Computer certs... who has'em?

[valgalder]

we have a new big client that heavily uses SAP, and I know next to nothing about it. I figure if I can become certified in this, i could easily move up the ranks because our company has almost nobody that knows about it either. Anybody have any experience, if it's worth getting, or how hard are the exams? Just doing some research now...

What other certs do you have? Don't care about A+ or Network+ bullshit.. that's a waste of time. Anybody have any Microsoft certs? MSCS, Cisco?

[soiled depends]

I only have computer tick tacs...

[jakebonz]

I'm CompTIA Security+ Certified. All that does for me is make me extremely paranoid about the Internet...that, and an excuse to learn how to hack things.

[Zerohero]

spanish captions for the hearing retarded??

[milkmandan]

I'm CompTIA Security+ Certified. All that does for me is make me extremely paranoid about the Internet...that, and an excuse to learn how to hack things.

Do you get to do any penetration testing where you work?

[riley-o]

I only have computer tick tacs...

[ThePhillyExperiment]

Got a couple. I'm certified in sexy and astral projection.

[Songs of Love and Hate]

Does anyone have any place to recommend using to get computer certs? What are some of the better ones to get? I feel I should better myself.

[milkmandan]

What are some of the better ones to get?

The ones your company pays for

[jakebonz]

I'm CompTIA Security+ Certified. All that does for me is make me extremely paranoid about the Internet...that, and an excuse to learn how to hack things.

Do you get to do any penetration testing where you work?

I've unfortunately never had to do any sort of network security stuff outside of my own home network. I have also tried to lobby for stronger website security with regards to user profiles and logins, but the people I've had the "pleasure" of working with don't really grasp the concept of strong passwords that require changing on a regular basis. I do my best to prevent SQL injection attacks, but it's hard to secure someone when they demand the ability to make their password "password".

But for fun, I've been known to use my PSP to break into unsecured wireless networks and change all of the settings just to be a dick, but nothing bad enough that a router reset can't fix. The PSP is a vastly underestimated hacking tool IMHO.

[copstache]

i got a number of them back before i changed fields (IT is awful), they didn't really do much for me but i didn't pay for them either. so, take all the free (sponsored) ones you can get but don't spend your own money on it.

[valgalder]

What are some of the better ones to get?

The ones your company pays for

My company will pay for any and all that I want... obviously I just have to spend the time and study up..

There is a network drive at work that has a plethora of pc cert / training, practice tests, etc. I know there's a bunch of CBT Nuggets, Testouts, etc. i'll have to look through them. Don't think I saw anybody on SAP though.. will have to torrent some of them and take a look at them.

[cibola]

For the most part from what I have seen, certs don't mean much to most people when you are looking for a job or looking to move up in the company. Mostly what people care about is that you have the knowledge, or can demonstrate the ability to learn. I have some certs, but they have never factored in my ability to get a job or move up. My work will pay for some certs which I might start taking advantage of.

[valgalder]

For the most part from what I have seen, certs don't mean much to most people when you are looking for a job or looking to move up in the company. Mostly what people care about is that you have the knowledge, or can demonstrate the ability to learn. I have some certs, but they have never factored in my ability to get a job or move up. My work will pay for some certs which I might start taking advantage of.

Sure, it definitely depends. My company will pay you more just for having the certs, and plus it makes it easier to move around a bit more.. I've seen some companies that also don't care, as long as you said, have the knowledge.

[cibola]

For the most part from what I have seen, certs don't mean much to most people when you are looking for a job or looking to move up in the company. Mostly what people care about is that you have the knowledge, or can demonstrate the ability to learn. I have some certs, but they have never factored in my ability to get a job or move up. My work will pay for some certs which I might start taking advantage of.

Sure, it definitely depends. My company will pay you more just for having the certs, and plus it makes it easier to move around a bit more.. I've seen some companies that also don't care, as long as you said, have the knowledge.

If they will pay you more just for having them, then sounds like a solid idea.

[Gookstorm]

I've only heard that places that require you to have certs are places you probably wouldn't want certs. I got A+ Certification when I was 16. It qualifies me to work at Best Buy in the back shop maybe.

There's not many I'd ever consider, mostly ITIL, CISSP, VMWare Certified Professional, Sun Certified Java Programmer, Six Sigma, and that's about it.

Only time I was considering getting certs for promotions / pay at a job was because of customer perception or something. Even then, my employer was such a fucking cheapass they refused to pay for the cert, yet they were asking me to get it to help make the product look more legit (it was legit, again perception). Fuckers. Got a new job and got a 50% raise plus tons of bonuses, so you don't need certs to get far, but if you think of it as a substitute for a degree when you've already demonstrated you're not retarded, you're on the right track.

SAP and Siebel were worth getting certs in maybe 3 years ago. I'd recommend virtualization related certs mostly these days because I expect that to be the only growth area of IT for a while.

I do my best to prevent SQL injection attacks, but it's hard to secure someone when they demand the ability to make their password "password"

Password salting makes it far, far, far harder to break passwords in case of a break-in on the backend. Also, two-factor authentication (see: Blizzard authenticators) will make sure even the most retarded passwords don't get broken. Of course, 2-factor isn't exactly cheap to do at a policy nor implementation level, so it's not exactly going to be a go-to or turn-key solution.

[milkmandan]

ugggh ITIL

[Charles Schulzerie]

I almost have my CCNA (This is my second time through the program at my college) and A+ (My knowledge is way past the basic hardware/OS the test requires, I just haven't taken it) which comcast said I'd get the job if I had them, but of course, they didn't like me so their excuse to not hiring me was not having enough sales experience. (BULLSHIT) The guy that did the first part of my interview focusing on the hardware aspect of the job even told me I passed with flying colors.

I'll agree that a lot of certs don't matter when moving up in a company, unless that company is Cisco.

[Gookstorm]

ugggh ITIL

Have you SEEN what you can charge to be an ITIL consultant? I'll gladly take $200 / hr for a boring test with lots of memorization and little thinking required, thank you very much. Combine that with Six Sigma black belt certification and you'll never have to do any actual work but get paid like a lower tier exec for life. Holy shit it'd be boring, but that's the point of the paychecks - to make up for how boring your job is with fancy toys and lavish luxuries.

[milkmandan]

ugggh ITIL

Have you SEEN what you can charge to be an ITIL consultant? I'll gladly take $200 / hr for a boring test with lots of memorization and little thinking required, thank you very much. Combine that with Six Sigma black belt certification and you'll never have to do any actual work but get paid like a lower tier exec for life. Holy shit it'd be boring, but that's the point of the paychecks - to make up for how boring your job is with fancy toys and lavish luxuries.

Yes, but I've also SEEN how much my company pays for PeopleSoft consulants, Oracle consulants, performance tuning consultants, etc. $200 an hour can be had in many MUCH more interesting areas of IT, IMO.

Last year our dept had some leftover credits available w/ a training company, and so my director nominated me to join a few others in a week long ITIL bootcamp. It had absolutely nothing to do with my area of expertise, and was the most boring thing I have EVER sat through.

[delmuerte]

Most people I interviewed at my last job with certs had exactly fuck-all knowledge about anything practical whatsoever. Just throwing that out there.

[Charles Schulzerie]

Most people I interviewed at my last job with certs had exactly fuck-all knowledge about anything practical whatsoever. Just throwing that out there.

What do you do for a living?

[cibola]

Most people I interviewed at my last job with certs had exactly fuck-all knowledge about anything practical whatsoever. Just throwing that out there.

I come across that quite a bit. They seem to have an MCITP, but can't tell you how to promote a domain controller.

[delmuerte]

Junior sysadmin, more or less. I work in the NOC at Dreamhost.com.

Most people I interviewed at my last job with certs had exactly fuck-all knowledge about anything practical whatsoever. Just throwing that out there.

What do you do for a living?

[doomeddisciple]

ITIL cert and a couple of non descript things.

SAP is good for Australia as we have heaps of government departments with SAP that has been the bread and butter for many friends.

I suggest getting into project management roles if you have IT skills. PM's make more moeny than any of the code monkey's around here.