how many IT guys Certify?

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Good points.

Another thing to consider are trainers (specifically MCTs).
As you can only teach what you're certified in, and teaching is their bread and butter, I know quite a few other MCTs who are certified to the point of madness.

 

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Out of all the IT people I have worked with so far - probably around 30, only 3 I know of have any certs to their name - and that is down to departments they were in at the time. We talk, as colleagues do, and no-one (I with 7 others at the moment) is vaguely interested in doing any certs or studying - they can't see the point of it.

 

when i posted i do it to make money i really meant i do it to make money to give me and my family a better life. i dont make enough money yet to be able to say i do it for love of the job or anything like that. right now i do it to increase the chances of me getting a better job to make more money for my loved ones.

 

Ok....

I'd like to apologise, my previous comments were a bit strong and are born of my current state of mind (mighty pissed off at pretty much everyone). I'm still absolutely of the belief that if your motivation for doing anything is for the money then your doing it wrong but the more personal of my comments were unnecessary and quite frankly stupid.

I hold no ill will towards anyone on this forum and fully believe that while we are all capable of displaying some fairly aresholeish qualities that isn't the ground state of our existence. That award goes to the guy who actually seriously attempted to wave me on through a gap no wider than my left nutsack in my car.

But anyway, I certify because I'm looking for a challenge, something new to get my teeth into. The certification itself gives me that challenge and the new roles that it could lead to continue to do so. If theres more money involved then thats a bonus but its not the major motivating factor, the moment it is is the moment I'll start looking for a career change.

 

should we hug it out ?

 

Fair play for the post Josiah

Now my keyboard needs to be drained of coffee!

 

In my experience with the internal IT guys I work with and for all the customer IT depts we provide support for I would say its around 2/10 at best.

Networking guys seem the most likely to have a certs with CCNA. CCNP and on occasion a CCIE, followed by server support however rather than an MCSE most are VCP's only. (We virtualise their infrastructure and then they go on the course, etc afterwards, only a third will do the exam though)

Developers seem the most unlikely to be certified whom rely on past experience.

For me getting certified what about learning something and passing the exam for personal reward (title, status, whatever) in addition to making myself more employable. Sure I will admit this in a sense is related to money but ultimately my main focus is just that, to become more marketable/employable and hopefully more valuable.

Previously I have had a pay rise linked to passing an exam, however after I passed and asked to swap the pay rise to pay for another training course instead (Expensive one). I didn't get a rise for a year after that but when I did it was 5 x what I would have got the year previous.

 

sorry mate nothing wrong with some man hugs

@Sparky

I see what your saying mate and I do enjoy IT and am very interested in it but when you boil it down its a job at the end of the day.

I have a passion for it as I cant imagine me doing anything else but I also have a passion for paying bills im sad to say

 

Indeed, get into recruitment or something if you want better money for less learning effort. My friend works in recruitment for the Oil Industry and she is averaging £110k a year including commission. IT is not a good wage for the most part. It's nothing special.

 

Going back to the original question though, I think the vast majority of this forum could problem come to some agreement. The answer to the question 'How many IT guys Certify?' is simply:


Not Enough


To get past the perceptions of some who think we're massively overpaid on/off switch operators IT needs to increase its legitimacy by forcing out the muppets with robust certification/qualification frameworks. Oh and zero tolerance to those using braindumps etc to certify.

 

I certify because it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Regarding everyone else around me? I'm really surprised at the number of people who do NOT certify, ever, at all. The number is pretty large and I find that it's usually those who are not very motivationally challenged and prefer to stay in their current job (for pretty much ever) that never go that extra mile to get a cert under their name.

I know plenty of people who have been doing Help Desk for 5, even ten years. Same for simple stuff like PC installations, moving computers around desks and the like. They sometimes complain a lot about their jobs being boring and the like, yet they don't do anything to "move forward". I guess it's mostly their loss (not to say that certification is the only way to move up the IT ranks, but in some situations it helps).

 

I've found lately that not many job descriptions are asking for Certs, There is a lot of CCNA requests but almost Zero ESSENTIAL MS ones. I'v only seen 2 job ads in the last few months where MCSA/E was an essential requirement.

 

That is true, I've seen the same over here. But I find that once you get into the swing of things, a few certs on the good ol' resume can open some eyes with the HR blokes and potential IT Managers.

But as they say, YMMV