Thread: How do you relate to IT?

Originally Posted by ephekt

The only certs that actually mean anything are the higher level Cisco and Juniper ones, RHCE and CISSP if comsec is your thing. Everything else should be left up to your employer. I have a laundry list of certs, most of which are worthless and are not on my resume, and haven't spent a penny of my own money. And never will.

I've also been part of the hiring process at a couple jobs, and honestly, entry level techs with a laundry list of certs isn't impressive at all. I've never come across a decent company that didn't favor experience and problem solving skills over paper certs.

Vendor programs are one of the few good reasons to certify. Promotions are the other. Most people accumulate certs because their employer requested and paid for them though, not the other way around.
Like Harner, that's not a job I'd be looking for in the first place. And, yes, I would turn down a job if they would not let me certify after being hired, on their dime.

RHCE certs mean nothing. They only mean something to very very low level linux admins. Who the hell runs production Red Hat servers in any sort of respective company?

The only certs I think have any sort of value are IBM certs and Cisco certs and maybe Sun certs for Solaris . Everything else is a waste of time and money.

Originally Posted by sudo

RHCE certs mean nothing. They only mean something to very very low level linux admins. Who the hell runs production Red Hat servers in any sort of respective company?

I know of quite a few companies that run RHEL/Centos in production. But fair enough, you're probably right.

Originally Posted by MrTroy

That is what I am talking about, they hire you, you have 3 or 6 months to get the cert, and they pay for it.

I've done that a few times before, but most places won't ask this unless it's a corporate mandate or they need to fulfill cert requirements for vendor affiliation programs (the latter is mostly limited to consulting firms).

Originally Posted by MrTroy

What area of the country do you live in? 60K in Indiana is a lot, 60K in Los Angeles, CA is not.

60k is a low figure for net engineers in most of the country.

Originally Posted by ephekt

60k is a low figure for net engineers in most of the country.

Personally, my job description/title does not make me out to be an engineer, more of a technician/admin role. So 60k for my position is probably average.