that you endorse it.

My interests are everything and anything security related. That's why I think Network+ and Security+ are a good foundation for this aspiration. Maybe someday you'll see me with a CISSP or something. I can only hope.

EDIT: I'm not married to just security by itself. I like VMware and Server Administration as well.

Pretty much everything @Solaris17 said!

Do you have/run any home labs?

If you don't have a home lab, you absolutely should, I find this to be invaluable for so many reasons. Field experience is definitely key, but a home lab just makes learning things faster when you're doing this stuff at home too, can also be a life saver. It doesn't need to be pretty, function over form and learn form as you make things function, at least that's what I practice. I could also very well be preaching to the choir so I'll stop there.

You should look at the WCNA if you're into networking and really want to dig into what makes it all work and how filter it to see what you need to, it would be a great follow up to Net+ and Sec+. The tool itself is powerful as-is with some light experience and Google at the ready, I really suggest more folks use it because I find it so useful. Takes time to master and is well worth it, WCNA or not.

Keep going after those challenging problems, that's always an excellent approach to advancing!

 

[Boatvan]

I have a very modest home lab but I'm looking to grow it. I have two Dell servers with a full VMware setup (full licensing for 200 bucks annually through VMware User Group or "VMUG" for short, a great resource). I am being given a green light to play with and possibly temporarily add some surplus Cisco equipment from work to my lab. At this point, I may even need a server rack!

I appreciate the outpouring of advice. I am really excited to finally take a serious try at this. My motivation isn't to say that I did it or to slap it on me resume, but I want to be much more well rounded and maybe even fill in some of the blanks I have in certain areas.

I took A+ In 2002, just never got to test because of family matters then. They cancelled Networking+ in 2003 due to not enough students at the time, I was in High School then. It wasn't till 4-5 years later I joined TPU.

I'd like to see if I retained anything from A+ then lol.

When I was in High School, they had a Cisco Academy that was part of the career tech program with 4 other neighboring school districts. I didn't find this out until much later because the snobby town I lived in considered anything but college prep to be for the burnouts and losers, so they did not advertise it like they should have. This program is sadly long gone due to lack of interest in the locality.

I had a good academic experience in College (once I switched to a tech major). Unfortunately I picked a brand new program called Digital Sciences, so they were still figuring some things out and making a lot of mistakes. To say in some spots I was "cheated" out of a proper education wouldn't be too far from the truth. I had the same professor for most of my networking classes. He was an industry leader at Bell labs back in the day, even held a few patents. Super cool and interesting fellow. Problem was he wasn't professor material. Tests were too easy and open book and his lectures were all over the place. I know I could have gotten more out of it if I tried harder, but I was a knucklehead college kid.

My point is that I have gaps in my knowledge that I think these certs can help fill. @eidairaman1 I joined TPU fairly recently because of word of mouth from my co-worker. I am starting to better understand some things about hardware because of this site. I consider it to also be a resource.

To get this all started at the most basic of levels, I found an A+ study guide on Amazon. Super pumped.

 

[Bill_Bright]

Seeing that you already have a bachelor degree with an emphasis on any kind of network administration and you have 5 years of tech experience, the A+ cert is a waste of your time and money honestly. It'll be a resume filler at best. If you were 1-2 years in or less, or new to the job then A+ may be a different story. Most places will look past requiring an A+ with enough tech/engineer experience.

The experience you have alone really negates the usefulness of earning or even having the A+ cert IMHO, unless you're really going after constant break-fix work as your career path, which I doubt.

I agree 100% with this.

The thing about degrees is they never expire. Your BS will always be your top (unless you get a Masters) qualification, then your years of experience.

Certs, on the other hand, expire. For example, back when I was still in the Air Force, I got a bunch of certs on specific radio systems. But when those radios were all upgraded, the cert were useless. Later, I got certs on Novell NetWare administration and management. The knowledge was nice when it came for me to do my job back then when NetWare was actually around. But those certs were totally useless when I got out and started looking for a job in the civilian world. It was my BS in Electronics and my years experience working in the field of IT hardware and networking support - not to mention being the first network manager of Offutt AFB - that got me a great job at Northrop Grumman IT. Not any of my certs.

What interests you the most? What does your employer recognize or are willing to comp?

The former is important, the latter is really important. It is great if you can land a job that lines up perfectly with your interests, but those are the exceptions, not the rule. Ideally, you want a job you enjoy, but it must line up with your company's needs, now, and down the road.

Talk to your bosses (the higher up the better) and tell them you want to prepare for 5 and 10 years down the road. Where do they see the company going - then study for that. Check competing companies too.

Obviously, security will always be a top priority.

While I got into information technologies/information systems (IT/IS) support, if I were staring over today, I think electronics (and in turn, computing) in the medical technologies would make a fascinating career choice.

but am surprisingly deficient in some areas of hardware.

I don't find that surprising at all. In fact, I see it all the time "working the forums". Many with years experience working with PCs, Windows, home networks have no clue what Ohm's Law is, or how an electron flows through a circuit. For some reason, many just don't understand that computers are electronics first, then computers. They never learned electronics. They have no clue about ESD, or the fact that anything that plugs into the wall can kill! It scares me when I read some of the reckless and downright dangerous advice some times given.

As a formally trained and certified electronics technician, I got my start maintaining air traffic control radio communications systems. It took me 2 years of formal classroom training, on-the-job training, and over-the-should evaluations and certification testing before I could even think of calling myself a "technician". Only then was I certified and authorized to work on mission critical systems unsupervised. I then got my AS in Electronics Systems Support, and later my BS in Electronics Management. Again, it was my degrees, and experiences that got me my good jobs.

Yet many swap out a PSU or upgrade some RAM and suddenly they think they are fully qualified electronics technicians. Or they understand C++ and think they know computer hardware.

That's not meant as a criticism, just an observation. If you feel lacking in hardware, take some electronics courses to shore up your foundation. Start with the atomic theory to "see" (in your head) how those electrons behave in that outer shell.

 

[R-T-B]

Or they understand C++ and think they know computer hardware.

There's an old adeage I heard I think you'd appreciate Bill:

"Beware programmers who carry screwdrivers."

 

[Bill_Bright]

LOL.

After I got out of the Air Force, I went to work for a major software developer/defense contractor. I was one of 10 technicians responsible for all the hardware among 400 programmers. We had that saying printed up as a sign in our lab.

It was those who didn't like the sign we hid the tools from!

 

[r9]

I have Network+ and Security+.
This is what I've used:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1939136024/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0071848223/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
And when I purchased the the exam from Person VUE I've bought the one that had the CertMaster and retake.
Passed both with 900+ first time.
The questions wasn't hard it just they way they were formulated like they tried to artificially make the test more difficult.

So this may not fit the overall topic of this sub-forum, but I am looking for advice on IT professional Certifications. Here is my plan, feel free to critique away:

As a part of my job as a Technician, I am asked to set professional goals. My mind went to certs right away, Comp TIA ones in particular. I have an interest in Networking and Security.

The path I want to take is

Comp TIA A+ ---> Comp TIA Network+ ----> Comp TIA Security+

I like CompTIA certs because they are vendor neutral and stack into specializations. I don't want to be married to Cisco (CCENT or CCNA) and the principles are the same.

Luckily my timetable is two whole years for all three. I feel like I know 80% of what I need to know for the A+ as I have been a technician for 5 years or so. My bachelor's degree was network focused as well (I also studied for the CCNA a while ago too) so I know the fundamentals.

I also may be given access to some online training service (something like TestOut or CertBlaster) in the near future. I may start off with a book. If anybody has any recommendations for books/services, I would appreciate it. Hint: I hit a brick wall whenever I get to subnetting, so any special resource on that would be appreciated too!

Thanks Fellas!