Professional Affiliations

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What are your opinions of professional affiliation?
I will soon be looking for a post as IT Operations Manager or something similar and I believe I am eligible to become one/all of the following, which holds the most value?

City & Guilds Graduateship - GCGI
BCS Chartered IT Professional - CITP
Institution of Engineering and Technology - (T)MIET
Chartered Management Institute Member - MCMI

 

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What about the British Computer Society?

 

Thats the CITP one.

 

oh yeah me forgot, get that one.

 

Without wishing to sound like mister scrouge (Bahh!, Humbug!), I really doubt anyone will much care which affiliations you have.

The only one I've ever seen mentioned in a job request was CEng.

I'm currently CITP, will give it a couple of years to see what it offers but it doesn't look particularly good value for money at the moment.

 

I was a member of the Association of Information Technology Professionals (AITP) for a year... but it simply wasn't worth the $130ish annual membership dues. Not even CLOSE to worth it.

 

You think thats bad I paid £120 ! and all I got was 4 lousy letters after my name, an info pack, my name in the paper and some chick who keeps trying to get me to go to networking events all over the country...

 

Stalker eh

 

CompTIA were at one stage suggesting that if you had A+ you could be CCCT (Comptia Certified Computer Technician)
But think it was only an idea mooted but never implemented by them?

 

Its all becoming a joke as they are all after just one thing which is the money they make of you. I'd rather get vendor certs and work a real job till retirement. Please, don't shot me just my two pence worth of opinion

 

Yeah, in AITP's "infinite wisdom", they listed my e-mail address on their publicly accessible Web site, and my e-mail address was spidered off of it! So now that address gets spam e-mail... I've had to switch everything important off of that address in preparation of shutting it down.

..."Association of Information Technology Professionals"? Hah! With that apparent lack of attention to the privacy of their members, I think not!

I'll still do presentations for them... but join them again? Never.

 

the Networking events ARE half the value, there are not a massive amount of people in the BCS, and even less so are CITP, but some of the people I have met at these events have opened a lot of doors, the list of CITP include IT directors at prestigious banks, major business influencers across the board, as well as your average joe techies

mingling with the former as the latter can have an immeasurable benefit on someone's career
I would advise attending some and getting to know people if you can, you have nothing to lose bar an evening

 

I'm a Member of the British Computer Society (MBCS) and before i got offered my new job i was going to go for CITP....

I may still do this in a year or so's time.

For me being a member of a professional organisation such as the BCS shows a dedication and commitment to your IT career.... but as for getting you a job i dont think think they really hold much weight.

I'd use it in an interview when they ask about professional organisations or how you show a dedication to your career something like this (straight from my CV!):

"I am a Member of the British Computer Society (MBCS). This is a professional grade available only to those people with 5 years or more experience in IT. I have agreed to abide by a Code of Conduct and a Code of Good practice which confirms my status as an IT practitioner of the highest integrity. I am also a member of the Chartered Management Institute due to my ongoing business and management studies."

 

Do you have to be a member to attend the meetings?

The AITP doesn't require it - membership only gives you a discount off the meeting price. I think it's $35 for non-members and $20 or $25 for members per meeting. I'd certainly recommend going to a meeting every now and then, even without becoming a member, because you're right: those contacts CAN open a lot of doors.