Hi all, Looking forward to learning

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Hi All,

Firstly, I’ll hold my hands up and admit that I do work for a company who provides IT training services (company name is in my username as per admin rules). I’m not here to tout in any way and we are more of an academic provider with BTEC’s etc. rather than vendor certs so it is a slightly different market.

The reason I’m here is that I’m interested in vendor certifications as they do now play a part in apprenticeships etc.

A while ago I was involved in a project with a major University (I can’t say which but I will say it was NOT Hull Uni where the company is based), the project was all about getting the talented people working in IT the academic recognition they deserve (a degree), unfortunately the project funding was withdrawn but it has been bugging me ever since.

As someone who’s been in IT all my working life but doesn’t have a degree I do think the project was extremely credible and so I’m just keeping an eye on what is going on in terms of vendor certs.

Aside from all that I’ve always found this site a fantastic source of information and have always directed my students here the first point of call when they have been seeking any kind of vendor certification as you guys really know your stuff.

From this point on I promise not to mention any of that again unless asked and I think it’s about time I added a few extra certifications to my own CV so I’m looking forward to getting a few tips !

Cheers,

Scott

 

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Welcome to CF

In regards to vendor certs it depends on the area of IT your interested in getting certified. It seems to me that CompTIA is pretty much the only cert which is vendor neutral and focuses on both the OS and hardware.. then you get more specific certs like MCSA, CCNA etc that deal with specific vendors. Im not even sure how relevant certs are anymore from my experience it seems experience/knowledge speaks louder than certification.. I guess certs are just a way of stopping your CV being instantly thrown in the bin. Dont know much about BTEC I actually came across your company once and was contemplating doing the BTEC instead of an A+.

 

Yes, great point ..... I totally agree that you simply cannot beat experience.

I was lucky because I got an IT apprenticeship straight from school, which gave me that.

Although, I don't think any certification is irrelevant as it is all about getting your foot in the door and a lot of people haven't had the chance to get that experience. I don't think certification will ever hurt a CV but you're point about the CV in the bin is probably correct as at least it gets a second look at least which is all important.

I do think some people can get too focused on IT certifications/qualifications alone. What I mean by that is that I have had some of my former students send me a CV to look over which has left off all of their past work experience which might have included roles such as dealing with people, general customer support/service. Even if that is in a bar/pub I think that shows that they have skills which are useful in any workplace, in a small business possibly even more useful that understanding the ins and outs of OSPF or something.

I reckon someone with 2 certifications and a background in customer service would have a great chance against someone with 3 certifications who's left all of that prior experience off their CV, I've seen people hide their so called menial jobs so many times.

With regards to BTEC's they are pretty strict in that they are all about evidence, nowadays you need to be observed in person or via video to make sure you can actually do the job you say you can, which is a good thing as it is a more valid way of proving you have that experience. For example if you take a unit related to IT support you have to have some evidence that you have actually supported a user.

I think CISCO certs interest me the most at the moment as you do need a pretty high degree of tech knowledge when it comes to passing those, certainly in switching, routing etc. whereas I think some certs it seems that you can just memorise facts and get through with no practical ability.

Although I'm not CISCO certified, I've attended a few classes before with some CISCO experts and I have nothing but admiration for the guys who really know their stuff in that field and unfortunately a lot of those were in education prior to skills like that being recognised as what they should be academically and the project I was involved with was trying to address that.