Getting Certified (is it worth it)?

Post Reply New Topic

Hello, my dad is pressuring me to be certified with CompTIA Security+, A+, and Network+. This summer I am reading the book with CompTIA Security+ and plan to take it before school. One has to get 80% or higher on the exam to be certified. They also do not allow accommodations, so I would be screwed.

The exam costs $266 dollars to take and is only good for three years after I take it. I just do not think it is worth it. It is money I really do not want to give up.

I would rather learn the concepts in the book and do the exercises, apply them, video tape or portfolio my applications on my student website, and use that to convince potential employers. I think that would speak volumes more than just a certification. Yet maybe I am hoping for too much.

Would a certified person gain more preference over someone who is not certified? I do not want to end up with a worthless certificate.

for what it's worth, i am the sole systems admin of a network with fibre, SAN, and internet, *nix windows etc... over 100 machines, and before that I was in charge of over 300 machines on an even larger network (where i wasn't the only IT person).

i have never taken a course or been certified for any of it.


so it all depends on the people hiring you I guess.

i look into certification once, and decided it was mostly a scam to get money.
since you usually have to take them every year to keep "up to date"

your milage may vary

Everything tundra said...
I have a similar, entirely self-trained IT background/experience. Prior to IT I had a career in electronics - likewise self-trained.
Mind you, both subjects are intensely special interests so maybe that's the trick.

It does depend a lot on the employer - the certificate may get you past the screening for big companies, whereas somewhere small and local will care a lot more whether they know someone who'll recommend you. Actually, the big ones may care more about that too.

I have a few certificates, but none of them have ever made a difference that I've noticed.

The way i see it, a Certification is like a "Stamp of Aproval", a proof that you in fact know what you're talking aobut. A Certification is worth nothing if you dont know how to work with the field you're certified in. And as said above, recommendations and experience in the field will probably weight more than a Certificate

No nonsense: if you can get the $, take the certification exam. Period.

Even if you don't pass, you'll still be able to reference what taking it is like with job interviewers.

And yes, as everyone above has noted, the certification itself isn't worth a whole lot for performing your job. (But reading the book is, as you've already mentioned.) What matters is whether you get the job; certification can never hurt your chances.

A certification will get you in the door at a lot of places, experience is what will keep you there.

A+ is really lame. Its for people who know nothing about computers.

Go for CCNA - much better and will give you a good grounding in networking.

In Australia, the IT market is saturated with "international students" (aka indians) that all have certificates left right and centre, but no actual skills. (if you ask them to how to set up a DHCP server, they have no idea). certificates aren't always the open door that everyone thinks they are......

That's exactly my experience with several people who are, on paper, very knowledgeable.
Apparently their certification simply trained them to cough up the correct answers, because it sure as hell didn't teach them anything about application or use - and worse, they thought the certification was the only thing required and they'd never bothered to gain any practical experience.