Ocelaris wrote:
I hear all the time from people already in the field that have "made it" or have a job in a field, that certs are meaningless. I know plenty of networking people who don't need certs, they're super skilled and intelligent, and don't need to prove themselves. But IT is a relatively new field, and there are way too many people higher up who rose through attrition and don't have the foundations or desire to earn their position if they had to look for a new job. The field is getting more competitive as more people do have those foundations, and I see the less skilled fall by the way side over time. Networking is not something you just absorb over time without study IMHO, it's tough, and it underlies all IT. I'm young and certs are a way for me to broaden my horizons and differentiate myself, but I'm not expecting someone to pay me for skill sets that I haven't proven in the field. I've interviewed people for my last 2 companies, and don't BS in an interview, we know. Certs get you past recruiters, which is the hardest part, they are ALWAYS more picky than the actual technical people you're interviewing with. Since doing my CCNA and VCP, my hit rates on my resume went through the roof... granted most are crap, but it's better than having to look for a job yourself
Start at the helpdesk and move up in IT, you have a ton of time to move into networking, just keep studying and be curious, make friends with other IT people, keep in touch. If you can get in at a large company and cozy up to the networking team, I did and they lent me a switch for my SWITCH test. They gave me a 3750 for under my desk, they keep me up to date on random networking stuff. My job normally has nothing to do with networking, but I've made it into one that does.
I don't mean to sound ungrateful for those on the forum without certs (and are extremely knowledgeable) and help us along; far from it I'm very grateful. I just mean that if you don't have experience, it'll get you in the door. It's just easier moving up with certs.
Yes, certs are important for that primary reason - the resume race. If I'm a recruiter, which I honestly believe most/all big companies use, and I have to go through hundreds of resumes, who has what certs will make it easy for me to seperate the resumes into piles "A" and "B".
You don't want to be in "Pile B".
Now, for me, the secondary reasons why I'm a big cert fan are A) the accomplishment, and B) the knowledge gained along the way, which comes from actually studying - not taking a week long boot camp or brain dumping. Honestly, I kind of look down on people who refuse to do certifications because they are "too smart for it". Sounds like an excuse or cop out to me. As a person working in such a dynamically changing field, you should have at least some hunger for new knowledge. So if you're going to have your nose in books anyway, you might as well make the extra effort and get a cert to help your resume.
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