Network+

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.

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?

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–

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?

7 Questions for Highly Effective Career or Certification Advice

When people ask me for career advice, especially as it touches on IT certification, their questions often cut straight to the subject of interest as in “If I earn a A+, Network+, and a CCNA can I get a good job?” Alas, I really can’t provide meaningful answers to such questions without a fair amount of additional information to consider. Here is a sample list of questions, to which I will add over time, that advice-seekers would be well-advised to answer before raising such questions, whether they want answers from me or from somebody else:

1. What is your educational background? High school diploma? Associate’s degree? Bachelor’s degree? Graduate degree(s)? Please also briefly describe any incomplete progress on any of these items (for example “two years of computer science grad courses, 2/3 of MS completed”).

2. What is your prior work experience? How many years of work, and what kind of work have you done? Any volunteer work? Part-time work in school or elsewhere? (You’d be surprised how much value employers give to those who show evidence of being able to hold a job, and how much credit they give to people willing to work for nothing as volunteers or part-time to get experience in their chosen fields.)

3. Where do you live? What is the job market like there? How much opportunity for entry-level people? mid-career people? senior people?

4. Are you interested in working in management, or would you prefer to stay on a technical track? Have you ever done any project management (and again, school, part-time, and volunteer experience all help)?

5. What kinds of certifications interest you? Please describe any certification held, currency status (if applicable), and when earned.

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)?

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?

With answers to these questions, I get to know something about the person as well as the various options they may be pondering. This helps me to provide answers that have a better chance of helping both in the short and long terms, and that can be tailored to their specific location, circumstances, needs, and goals.

I hope this makes sense, and that future advice seekers will understand why it’s very helpful to me, and ultimately to them, to provide this kind of data.

–Ed–

Despite the cautions, and the evidence, hopes remain unfounded and unbounded

This morning I found a message in my inbox from one of the readers of these blogs. I will paraphrase its contents as follows: “I am interested in a career in networking. I am taking A+ classes, after which I plan to earn Network+ and then the CCNA. Please tell me I am on the right track: although I have no university degree, I would like to believe I have some chances of landing a good job and of developing a good career. What do you think?”

Let me start off with the answer I sent in response to this inquiry: “Although obtaining the A+, Network+, then CCNA will get you off to a good start, these are all entry-level IT certifications. At best, they will qualify you for an entry-level position. Your prospects will vary to a large extent upon where in the world you are located, and what your local job market is like. Here in the United States, for example, the certs you are pursuing might be helpful, and they might not be helpful, because the entry-level job market is *very* competitive. On the other hand, a college degree here is probably even more useful than those credentials, because of its higher cost, longer time commitment, and broader range of required subject matter. If you’d care to tell me more about your work background, your location, and your actual job aspirations, I can probably respond in kind.”

Entering the IT job market is tough all over, and the degree to which certification helps is probably related to several factors:
1. how unique their possession is among the application population
2. how much real-world experience goes along with the certs
3. how much real-world experience those certs represent to the hiring manager, HR professionals, and others involved in the hiring decision
4. how many other candidates do have college degrees and/or real-world experience to offer instead of IT certifications

I have to believe that certification can do some good, and that an applicant with these certifications plus no degree and no real-world experience is preferable to a candidate with “none of the above,” so to speak. But then, the real question still remains: “Where does this profile position the candidate amidst the pool of applicants?” If it positions him or her in the top echelons, then earning those certifications is probably beneficial. If it does not, then their benefit becomes more questionable.

That’s why I believe it’s important to work through the ROI calculations I describe in my recent blog on that subject, and why one of my recent blogs is entitled “Why Entry-Level Certs Aren’t Enough to Get You a Job.”

Nevertheless, hope springs eternal in the human breast, even among aspiring IT professionals. Likewise, the continuing marketing efforts and advertisements from certification sponsors continue to amplify that all-too-human tendency to hope for the very best from one’s outlays of time, effort, and money in developing a career. But one must be tough and hard-boiled in calculating whether or not the risks and costs will be offset by at least equivalent rewards, if not something better than that!

In my next post, I’m going to provide a list of questions that individuals should answer if they want to ask me or other career experts for help in deciding their futures and their fates. As I get these e-mails, and read these postings, I keep thinking “Need More Information” as I figure out how to respond to those queries. To that end, I’m going to provide a template that should help interested individuals not only ask for, but get, at least some of the help they seek.

–Ed–