Nah they're pretty lame. My current employer wants me to get some but I've already pulled in 200k+ of projects at a mid-size company in by flexing some knowledge and I have zero certifications. They probably want it for marketing or whatever  game recognize game. I'm not an IT genius by any stretch of the imagination, but I've interviewed and worked with people that have ceritifications that don't know poo poo. They aren't necessarily a marker of anything.
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Sep 29, 2016 03:17
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A bachelors is a good qualifier instead of certifications, but most people looking to break into the industry didn't have the foresight of going for computer science in college. Or didn't finish college at all. Once in the industry it's a good way to fast forward the time needed to move up. I'm starting my 4th year in the career. Without certs I'd likely still be at my first MSP job. Instead, I have 4 certs, halfway through 5, with 6 and 7 on track for the next 6 months, and I'm starting an IT Manager job making three times what I started the career at. This is anecdotal, sure, but there are a lot of fast track stories like it.
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Sep 29, 2016 03:24
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I've worked in part of one the biggest IT environments on the planet, a large enterprise environment, a smallish (~200) company and as a one-man shop at a retail store. Successful IT people are either really smart and normal or exceedingly skilled at a few (or possibly even one) thing. I've never really seen certs play a role in it, you're probably just smart and normal and the operations people don't feel like you're an off-putting trogdolyte.
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Sep 29, 2016 03:31
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How do you go about getting an MCSE? I see all kinds of classes on Google, but no way to tell if they're any good. Is it better to study on your own and just find a test near you? Is there a known reputable company to go through?Powered Descent posted:three memorable years as the entire IT department of a 150-person/6-location company full of salesmen  Christ, that sounds awful.
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Sep 29, 2016 03:42
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I think certifications can be good from a professional development and growth perspective, but they're certainly not the end-all be-all.
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Sep 29, 2016 03:44
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Yeah, I have no certs and no degree and I do alright. It's more of a suggestion for someone with no experience or skillset trying to get into the industry.
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Sep 29, 2016 03:47
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If you want to be a computer janitor go helpdesk and cross your fingers that you don't suck. If you want to make something of yourself start coding in your free time. HTML is easy, JavaScript, Python, whatevs. Buy some web hosting, build a portfolio, get hired. Even doing QA to start probably pays more than a mod tier computer janitor job.Make sure to mention you're a full stack developer because you installed a db once. Learn the MEAN stack. Go crazy. (Please note I am primarily a computer janitor)
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Sep 29, 2016 04:08
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Powered Descent posted:So am I the only one who never bothered with any certifications? All I have is a BS in Computer Science, which was enough to send me on my merry rounds doing software QA, C++ programming, three memorable years as the entire IT department of a 150-person/6-location company full of salesmen, and now server admin for a moderately-big website. 25+ years in the industry, 0 certs, 0 degrees.
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Sep 29, 2016 04:11
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A Pinball Wizard posted:
It wasn't all bad. I was on first-name terms with the company president and vp, and could set my own schedule. The bosses were completely nontechnical, so as long as things pretty much kept working, I could arrange all technical matters to my own liking. It's the most freedom I've ever had on a job. (One of the first things I did was rip out and replace the awful inter-office VPN just because I didn't like it. I didn't even tell the boss I was doing it until I informed him that with the new setup it was now possible to work from the road. He was thrilled.) There were downsides. My budget was pretty darn limited, and all the hardware was old and horrible. And I had to do all of the IT scut work myself, from answering everyone's tech support questions to crawling around under desks and plugging things in. (In a shirt and tie.) I could do most things from the central office, but once or twice a week I'd still need to drive to one of the satellite locations. And the biggest headache of all: about half of the sales people didn't even merit a company-provided computer, and just brought in a personal system. These were uniformly terrible, in every way you could imagine, but I somehow had to make them all work on the network and with the necessary software packages.
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Sep 29, 2016 04:15
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DigitalMocking posted:25+ years in the industry, 0 certs, 0 degrees.
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Sep 29, 2016 05:21
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Powered Descent posted:And the biggest headache of all: about half of the sales people didn't even merit a company-provided computer, and just brought in a personal system. These were uniformly terrible, in every way you could imagine, but I somehow had to make them all work on the network and with the necessary software packages. I was almost with you, up until about here...
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Sep 29, 2016 06:01
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anthonypants posted:Zero certifications? Not even DevOps League? That's less of a cert and more of a royal honour.
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Sep 29, 2016 09:32
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If I ever get a cubicle, I'm hanging up my certificate.
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Sep 29, 2016 10:05
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I'm now imagining a dude, sitting next to a framed wall of garbage text, starting with -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
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Sep 29, 2016 10:08
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A Pinball Wizard posted:How do you go about getting an MCSE? I see all kinds of classes on Google, but no way to tell if they're any good. Is it better to study on your own and just find a test near you? Is there a known reputable company to go through? 1) Do a bootcamp where someone will teach you how to pass the test for a lot of money 2) Download the testdumps, memorise the answers for no money 3) Watch the CBT Nuggets videos, do your own practical work and learn the topics and how to pass the test 4) Buy the expensive books and do all the practical work yourself. The problem is that a fair amount of the stuff doesn't match the real world - so as well as knowing how to do it, you need to know how to do it MCSE-style. You don't get the options that you'd use in the real work: the answer is never: D) gently caress it, format and reinstall or E) Why the gently caress are you even trying to do it this way?
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Sep 29, 2016 10:10
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Do MS exams still like to focus on "what tab in the below image is the option you need located on  "?
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Sep 29, 2016 10:20
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Thanks Ants posted:Do MS exams still like to focus on "what tab in the below image is the option you need located on I can confirm that I did get a question like that on the mcsa 2012r2 exams
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Sep 29, 2016 10:23
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I am curious what the breakdown on certifications is, age-wise. It's great that you didn't need certifications to break in, but if that was 25 years ago (for example), I'm not sure things haven't changed. I'm in my early 30s and I think a couple basic certs, whatever you think of those certs, helped me get my foot in the door with HR if nothing else when I was going for my first real job.
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Sep 29, 2016 10:32
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Sefal posted:I can confirm that I did get a question like that on the mcsa 2012r2 exams Oh Christ - I remember how that really irritated me. Any really experienced IT Pro isn't going to know that answer - they just know it as 'my mouse goes here' due to muscle memory.
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Sep 29, 2016 10:51
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spog posted:Any really experienced IT Pro isn't going to know that answer - they just know it as 'my mouse goes here' due to muscle memory. What's funny is that in the real world if it's an option you rarely use, you will blindly click through the tabs quickly to find it instead of "Knowing" what tab its located on. Its like "I know it exists and it is somewhere in advanced system properties." And then if that doesn't work: Google. "How the gently caress do I manually set paging again?"
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Sep 29, 2016 12:17
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DigitalMocking posted:25+ years in the industry, 0 certs, 0 degrees. 20 years, 0 certs, 1 degree (in History) 
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Sep 29, 2016 12:46
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feedmegin posted:20 years, 0 certs, 1 degree (in History) The department I headed consisted of:
IT is full of people who have the skills rather than the paper.
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Sep 29, 2016 12:55
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guppy posted:We have a whole bunch of recent (purchased within the last few years) MFPs that poo poo the bed if you leave them set to auto-negotiate. I have no idea why since obviously the switch side is gigabit since this isn't 1998. Configuring the device for 100Mbit causes them to work. We have received no end of false reports from our helpdesk about network drops not working because they didn't bother to test them before blaming us. Sun kit talking to Cisco kit around late '90s to early 2000s was notorious for this. Basically each would go "no after you!" "no after you!" "no I insist!" etc. and end up at 10mbps. You had to nail it to 100mbps for it to work properly at all. Known bug for years, neither vendor ever bothered working out what was up, it was just one of those things you had to know how to do.
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Sep 29, 2016 13:01
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Crowley posted:The department I headed consisted of: I just have this dumb mental image of the curtain salesman turning up to install curtains in the office and never leaving  .
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Sep 29, 2016 13:09
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It's more professional development for me. Though in terms of CCNA it's something I've wanted to get but never had the time go through the books or really build my lab. Also I'm not paying for it so It's not like I'm going to automatically assume I know more than an engineer with 20+ years of practical experience. That's just loving dumb. One exception being the contract engineer who broke our internet for three hours by removing the static NAT to our DNS server and not knowing what he did. *edit* I majored in video production but I also work in the media industry so I can use both skillsets! pr0digal fucked around with this message at 13:30 on Sep 29, 2016 |
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Sep 29, 2016 13:19
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Neddy Seagoon posted:I just have this dumb mental image of the curtain salesman turning up to install curtains in the office and never leaving Isn't a curtain salesman a Windows professional?
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Sep 29, 2016 13:27
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Turambar posted:Isn't a curtain salesman a Windows professional?
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Sep 29, 2016 13:29
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Turambar posted:Isn't a curtain salesman a Windows professional? Holy poo poo  .This is a thing of sheer beauty.
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Sep 29, 2016 13:29
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Turambar posted:Isn't a curtain salesman a Windows professional? 
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Sep 29, 2016 13:41
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Turambar posted:Isn't a curtain salesman a Windows professional? 
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Sep 29, 2016 13:46
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Turambar posted:Isn't a curtain salesman a Windows professional?  Serously though, we have a company over here who specializes in "Curtain busses" you can call and have them come to your house and demo curtains for free, so you can see them in the right place/light. He drove one of those, got involved in fixing computers back at the base, and spent more and more time with computers, and less and less with curtains.
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Sep 29, 2016 13:53
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A new job responsibility almost came in. A stomach virus is going around and students are puking and making GBS threads all over the restrooms. Since we have no janitorial staff, we can't expect students to clean bodily fluids as part of their work service. The director called me into his office.  We've decided that you and the facilities coordinator will be trained in bodily fluid cleanup so you can clean up any messes. I just looked him in the eye for a solid 20 seconds, and laughed as I walked out the door. gently caress that poo poo.
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Sep 29, 2016 14:15
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Turambar posted:Isn't a curtain salesman a Windows professional? Out.
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Sep 29, 2016 14:16
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larchesdanrew posted:
That has to be someone's fetish. From computer janitor to actual janitor. I have this mental image of nearing to wear hazmat suits to clean up poop flooded rooms. Edit: You didn't actually say no... !!
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Sep 29, 2016 14:31
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Surely, "mopping up other people's poo poo" is an essential skill for any IT professional?
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Sep 29, 2016 14:34
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Other doodies as assigned, it's in the contract, grab a mop 
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Sep 29, 2016 14:40
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larchesdanrew posted:A new job responsibility almost came in. If you could request a water cannon I'd be on it, but yeah NOPE
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Sep 29, 2016 14:44
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Powered Descent posted:It wasn't all bad. I was on first-name terms with the company president and vp, and could set my own schedule. The bosses were completely nontechnical, so as long as things pretty much kept working, I could arrange all technical matters to my own liking. It's the most freedom I've ever had on a job. (One of the first things I did was rip out and replace the awful inter-office VPN just because I didn't like it. I didn't even tell the boss I was doing it until I informed him that with the new setup it was now possible to work from the road. He was thrilled.) Are you me right now????? Holy crap! 4 years myself here. 14 locations, 120 employees and about 98% Salespeople. We allocate 2 corporate owned computers per location. Most salespeople supply their own Walmart laptops. Main office is more "normal" with a proper network (was hubs when I started). Yep. My boss is NOT Tech savvy. President is cool and on a first-name basis. Unfortunately he gets HIS IT advice from his son-in-law and advises me on tech sometimes. lol. Pay is good and it's a good group of people tho.
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Sep 29, 2016 15:46
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I assume in that case those machines aren't on a domain? So I imagine a lot of SaaS, or do you use something like Citrix?
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Sep 29, 2016 16:02
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larchesdanrew posted:A new job responsibility almost came in. OSHA would like a word.
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Sep 29, 2016 16:03
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