SAP consulting certification

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 Importance of Soft Skills (Part 1 of 4 Parts)

Soft skills have a lot to do with career opportunities and development, just as do harder technical skills. What’s this distinction mean? Soft skills refer to abilities that make people better employees, and open doors to opportunities, that aren’t directly related to the subject matter for their jobs. In simpler language, soft skills refer to a person’s ability to relate to others, to get him- or herself (and possibly others) organized, to communicate in written, spoken or other forms, to conduct research or gather information about various topics as assigned, and so forth.

Soft skills might be considered the things you should know how to do to do your best at any job, no matter what that specific job might be. Soft skills also explain why college degrees are valued credentials for job candidates: it takes 2 to 4 years to earn most degrees (excluding the very top tier for PhD, MD, and so on). To earn a degree, candidates must possess the ability to learn, to tackle a broad range of subject matter, to possess at least minimal communications skills that include a fair amount of writing and perhaps also some spoken or presented materials, and to dig into a subject (their major) to a considerable level of detail.

Though this recasting of the degree isn’t meant to overlook or downplay the importance of a chosen field of study, nor to negate the idea that some majors are more valuable (and usally also more difficult) than others, my idea here is to illustrate how soft skills add value to the degree as a pretty substantial credential. Considering the time, effort, and expense involved in earning a degree, it should also help to compare and contrast the respective value of a degree versus most IT certifications. While some very special credentials, such as the Cisco CCIE and SAP consulting certs, can claim some degree of parity with a degree, most IT certs fall significantly lower on the ladder of perceived value, importance, and difficulty involved.

In my next three blogs, I will focus on the same number of soft skills that I believe serious IT professionals would all do well to cultivate further:

1. Written communications
2. Spoken communications and presentations
3. Project management

I will explore the value for each such skill, explain some techniques to assess your current skills levels and capabilities, and suggest some possible approaches or activities to improve your standing for each one. Hopefully, this will be not only useful and informative, but also interesting and perhaps even stimulating enough to provoke some follow-through.

Also, please don’t forget that if you have questions, comments, or suggestions for other topics that I might address you can post them here, or e-mail them to me at  EdTittel at TechTarget.com. As always, thanks for your time and attention.

–Ed–

Why Entry-Level Certs Aren’t Enough to Get You a Job

Pick a popular entry-level IT certification, I don’t care which one: MCP (Microsoft single-exam credential, Microsoft Certified Professional), any major CompTIA cert (A+, Network+, Security+,…), CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate), and so forth. For each of these items, and others I don’t mention as well, I often find myself involved in answering questions that might be summarized as “Let’s assume I earn the . What kind of job will that get me?”

Before I respond to this question, let me make some observations about IT jobs in the civilized world:
1. Right now, it’s an employer’s market. That means employers currently enjoy the upper hand over prospective job candidates, in the sense that there are more candidates looking for jobs, than there are jobs looking for candidates. This goes double for entry-level jobs.
2. IT Certification, especially at the entry level, has become a “checkbox item” for individuals, rather than a “differentiator.” In simpler language, this means employers often expect candidates to hold certain certifications, and find those expectations met rather more often than not, rather than being able to pick outstanding candidates on the basis of whether or not they hold certain certifications. Again, this goes double for entry-level jobs, especially now that so many associate’s and bachelor’s degree programs include certification opportunities or requirements along with the rest of their degree plans.
3. Employers want people with degrees, certifications, AND experience. Anyone who’s lacking in any of these areas is automatically a less attractive job candidate. Paradoxically, the experience criterion even applies to entry-level positions, where a lack of experience is not supposed to matter, but often does matter a lot.

How should aspiring and active IT professionals look at entry-level certs in this light? My answer: “Purely as stepping stones. Treat any other additional benefits as pure gravy, and expect nothing from these credentials.” Entry-level certs have always been designed to certify minimal skills, knowledge, and competence and that’s really how employers treat them nowadays. Gone are the go-go days of the late 90s and early part of this century when any certification looked like a sure ticket to a good job, or a key ingredient for hopping from a current position to a new one.

OK, it’s still the case that certain certs–such as the CISSP, CCIE, SAP Consulting, and so forth–are indeed enough to make the difference between landing a job and missing out on an offer. But entry-level certs appear nowhere in this list, nor are they likely to make this grade any time soon, barring a radical and global economic upturn.

Does this mean that entry-level certs have no value, or that you can skip them? The answer to both of these queries is “No,” and both ultimately point to where the value of entry-level certs really come from–namely, what kinds of things they entitle you to learn and earn next. Hence the term “stepping stone.” Unless you plan to climb to the next rung in a multi-step program that treats a particular cert as a pre-requisite or that satisfies certain component requirements, it may not be worth spending the time, effort, and money needed to acquire one.

‘Nuff said.

–Ed–