MCSE and Oracle Certifications

Mastivision

Is it effective doing certifications ?

what certification have you done and please give me some links of pdf ebook to read some useful material.

Thanks.

BillScarab

What are you trying to achieve? Are you hoping for a career in IT?

Conor_3

The MCSE is an absolute waste of time nowadays other than to show you've the basics.

The MCSE value as an indicator of ability took a massive nosedive in the early "Naughties" and the term "Paper MCSE" was coined due to admins who'd passed their MCSE but had no real world experience. It didn't help that a 10 year old passed the test.

Many companies got their fingers burned and nowadays they look more at experience.

It's probably still worth doing but its no longer the guaranteed step into a job certification it once was.

IF YOU REALLY WANT TO GET AHEAD get a UNIX certification. Linux/Unix admins are pretty thin on the ground and they command decent money - way more than a Microsoft based admin does.

hobo28

Experience is much more important now than certifications. That said, the certificate does help a little. Just don't expect it to suddenly open doors, it won't.

You might get better advice if you let us know what your intentions are. Reading a few PDF's is unlikely to get you the certification and certainly without any experience you will struggle to get a decently paid job.

My friend owns his own IT business and now can hire MCSE's for about £12k a year. Ten years ago, the going rate was about £25k so it sort of gives you an idea of the value nowadays.

The way I would suggest now for getting into IT is to get your foot in the door of any IT related job but get some training as part of the deal. Learn on the job and get employer to pay for your certs.

Linux/Unix admins are still commanding decent rates but its a lot harder to learn. Work towards it by all means but I don't think its a good starting point. Having been in the industry for over 12 years, I can set up a linux box, install stuff and talk greps and pipes with the best of them but I'd never advertise myself as a unix admin.

isofa

It all depends what you want to do, I guess - and that is the question you need to answer first, otherwise you are at the "how long is a piece of string" stage.

Some companies favour proven academic qualifications, such as degrees/masters and then train you up on your chosen role. Others are more keen on real world experience and manufacturer certification.

Every company and job is different. That's why I'd review your career path first.

If I was looking for an employee and I had a specific role / application / development environment in mind, then no doubt a relevant manufacturer cert with experience, would affect my choice. However experience and personality are likely to still be my two most important initial factors.

Computer Weekly regularly publishes lists of careers and salaries in this sector (including certification), so that might be a useful reviewing point.

Hope that helps.

Mastivision

Thanks very much for all of your messages.

Well first of all i want to let you know that i am doing my Postgraduate diploma at the moment and i am in to computers from last 7 years but i have not done it properly , i do know languages like ( ASP, Visual Basic and SQL) but not in depth, my problem is that i do know loads of information about different IT stuff but don't have extreme knowledge so now i want to put my feet down some where solidly and want to start my career in IT.

Basically by doing Bsc or any degree you don't learn loads of stuff in UNI/Collage so i want to get command on any one of the field.

My main interest is Computer networks or some thing like administrator stuff but really don't want to do programming.

Please suggest me any solid fast track/ Certification etc for getting a job.

Thanks.

MercilessKiller

Try and find a local CISCO Academy that will allow you to do a CCNA

Also find a company allowing to employ you as a junior network technician for experience while you do it.

I know my old high school employed IT Technicians and did the CCNA course in-house... That was a specialist public business school... one of these Government initiatives. I'd recommend something like that.

ormus

cisco cert will certainly open more doors and pay more than any MSCE paper.
MSCEs are two a penny now.
its fairly/very easy to set up a windoze server/network etc compared to a linux one.

hobo28

Personally I would not recommend starting your career on a Cisco track. CCNA's are also ten a penny now and are probably only just ahead of MCSE in terms of real value.

Plus any muppet can learn the theory but applying it take more experience. You can to a point blag your way into setting up a Windows server, especially with all the virtualisation tools out there nowadays. However, configuring routers is a bit of a black art and not easy to bluff your way around. One false command and you bring the network to a standstill!

If you like computer networks and administration then personally I'd start off getting a junior IT role. Perhaps desktop support for a company where your general knowledge of IT will help. That way you can specialise whilst "on the job", rather than plough a load of money into a cert and find its all but useless without the experience.

MercilessKiller

hobo, obviously you didn't READ what I said.

I mentioned a Junior IT role as well as CISCO Academy. Thats not just a CCNA, thats a whole academy programme including skills test and expereince. Along with the Junior Role and the CCNA qualification its more than enough to get a starting job.

Conor_3

Mastivision wrote: »

Please suggest me any solid fast track/ Certification etc for getting a job.

Thanks.

No such thing exists. You have to work up from Helldesk.