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Working in IT without the stupid certifications

Cyc

Cyc

Bluelighter
Joined
Sep 11, 2000
Messages
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Location
Canada
Am I the only one who gets annoyed that in order to work in the IT field, you have to have a post-secondary education, and a handful of expensive and questionably useful certifications on top of it?

Other professions don't have these extra hoops to jump through, and I don't think IT "professionals" (and by professional, I mean sit on your ass surfing the web for 6 hours a day) have to write multiple 3rd party exams after school, do they?

If I went to College, why on G-d's earth would I need an A+ certification? That's like having a driver's license, and being asked to go get a go-kart license too.

I have a few years work experience in the field at this point, and I have no intention of getting my MCSE, CCNA, A+ or any other useless bullshit certification that will teach me what I already know, or can learn when the need arises. When employers ask, I'm usually pretty candid with my opinion on the matter. I think that a post-secondary education is your show of commitment, and everything after that can be taught on the job. Unless they want to pay for it, the money-grubbing certification companies can stuff it.
 
Your better just getting a certification from a Tech School it will be... alot cheaper than a 4 year college...and you learn a lot more at the tech/school than college....

Most like i say most colleges only teach u programming/art... and don't go vary far pas that...
 
Also, Computer Science degrees look more like Advanced Math classes. There are hardly ANY programming or networking classes. What a misnomer!
 
I was at one point considering a career in I.T, but then later found out it wasn't for me.. anyway, to keep on point, it's ridiculous the qualifications you need to get into these jobs, which, as you quite correctly described, consist of aimlessly surfing the net. What's even more ridiculous, as others have pointed out, is the courses themselves, I've got a friend doing Computer Science at the University of Adelaide and there's so many irrelevant modules that it's not even really I.T, mostly math, and he even said they have to do modules of psychology, give me a break.

Not sure where you hail from, but back in high school I did TAFE part-time and picked up a Certificate III in networking, mostly consisted of learning about network protocols and subnetting, but it's cheap and isn't riddled with copious quantities of bullshit.
 
Cisco certification is the only one im REALLY focused on right now. Any others opinions on this?

I do think its b.s there is mroe hoops to jump through but it seemsfairly esy to find employment and pay isnt bad. Thats for sure.
 
How come if you've got a few years experience non of the company(ies) you worked for offered to put you through certification?
If you know the course material the tests itself don't cost a fortune if you drag yourself to a testing centre.
 
Damn, Kyk. Are you sure you're not my alter ego? I never thought there was another programmer and writer. I thought I was all unique and stuff!

I have my A+ and MCSE. Just do it dude. Yeah, I know it means nothing, and I'm kinda embarrassed to admit it in the working world, but it looks good on a resume. Just take the plunge and get the stupid certs.
 
Arnold said:
How come if you've got a few years experience non of the company(ies) you worked for offered to put you through certification?
If you know the course material the tests itself don't cost a fortune if you drag yourself to a testing centre.
Click to expand...

It makes no sense but the companies I've worked for would offer tuition reimbursement for college credits but wouldn't pay for certs.

I hope this is just my experience and not standard practice for most companies
 
gets the certs..

i know guys who were whizzkids but now just work on low wage repairing pc's .. very mundane..

unless ur a shit hot natural born self taught progammer who hacks a microsoft site then u wont get decent work otherwise.
 
OverDone said:
It makes no sense but the companies I've worked for would offer tuition reimbursement for college credits but wouldn't pay for certs.

I hope this is just my experience and not standard practice for most companies
Click to expand...

It really depends what the company values. I've gotten a decent entry-level job in IT with just a College education, but lost it due to layoff.

Now I'm back in the market (potentially) and I'm just so annoyed when a company asks for an A+ or MCSE. I don't really have the money to take these exams, but if a company wants to pay for them, I guess I have no objection. By the time I got my associates degree in IT, I was right sick of computers and quickly moved to Technical Writing. I lost out on the chance to write my certs.

Oh, and Lysis. Inorite! Let's hang out some time. Go for drinks. kk?
 
Anyone serious about making interesting applications do require math skills. (Flash and Java, atleast)

Sorry guys.
 
Everyone always says how IT people need l33t math skills. Programming is logic more than math. My ex was a high school dropout with 0 certs and 0 college education credits making 6 figures as a Linux admin at the Office Depot headquarters down here. I find IT is one of those subjects that if you've been doing it since you were a kid then you can make some decent cash. As a developer, I don't find that you need hardcore math as much as you need logic.
 
I am also annoyed about needing the certs to get into anything at all. I have tinkered around with computers most of my life, and am also an avid PC gamer, so I know the components and how to fix them if something goes wrong. What's more, is that for a job, I don't want to be the guy sitting at the desk 8 hours a day just browsing the net. I like to run cables and set up the networks... which is pretty damn easy to do. Why do I need a paper saying "Yeah, he can do that" when I can just go in and do it, most of the time way better than what they previously had set up?

My last networking job I had was because of a friend of mine. He needed an extra person to help upgrade a network for a medium sized office. The network closet was horrible before, not racks, no patch panels, the hubs were just sitting on the floor under the desk in the middle of a ball of wire. After I came in and seen what was there, I told them that we needed racks and a way to organize the cable. Now, a 3 year old could go into that closet and know exactly where each cable goes. It aggravates me that I can't get something like that without the schooling.
 
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