Alphabet Soup (IT Edition)

February 18, 2015 12:47 PM

What is the Gold Star Cert these day?

I have no degree and my only certification is a 8 year old A+. So I work as a Desktop Support Technician, at least on paper. What I actually do is more complicated (SCCM, GP, AD, web-filter, and vlan management). But lack of a degree and/or certificates has hampered my job search.

My boss has offered to pay for some professional training. He suggested a CCNA, but is open to suggestions. Normally I'd do the old what's best for the company spiel. But there isn't much chance for promotion here, so I'm hoping to find something to boost my resume.

So which IT Certificate would best enhance my future job prospects?

posted by zinon to Computers & Internet (4 answers total)

Are you sure that certificates will help? I.e. have prospective employers told you that a certificate is what you need? It's been a while since I've been in a position to hire people into IT support roles, but when I was, certificates were generally viewed as worthless at best (and often a red flag, in fact). Maybe it's changed (or maybe that was unique to the companies I was working in, but they were big name companies you've heard of). But I'd recommend being sure before investing any time into it.
posted by primethyme at 1:45 PM on February 18, 2015

I work in an area where certificates are required, the U.S. Army, and there are certainly other large employers who require certification. If you are looking for such a job, Network+ and Security+ are certainly useful. But certifications alone are not going to make up for an otherwise empty resume. I agree with primethyme that certifications in a vacuum (for instance, a Network+ cert but no particular Networking experience) are a red flag.
posted by ubiquity at 2:05 PM on February 18, 2015 [1 favorite]

corporate: Sharepoint , MS Sql Server
DoD: Security+, CISSP
Wild West: most don't care...get smart with high-security cloud servers, maybe some hadoop
posted by j_curiouser at 2:46 PM on February 18, 2015 [1 favorite]

If you want the gold star Cisco certification, get the CCIE.
posted by oceanjesse at 7:04 PM on February 18, 2015 [1 favorite]