A+

MCP Exam Voucher Winner John C.

John C, Virgina Beach, VA

1. What do you currently do for a living?

I am a Systems Engineer and work with databases – primarily SQL Server but some Oracle. I started on SQL Server version 6.5 and have tested on all versions since then. This has been my work for the last ten years. Prior to that I was a Network Administrator for three years and moved into SQL Server to gain a specialization. I have also taught Microsoft technical courses as an MCT on a freelance, part-time basis.

2. Please describe your educational background.

I graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration from Ferris State College in Big Rapids, Michigan in 1982. I earned a Master of Information Technology degree from Virginia Tech in 2007.

3. What kinds of certifications do you currently hold, if any?

MCTS: SharePoint Services 3.0
MCITP: SQL Server 2008
MCITP: SQL Server 2005
MCDBA: SQL Server 2000
MCSE
MCP+I
MCT (former)
CTT+
A+
CCNA

4. How has earning a certification helped advance your career?

It gave me credibility when I was making a career change from Accounting  to Information Technology. I keep taking exams and gaining new certifications because in this industry, if you’re not advancing, you’re falling behind. I don’t want to become obsolete.

5. What exam do you plan to use the MCP voucher for?

SharePoint Server (MOSS) exam 70-630

6. What kind of advice do you have for your peers and colleagues about earning a certification?

Look at what’s in demand and what’s up and coming. Get involved with local user groups for networking purposes and to help keep your finger on the pulse of what’s going on in your community.

John C. is the next-to-last of the individuals I’ll be profiling for our recent contest. Our last winner, Flavio B from Brazil, will be featured in my next blog on Friday.

The enduring value of IT certification

In running the contest to select winners for some MCP exam vouchers graciously donated by Microsoft, and in profiling four of the six winners (so far, I’m still chasing the other two) I’ve found myself revisiting several thoughts and ideas that have confronted me throughout my dozen years toiling in and around the IT certification marketplace. I’ll state these ideas briefly and directly, then comment a bit on the thoughts and observations they prompt.

• Earning IT certifications takes real time, money, and effort.
  As obvious as this is (and should be) lots of people don’t really get just how much time and effort is involved (the money is pretty straightforward) until they go through the process a few times. We’re talking about giving up evenings and weekends, sacrificing on leisure or family time, and knuckling down to get some real work done.
• Acquiring and maintaining IT certifications really can help an IT career.
  If there’s one thing that pops out at me from my interviews with the winners, and from thinking about those I know who’ve earned major certs and then put them to work on the job, it’s that the same interest and passion that goes into earning IT credentials can also be employed to help people advance their careers. Does that mean there’s no real connection with the IT certifications themselves, but only with the drive required to earn them? No; rather, it means that you have to talk them up, use them, and build on them to do your career some good.
• For some, IT certifications are like potato chips: they can’t earn only one.
  All of the winners had passed at least a dozen IT cert exams, and many had earned half-a-dozen IT certifications or more. Most started with A+ and/or Network+, then went on to chew through two or more mid-range Microsoft certs such as MCSA and MCSE, with MCTS and MCITP credentials either earned or underway (why else would they want to win an MCP exam voucher?)
• IT Certs build confidence as well as competence.
  To a person, all the winners talked about how earning IT certifications helped them in their careers because they improved their attitudes and confidence about encountering and handling problems on the job, as much because of the experience they gained in developing problem-solving, research, and learning skills in earning certifications as because of the various subject matters they had to master to pass their exams.

I’ll be commenting further on this experience in upcoming blogs, but thought you would find these observations interesting. I’ve seen this all before, but it’s refreshing to see it again, especially in such a positive light in these times of economic crisis and uncertainty.

Comments Always Welcome! Choose Your Programs Wisely!!!

Recently, I received a comment from a reader on my August 18, 2008 blog entitled “Understanding What Drives IT Salaries,” from an astute young reader named Ronald Moore. He observed that it makes sense to choose an academic computer science or MIS program that prepares students for multiple certifications as a way of jump-starting one’s assault on the workplace with both degree and certifications in hand. He goes on to mention earning a CS degree that prepared him for a whole laundry list of certs, including A+ and CCNA plus various Microsoft and Oracle credentials as well. Very interesting!

For those considering such options, I’d urge you to factor the certs mentioned against their age and planned obsolescence. Ron’s not in bad shape, even if he does decide to go after an MCSD in .NET or an MCDBA credential. But with a new version of Windows Server now on the drawing board for 2011, certs based on Server 2003 (such as the MCDBA and the MCSD) are nearing their expiration dates. It doesn’t make sense to tout preparation for a cert that won’t be around for too much longer, but given the sometimes glacial speeds at which academic programs move along, that’s a possibility that prospective candidates must ponder when choosing any kind of training program that involves certification, academic  or otherwise.

I’d urge prospective students (and their parents) to quiz the admissions folks about how programs adapt and evolve to accommodate new certifications as old ones age out of the picture. I guess an outdated cert may be better than no cert, but isn’t worth anywhere near as much as a current one. If the idea is to help degree holders to get an edge into the job market, it’s best to make sure that the edge stays sharp and provides a way to cut through the red tape into the short list of “real job contenders” when the time comes to enter the workforce.

Erik Eckel Opines on “10 Best IT Certifications”

In digging through some Microsoft PR materials recently, I came across mention of a Top 10 IT certification list that Erik Eckel put together for TechRepublic, later reprinted by big-time training company Global Knowledge. Though it’s dated December 12, 2008 it still provides some interesting information for consideration, and some fodder for ongoing debate. I’m not quite sure that I fully understand his selection criteria which he describes as follows “While this list may not include the 10 best accreditations for you, it does catalog 10 IT certifications that possess significant value for a wide range of technology professionals.”

Here’s his list as ranked at TechRepublic in straight numerical order:

1. MCITP (Microsoft Certified IT Professional), with specific mention of database developer, database administrator, enterprise messaging administrator, and server asministrator
2. MCTS (Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist), with specific mention of SQL Server business intelligence, database creation, or SQL server administration
3. CompTIA Security+, with an observation that “security continues to be a critical topic”
4. MCPD (Microsoft Certified Professional Developer) with specific mention of the Windows Developer 3.5, ASP.NET Developer 3.5, and Enterprise Applications Developer 3.5 tracks
5. CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate), with an emphasis on increasing dependence on remote access technologies, even at smaller companies
6. Comptia A+, iwth an emphasis on “proven support expertise” in the areas of desktop installation, problem diagnosis, preventive maintenance, and computer/network troubleshooting.
7. PMP (Project Management Professional) with an emphasis on “job skills and knowledge required to plan, execute, budget, and lead a technology project”
8. MCSE/MCSA (Microsoft Certified System Engineer/Administrator) represent Microsoft’s previous take on basic admin (MCTS) and professional (MCITP) certs, and enjoy amazing certficiation population numbers–as Eckel observes “…these certifications tend to indicate holders that have been working within the technology field for a long time.”
9. CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional) receives mention for “…building a respected, vendor-neutral security certification,” that’s also accredited by ANSI.
10. CompTIA Linux+ get a nod because “…the open source alternative is an important platform…”

Given these choices, it’s no wonder that Microsoft is promoting this list: they’ve garnered 4 out of 10 (really 5 out of 11) choices therein. CompTIA might also take cheer as well from the inclusion of Network+, Security+, and A+ (of which Network+ and A+ are by far its most popular credentials). And certainly, all the other elements in the list–CCNA, PMP, and CISSP–are all immensely popular and highly sought-after credentials as well.

Though Eckel’s selection criteria and methods aren’t entirely clear, this blog makes me wish that CertCities.com would revive its Top 10 lists, which used to be an interesting marker between one year and the next for IT professionals. At  least their list came from a survey of thousands of active IT participants, an could in some sense be argued as representative of collective interests. Funny how those lists of yore don’t differ too much from Eckel’s list, either.

I wouldn’t have any arguments with this list, in fact, if it used the word “Popular” instead of “Best” to describe its constituents, because there’s almost no argument about any of these on a pure numbers basis. But the definition of best is one that’s fraught with peril, and certainly subject to lots of differing interpretations. While he does give the CCIE passing mention in his CCNA item, I’d be inclined to put it in any Top 10 Best I were to put together,  and I’d be more inclined to pick rather more senior-level credentials rather than entry-levels ones like the CompTIA items, MCTS, and CCNA. But that’s my “best” interpretation showing. What’s yours?

The New and Improved Shape of CompTIA A+

The A+ PC Technician certification has been around for some time now (just over 15 years as I write this blog). In keeping with CompTIA’s 3-year update/revision cycle on this exam, it’s getting ready to morph itself again in 2009. This time the exam structure has been broken up into two parts, where a single A+ Essentials teams up with one of three “job scenario” exams to create different flavors of A+:

• A+ Certified IT Technician:
  Essentials exam plus 220-602 is closest to the traditional A+ credential, focusing on entry level service technicians who work in in-house service, support, or IT operations.
• A+ Certified Remote Support Technician:
  Essentials exam plus 220-603 includes the core of the traditional A+ credential, along with coverage of troubleshooting and interacting with customers remotely or via phone or e-mail.
• A+ Certified Depot Technician:
  Essentials Exam plus 220-604 also includes the core of the traditional A+, along with coverage of repair bench operations with an emphasis on computer repair and troubleshooting skills.

My gut feel always was that the A+ put equal emphasis on all of these things (though perhaps somewhat less on customer interaction and support than might be entirely beneficial to candidates, employers, and their customers alike). It’s interesting to see specializations in remote support and depot technician roles emerge from CompTIA’s painstaking job skills and activities assessments. Surely this indicates that the roles that PC technicians play are becoming more specialized where those who slot themselves into some of these roles may no longer find themselves called upon that much to fill the other roles described here.

For another, different, and interesting take on the emerging shape of A+ 2009 changes, see Emmett Dulaney’s recent CertCities column entitled “First Look at 2009 A+ Changes.” He makes some useful observations about how the 2006 and 2009 domain weightings and categories have changed. He also indicates that 220-603 and 220-604 are much less well-elaborated and understood than 220-602, something which CompTIA doesn’t really explain on its Web pages for the various second exam options to earn an A+. Good to know!

TechKnight Does It By the Numbers, Gets a Complete Answer

Looks like some people actually do their homework here. I got this comment posted to my “7 Questions” blog, wherein I laid out some queries to enable advice-seekers to get decent answers from me when asking for IT career and/or certification advice. Let’s start with TechKnight’s answers, which I repeat with the questions to put them into context:

1) What is your educational background?
I have a bachelors Degree in Applied Computing.
2) What is your prior work experience?
I am currently working in the automative industry the job profile includes General IT troubleshooting (Installation of software, Email configuration etc)
3) Where do you live? What is the job market like there?…
I live in UAE and there are opportunities here.
4) Are you interested in working in management, or would you prefer to stay on a technical track?
I prefer to stay in the technical track
5)What kinds of certifications interest you?
Relevant Certifications in networking.
6) Do your long-term career goals include staying in your current position (or in the same field as the next position you’re seeking, if applicable)?
I want to change my current job and become a full time IT professional.
7) What kind of job are you doing now? What kind of job would you like to be doing? How important is salary to you? How important is job satisfaction? If you could have any job at all, what would that be?
Currently i am working as an administrator. I am also currently doing a one month course in A+. I would like to be a full time IT professional. Salary as well as Job Satisfaction are important. I want to be in a job that i will enjoy doing. I enjoy working with technology.

Alas, I’d love to know what kind of administrator TK is: but I’m guessing it’s not an IT-related admin position based on his answer to question 6. That said, it sounds to me like TK is an entry-level kind of person who, even though he didn’t say how many years he has in the workforce, appears to have less than three years of post-graduate work experience. Based on those assumptions, I’d recommend the following:

• The A+ is fine to get started (but not terribly networking related), and should probably be followed in close succession with a Network+ and possibly also a Security+ certification, to create a good foundation for what is to follow.
• Next, it’s time to make some platform choices or considerations. If TK is interested in systems and network administration at a more or less local or enterprise level, to me that indicates choosing a Microsoft path (MCTS, MCITP, and so forth) or possibly some kind of Linux track (Red Hat or LPIC are probably the best choices). On the other hand, if he’s more interested in network infrastructure, the Cisco track (CCNA, CCNP, and so forth) is an excellent choice.
• After 3-5 years on the job as a network or systems professional, it’s probably time to think about specializing for those who want to stay technical but keep advancing in job responsibility and pay grades. These days that means information security, various application environments (ERP, especially SAP/R3 a leading choice, quite popular in the Persian Gulf), storage management (SAN, NAS, and so forth, with SNIC and platform specific certifications quite popular), or various kinds of architect positions and related certifications of potential interest.

At least that’s how I see it from my end. Perhaps TK may want to post some follow-up questions after he’s had time to research and digest what I suggest here?

HTH and thanks for posting,
–Ed–

The Other CompTIA Certifications

OK, so everybody knows about the Big Three certs from CompTIA: A+, Network+, and Security+. A+ and Network+ are more or less checkbox items for aspiring entry-level IT, help desk, and tech support workers. Security+ is fast becoming a stepping stone to other, more senior, well-recognized and -rewarded information security certs as well (see our SearchSecurity.com guide to information security certifications for more information on this topic).

All this said, CompTIA offers a total of 13 certifications. What about the other 10? Here’s a list with information and commentary to help introduce them to those who haven’t come across them before, and to refamiliarize those who may have heard of them before:

CompTIA CDIA+ Certification: The CDIA+ was CompTIA’s first-ever certification and has been around for more than 10 years. It target a very specific niche market for digitizing, storing, and managing documents in digital form rather than paper form. It’s intended to demonstrate expertise in technologies and best practices involved in planning, designing, and specifying document imaging and management systems. Here again, this remains a narrowly-focused and relatively small market segment.

CompTIA Convergence+ Certification: Responding to industry requests for more skills and knowledge about communications technologies, which are said to reside where data communications, telephony and telecommunications, and video and broadcast multimedia technologies combine into a single IP-based delivery system, Convergence+ seeks to demonstrates basic skills and knowledge across all these areas. CompTIA faces stiff competition from the Telecommunications Industry Association’s (TIA’s) Convergence Technologies Professional (CTP) and Certified in Convergent Network Technologies (CCNT) certifications here, and has not been as widely adopted or recognized in the marketplace, either.

CompTIA CTT+ Certification: The Certified Technical Trainer, or CTT credential, predates its acquisition by CompTIA. It’s a vendor-neutral classroom training cert that is accepted as evidence of sufficient training skills in many vendor-specific training programs in lieu of their own in-house credentials (where available). Obtaining a CTT+ certification requires candidates to demonstrate their preparation, presentation, communication, and facilitation skills, and to submit a videotape for evaluation of classroom skills and behavior. It’s probably the best-known, most valuable, and most widely sought-after of all the “other” CompTIA certs.

CompTIA DHTI+ Certification: DHTI stands for Digital Home Technologies Integator, and covers a grab-bag of digital home technologies including alarm systems, control systems, entertainment systems, communications, networking, and more. The successor to the short-lived Home Technologies Integrator (HTI+) certification, the DHTI+ continues to face issues with breadth and depth of coverage in a collection of technology areas that are changing so rapidly as to defy codification and currency in coverage. Nevertheless, the DHTI+ certification seeks to demonstrate competence in configuring, integrating, maintaining, troubleshooting, and comprehending basic design concepts for electronic and digital home systems. Here again, this is a narrowly focused niche for high-end equipment vendors, installation companies, home builders, and so forth, that has yet to gain significant traction outside those organizations where hiring qualified technicians can be a real challenge.

CompTIA e-Biz+ Certification: E-business (or E-biz) is an area of technical activity that involves conducting business online. It’s kind of a combination of Web technology and e-commerce; e-Biz+ is no longer available worldside (it’s only available in Korean and Japanese languages). This is a credential whose time has largely come and gone.

CompTIA Linux+ Certification: Linux certifications are many, and their coverage is often scattered, where focus on actual distributions may be tightly focused or all over the place. Linux+ is vendor-neutral, and focuses on open source and Linux basics, including fundamentals of user administration, file permissions and access controls, and setup and software configuration, plus local storage and network management. Linux+ has not really been widely adopted and faces stiff competition from the longer-lived, multi-tiered, and more wide-ranging Linux Professional Institute credentials (LPIC levels 1 through 3), as well as well-recognized vendor Linux certs from Red Hat, Novell/Suse, and others.

CompTIA PDI+ Certification: The PDI+ certification takes printing and document imaging devices as its focus, and seeks to demonstrate knowledge and skills necessary for to support and operate high-end printing and document imaging devices. Topics covered include print and scan processes and components, basic electromechanical tools, and color theory, along with soft skills such as customer service and professionalism, safety, and environmental sensitivity. This is another niche cert that aims to supply printing and imaging service providers with qualified technical staff.

CompTIA Project+ Certification: Project+ might be described as a set of “training wheels” for the Project Management Institute’s (PMI’s) Project Management Professional (PMP) certification. That is the Project+ focuses on fundamental project management skills including the whole project life cycle starting with initiation and planning, all the way through execution, acceptance, support and closure. The PMP remains “the” certification for project management professionals, while Project+ is a stepping-stone to that goal at best.

CompTIA RFID+ Certification: RFID stands for Radio Freqency Identifier, a special kind of hardware device that announces itself to inquiring transponders and provides other data as well. The RFID+ seeks to demonstrate knowledge and skills in the areas of installation, maintenance, repair, and upkeep of hardware and software functionality of RFID products. This credential is designed with a very specific audience in mind, and is relevant for those seeking work with RFID technologies. But it’s still a fairly small niche.

CompTIA Server+ Certification: Server+ was designed as a higher-level credential, which makes sense given its focus ontechnical competencies surround network server issues and technologies. Coverage includes installation, configuration, upgrading, maintenance, and environment, plus troubleshooting and disaster recovery. Server+ is accepted in some vendor-specific programs, but at most it takes the place of a single exam in programs that require passing four or more exams to earn vendor certification.

As you look over these certs, it’s wise to consider where CompTIA gets its name and mission: at its heart it’s an industry association whose mandate is to identify areas of technical competency where industry needs workers and to design certifications based on job requirements to match. For some of these credentials, there’s a happy fit between what IT professionals want and need to learn and what industry is looking for. For others, exposure, interest, and experience in specific industry niches drives the certs, and must therefore drive professionals into seeking the related certs as well.

To CompTIA, or Not?

Many of the questions I get from readers and IT professionals might best be summarized as “If I earn the following cert(s), will it help my career?” More than half the time, in fact, one or more of the specific IT certifications mentioned in the query comes from the Computing Technology Industry Association or CompTIA. To be even more specific A+ is mentioned most frequently, with Network+ close behind, and Security+ in third place by the numbers.

Thus, I’d like to address the issue of what kinds of value these and other CompTIA certifications can provide, and what kinds of people are most likely to benefit from their pursuit and attainment. Both A+ and Network+ focus solidly on entry-level personnel, or as CompTIA likes to put it “individuals embarking on a career in technology.” A+ seeks to identify PC technicians with at least 6 months of experience or its functional equivalent, where Network+ ups that ante by three months and recommends its pursuers to earn the A+ as a stepping stone to this credential.

By design, both A+ and Network+ serve as steppings stones to other, more advanced CompTIA certifications, and to some extent, they’re also referenced or recognized in other vendor-specific and -neutral certification programs. But the fact remains that these credentials work best to identify those inexperienced or new-to-the-industry workers who have sufficient interest in and motivation to demonstrate some basic PC (A+) and networking (Network+) knowledge and proficiency.

By themselves, neither or both of these credentials is probably enough to land somebody a job in IT, however. Even an associate’s degree remains worth more to most organizations hiring entry-level workers, or those switching from other fields to IT. Thus, while I can (and do) recommend A+ and Network+ to aspiring IT workers in PC or network technician, help desk, tech support, operator, and other traditional first rung IT jobs, I usually have to temper that recommendation by observing that other signs of education, skill, and ability will add to one’s chances of parlaying these credentials into a job.

Security+ is a slightly different animal. It recommends earning both A+ and Network+ first, and seeks to identify individuals with two or more years of security-related job experience. Thus, it’s not quite as “entry-level” as the other two certs, though it is very much an entry-level information security certification by virtue of its depth and breadth of coverage. Here again this is a certification that while helpful and worth pursuing may not be enough by itself to parlay into an information security position. That’s partly because the phrase “entry-level security position” is something of an oxymoron, and something of a rare bird besides that. However, earning the Security+ is a useful stepping stone toward the CISSP, CISM, and other more senior infosec certs that and often do help IT professionals move into information security jobs, or up the information security component in network and systems administration positions.

Thus, to answer the question posed in the title of this blog, the answer is: “Yes, but…” The buts include “don’t expect to turn this into immediate gold, a first job, or a promotion” and “be prepared to proceed from these ’stepping-stone’ credentials to other, more substantial and serious vendor-neutral and/or -specific certifications to really boost your career and your future earning potential.”

–Ed–

Time for a sanity check: How am I doing? And yourself?

This is my 18th entry for this continuing “IT Career JumpStart” blog. I’m about six weeks into the process, and both I and my masters at TechTarget are reasonably pleased with the way things are going so far. I’ve managed to get some discussion going on over half of my posts, and have fielded at least a dozen related e-mails from others who were perhaps too shy or who didn’t want to post comments directly to the blogs.

My objectives here are two-fold:

1. I’d like to ask for your input on how useful or otherwise the kind of content I’ve posted so far has been. Either way, please tell me what you liked best and why, and what you didn’t like (and why for that also, if you’re inclined to tell me).
2. I’m going to present some ideas on future topics for coverage and would like to get your reactions. Please, if you ask me not to cover something, do suggest an alternative topic to take its place if you can–preferably something that interests you, or where you’re currently seeking information or advice and haven’t been able to get what you need.

Here are the topics that I’m planning to cover over the next couple of months, some of which will be multi-part postings:

1. CompTIA Revisited: a look at the CompTIA cert stable, with more coverage on the most popular items, A+, Network+, and Security
2. The Next Microsoft Generation: What’s up with MCTS, MCITP, MCPD, and Microsoft Certified Master?
3. Another take on information security certifications: updating the semi-annual infosec cert survey
4. Industry-motivated academic programs: where certificates, certification, classroom education, and workforce preparation meet

That should probably get us into November, perhaps even as far as Thanksgiving. But with your help and input, I’m more than happy to add and drop items, or to refocus coverage to help address your needs and answer your questions. Ultimately, that really why I’m doing this, so please give me the benefit of your input, not to mention your insight, as we plan for some next steps in the great chain of blogging!

Best,
–Ed–

DoD Directive 8570 and the OMB Follow-up

Back in 2005, the US Department of Defense aka DoD, issued Directive 8570 entitled “Information Assurance Workforce Improvement Program.” In a nutshell, this document states workforce responsibilites and requirements for personnel tasked with “information assurance,” a locution that means more or less the same thing as “information security” outside military circles.

There’s a lot of interesting information in this document, but what many readers of this blog will find most interesting is a list of accepted and mandated infosec certifications required for tecnical and management level workers in this technical niche. Because many of these items come from the SANS GIAC program (all of which start with the letter “G” in the lists that follow), you’ll find a nice summary of this information on their Web site.

Here is the way things break down at a very high level.

Technical Track
Level 1: A+, Network+, ISC² SSCP
Level 2: GSEC, Security+, SCNP, SSCP
Level 3: GSE, CISSP, SCNA, CISA

Management Track
Level 1: GSLC, GISF
Level 2: GSLC, CISSP, CISM
Level 3: GSLC, CISSP, CISM

What’s interesting about this list is that nearly all of these certifications are well-recognized outside the DoD, and that many of them have considerable cachet on the current job market as well. What’s even more interesting is this recent story at CertCities.com, which indicates that the Office of Management and Budget (OMMB) is working on a similar set of requirments for professional certification for IT workers in civilian agencies inside the US Government (and hence also, any contractors that do business with same).

This certainly creates rampant opportunities for individuals who hold one or more of these credentials, and makes the already-valuable CISSP, CISA, CISM, and SANS GIAC certs into a sort of “gold standard” for doing infosec business with the feds.

Need I say more, to those looking for more and better ways to feather their nests?