May, 2009

Check out Anne Martinez’ “CertiBlog”

Anne Martinez is the brains and voice behind one of my favorite IT certification Web sites. It’s called GoCertify, and you’ll find that it’s home to regular certification news and information. Better yet, it includes a peachy certification database called Certification Quick Find where you can search for, slice, and dice IT certification to your heart’s content, or until the cows come home — whichever comes first. There’s another entry point into this same data available at SearchCertify as well.

Just recently, Anne started to blog at GoCertify, and approached me to do an occasional guest slot for her. Never one to skip a quid pro quo, I replied to her “I’ll blog for you, if you’ll blog for me!” Thus, if all goes as planned, you’ll get a chance to hear her opinions and information right here in this blog from time to time, as well as to see me expostulate and pontificate on her blog as well. Check out my recent comment there to a recruiter looking for an infosec analyst in the Nashville, TN area, for example.

Check out the new Certiblog

But if you have certification questions, comments, or issues, I hope you’ll also share them here with me as well. I’m always answering queries on the IT Knowledge Exchange “Ask the Expert” message boards, and I get plenty of fodder for this blog from those interactions as well as from your comments here. Please keep ‘em coming!

Best,

–Ed–

Who’s Laying Off Right Now?

To try to get a sense of who’s still letting people go in IT, I turned to the Employment Spectator’s IT news items and to an old favorite, the TechCrunch Layoff Tracker. Although as I heard it said on NPR yesterday things aren’t getting as bad right now as quickly as they had been, we’re not exactly on easy street just yet. Keep that in mind as you look at these May 2009 layoff listings.

Admittedly, this is not as dire as Q4 of 2008, or even Q1 of this year, but it’s not yet cause for dancing in the streets. With some big, well-known names in the list–especially HP. Autodesk, CA, and Perot Systems–it’s clear that some savvy corporate forecasters are still prognosticating rough waters ahead. In the meantime, please stay buckled up!

Tough Time For Recent Grads

This morning’s NPR news coverage included a Larry Abramson story entitled “Job Training Makes Difference for High School Grads.” His basic point was that if the job market is tough in general for all workers, it’s particularly difficult for those who lack a college education, after which he goes on to point out that “…the best bet for high school students in the long run is to get some college experience,” and that “…teens can dramatically improve their shot at a job by getting training in high school.” It all boils down to education, where those at the bottom of the “education acquired” scale are not only at the bottom of most pay scales, but also occupy unskilled positions that are getting phased out of our post-industrial economy.

So what should teens do, besides keep college as an option on their future planning lists? Abramson cites studies that show teens who participate in quality vocational programs “…have a much better chance of finding work.” Although technical schools may sometimes be viewed as institutions designed for or targeted at individuals who aren’t necessarily college-bound, the best programs still require their students to earn a regular diploma and emphasize traditional education alongside craft or vocational training. A principal at a vocational high schools interviewed for the story even goes on to observe that she’s “…met so many your people nowadays who have a four-year college degree, and they end up going back to the community college, because that college will teach them a marketable skill.”

What this tells me, and what most parents already hope for their college-bound or college-age offspring, is that picking a substantial major with a well-defined job or career track on the other side of the diploma is key in a market like the present one. And just about anybody can take a tip from the strategy that the kids at a vocational school adopt if they can’t immediately find a job upon graduation or earning a certificate: they take extra classes at the local community college, and keep building up a collection of intellectual and training-based tools to help them build upon their set of bankable skills and knowledge. Even if this doesn’t lead to a degree, it still adds to their resumes and lists of accomplishments when they finally do interview for a position, and hopefully helps to counter the inevitable questions about skills, knowledge, and passion for work that all entry-level candidates must answer.

CollegeRecruiter Lists Entry-level Jobs and Internships

What with the semester near its end and the summer drawing on, young people’s thoughts turn to employment. The CollegeRecruiter.com Web site has compiled a nice press release (dated 4/7/09) entitled “Best and Worst States in Which to Find an Internship or Entry-Level Job.” Here’s a tabular recap of their results:

There are lots of interesting things to observe about these numbers. First and foremost, it looks like (surprise) the states with the biggest populations float to the top of these rankings. Second, the absolute numbers for internships are miniscule, with the numbers for entry-level positions merely small. These numbers don’t look incredibly encouraging to me, until I stop to think that most internships don’t get advertised much, if at all (mostly they’re doled out through alma mater affiliations and/or family and friend connections).

It all adds up to a pretty interesting summer for underclassmen and -women looking for work, and a tough slog for recent grads trying to find their first jobs in IT. Good luck to one and all, and may your school, friend, and family connections help you find something. There’s not much on the boards at all, apparently.

The Slide Is Slowing, But Which Way Is Up?

Recent jobless claims continue to flatten out, but at 8.9% overall, unemployment is still on the high side for the US from a historical perspective (the last time we experienced such rates was in the 1980s, in fact). This creates an interesting situation, in which everybody — including me — is looking for signs of hope wherever they might be found. Recent activity on the stockmarket still shows some vacillation in a sometimes-up, sometimes-down pattern, so financial markets are still uncertain as well.

What does all this mean for IT employment? Conventional wisdom is that those who have jobs should be glad, and do what they can to keep them, and that those looking for work need to turn over as many rocks as possible to find something or anything while the unemployment situation remains so tough. On the other hand, lots of more aggressive technologists and economists believe that technology employment is a bellwether that usually pushes to the front of the group of employment sectors that lead the economy out of a slump (or deep recession, in our current case).

The problem is that while numbers aren’t sliding down as fast as they were in the last quarter of 2008, nor the first quarter of this year, they’re neither on the way up for overall employment, nor particularly upward-inclined for IT in particular. If IT is to lead the economy, the destination isn’t yet clear: as far as I (or anybody else can tell), we’re still meandering around with no easy way to connect the dots along our recent path, nor a definite trend yet in sight.

All I can conclude is that it’s still time to hunker down, and tread the conservative path. As I indicated earlier in this blog, that means if you’ve got a job right now (or work if you’re a freelancer like me) be grateful. If you’re looking for work, alas, this means it’s time to look harder and perhaps even to consider a move to those few markets where employment opportunities are relatively more abundant. Ouch!

Does IT Certification or Training Make a Difference?

One question that comes up all the time in reader e-mail and interaction, and in my “Ask the Expert” dialogs, is the one that entitles today’s blog. Actually, this has been on a lot of people’s minds lately–as a quick perusal of my earlier postings here and elsewhere will ascertain, and as many other pundits and experts have also opined–and it’s on SearchNetworking’s mind as well. In fact, the editors have asked me to poll my readers for profiles of individuals who have benefited, career-wise, from obtaining an IT certification, or completing some course of IT training (which may or may not have resulted in a degree, a certificate of completion, or some other credential).

To prime the pump, I’ll share a story with you, based on close personal experience. In 1994, I met a young man at a local computer store who seemed knowledgeable and on the ball. I asked him to do some work for me, which he did with enthusiasm and energy, and one thing soon led to another. By 1997, I’d not only hired him full-time but had gotten him started on his MCSE, which he finished in 1998. By the time we quit working together in 2001–I had sold my company, and we’d all gotten trounced in the dot bomb of 2000/2001, and he decided he could do better off on his own–he’d also earned a CISSP, a CEH, and was starting to dig into the SANS certification program with verve and gusto.

He went on to become a full-time classroom instructor, primarily on information security topics. He now makes his living mostly teaching overseas for a company that contacts with the Department of Defense to teach military personnel about information security topics, prepping those folks in uniform to earn their CISSPs. Needless to say, he’s doing extremely well, and has carved out a very comfortable career for himself, wear and tear from a 50-plus-percent travel schedule notwithstanding. I no longer know how much money he makes (nor is it really my business to know any more) but I’m sure that his annual earnings are in the six figure range (and not the very bottom of that range, either). Not bad for somebody in his mid-thirties, eh?

I’m sure there are lots of other stories like this one to share, and I hope you’ll share them with me and SearchNetworking.com. We’d like to review your input to this request and profile a few of the most outstanding responses, both here in my blog and in articles on the SearchNetworking.com site as well. So please drop us an email at Editor@SearchNetworking.com, or post a reply to this blog in the comments, so I can follow up with you. May the best story win, and earn adulation and envy from all your peers!

IT Certs on a Song…or a Shoestring

My favorite recipe for preparing for an IT certification goes something like this:

1. Purchase one (or at most two) big fat study guides on your exam topic (I often call these books “doorstops” for a very good reason). Usual cost: $50 a pop, cheaper if you can buy used via Amazon, HalfPrice, and so forth.

2. Purchase an Exam Cram on the same exam topic. Usual cost $20-30.

3. Purchase a good set of practice tests from a reputable well-known vendor such as Boson, Transcender, and so forth. Costs vary by topic from $70 to $150, sometimes more.

4. Beg, borrow, steal, or build a test lab to practice your skills to prepare for the exam. You can spend anywhere from $0 to $1,000 on such gear, but generally costs will be in line with the cost/value of the cert involved.

5. Sign up for the exam of choice, preferably with some kind of discount (search for “discount voucher” or “discount exam voucher” online using the exam ID or some other unique string to identify the cert involved). These days, most cert exams go for $125 and up.

6. Study like heck, practice like the dickens, and squeeze ever iota of info out of your practice tests. Then, take the exam and pass on the first try (if you’re lucky; if possible always look for a Second Shot style deal where the cost of the exam includes a free retake if you don’t pass on the first try).

On the other hand, if you want to see some more good information on exam prep, check out my old tried-and-true 25 Exam Prep Tips at HyperLearn.com, or Eric Geier’s great little article “IT Certifications on a Shoestring Budget.” Either way, you can’t go wrong.

Win 7 Beta Exam Item (Almost) Escapes My Notice

Thanks to Emmett Dulaney at CertCities.com, I read this morning that MS has exam 71-680: Configuring Windows 7 in beta from May 5 until May 18 (this coming Monday). Though the period is almost over and seats are probably no longer available–if you’re hot to trot, it’s still not too late to try–I find all kins of interesting implications in this ongoing but low-key event. Here’s what I think this indicates about the next Windows version and release:

• As the recently-released RC version also indicates, Windows 7 is now feature complete. Though items may get removed from what shows up in late October (if the rumors are true about the planned release date, that’s actually October 23), nothing new will be added.
• MS feels pretty confident that this platform is going to attract lots of interest and participation. This is the earliest I can ever recall seeing a basic OS exam go into beta. Even given a late October release, this is six months in advance. I’m tempted to speculate that Win7 may ship even earlier than the rumors currently date the release, just because this is so darn early. For an interesting description of this exam, see Lukas Beeler’s blog on this subject.
• Some focus on new technologies includes Branch Cache, DirectAccess, VPN support, UFD-based installation, user state migration tool and Windows EasyTransfer, plus OS imaging, deployment strategies, and virtual Hard Disks (VHDs). MS is trying to make sure those responsible for Windows 7 users and platforms really know how to make the most of its capabilities.

I take heart from this phenomenon, and also from my own recent extensive experiences with this OS. After the Vista debacle, it really does look like Microsoft is once again trying to deliver a decent, usable OS. Let’s hope they succeed in meeting these relatively modest aims! I’m also guessing this exam will become available within 30 days of whenever Windows 7 goes live, so it’s probably not too early to start prepping and learning right now.

MS Certification Profusion Leads to Confusion?

In the latest round of articles posted at one of my favorite IT Certification Websites, GoCertify.com, guest author and full-time trainer Brian Nelson raises some interesting issues about the latest crop of MS credentials, especially the many different flavors of MCTS and MCITP certifications that Microsoft now makes available (with many more to come, too, as soon as Windows 7 goes commercial). Nelson’s basic points might be summarized as follows:

• Microsoft’s decisions to create an MCTS-MCITP-MCM-MS Architect ladder creates too many rungs, with too many possibilities at the lower rungs.
• Hiring managers seem confused about the relative weight and merit of these credentials based on a survey of “mentions by name” at Monster.com.
• Microsoft has been forced to up the ante on its exams, question coverage, levels of difficulty, currency, and validity since the original MCSE came out, but too many people earn MS credentials without really mastering the associated subject matter. This comes largely thanks to multiple-choice exams, which are too easily documented online and reduced to rote memorization to ensure a passing grade.

All of this leads him to conclude that current MS credentials are somewhat debased, and that they’re not worth anywhere near what they used to be in the marketplace, thanks to the implications of the preceding summary points.

FWIW, I tend to agree with this analysis, but don’t think the situation is quite as dire as he paints it to be. In recent conversations with MS Learning I’ve also learned that they’re introducing more simulation- and hands-on based forms of testing, which work much better to assess real skills and knowledge than do multiple choice exam questions. That said, Microsoft’s emphasis on job roles and related credentials works very well for those who understand IT, job roles, and the technologies to which they pertain, and not so well for those who don’t–which probably does include hiring managers at a great many small and medium sized businesses where IT is primarily a necessary evil, rather than an important means to realizing business goals.

What do you think? Are MS certs as worthy as they used to be? Does this mean they’re becoming worthless? As with so many other grey areas in life, I think the truth is somewhere inbetween “moderate worth” and “worthless,” but certainly not all the way down at the bitter end of that spectrum.

Good news/bad news on unemployment

Yesterday’s unemployment figures from the BLS and the most recent unemployment claims numbers tell a “good news/bad news” story about the job market. Actually it’s really more of a “bad news/good news” tale, because the bad news is that unemployment has hit a 26-year high of 8.9 percent (the last time we visited this spot on the charts was in 1983), while the good news is only that job loss claims have dropped from numbers in the 600,000-plus range to 539,000 for April. Because analysts had been expecting numbers as high as 620,000 for April, this is an interesting and possibly significant downward swing. Apparently, the US Government played a role in this dip: the hriing of temps to work for the US Census for 2010 was a factor in this downturn. For all the details check out the latest “Employment Situation Summary” from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

As usual Table B-1: Employment on nonfarm payrolls by industry sector and selected industry detail sheds a little more light on recent trends in IT. The information category shows jobs down in April by a modest 17,000, with only a minimal loss of 800 jobs in the “Other information services” sub-category under that heading. Professional and business services also show relatively modest job losses in the areas most likely connected with IT, including a modest uptick of 1,600 jobs in the “Management and technical consulting services” sub-category.

It’s tempting to find cause for optimism in even the slightest reversal of free-fall in employment and economic numbers. But as Scott Simon said on NPR this morning (I’m paraphrasing): “We can’t really say things are improving, just that they’re not getting worse as quickly as they were before.” If we can take some cheer from a situation that’s stopped deteriorating as quickly as it has been, I think I’ll wait to break out the champagne and canapes for when the numbers actually start to appear on the positive side of the ledger in more than one or two small sub-categories. But even then, I find myself wondering if we’re not finally on the way back up?