Getting a gut check from the membership for classes to release this quarter. Which would you attend or know someone that would attend?
0 voters
I don’t need no steenkin’ certification…
You may not, but the younger members could use it to get thier foot in the door.
Certs are a wonderful way to get in the door of an organization and I’ve collected many over the years…
CNA, CNE, MCP, MCP+I, MCSE, CCNA, CCDA, CCNP, CCDP, CCSP, CCIE, Network+, A+, CISSP, and 5 different GIAC certs since 1994.
The CCNA, CCDA, and a train the trainer course are what got my resume noticed at my current employer back in the fall of 2000.
Raymond
While I’ve got a steady job, I wouldn’t mind taking these courses as getting my company to pay for cert training seems to be an impossibility.
For quite some time, I’ve felt that IT certifications on their own do not demonstrate the technical ability of the person. However, in a situation when applying for a job where the person sifting through resumes and the hiring manager are separate groups, having a certification can only help. Obviously if a candidate fits the supplied job requirements exactly, then certifications may not be required, however the candidate must be head and shoulders better than the next candidate with a certificate.
Generally the contractor or hiring process will narrow the field to a handful of candidates. In this culling process, certifications, college degrees, past experience, and how polished the resume looks are common criteria. I have been passed over for all of these reasons at different points in my career, and several times I knew the engineer that was eventually hired. I felt like I was a better engineer, but he got the job anyway.
Just because someone gets a certification, it doesn’t guarantee a job in that field. For example, I’ve known a couple people that went to community college and got their CCNA. Great for them, however they were fed all manner of half truths about the promised land of great CCNA jobs paying close to 6 figures.
I’ve also known several engineers that have never had a certification in their life and can troubleshoot almost as well as TAC. It just depends on the engineers background and mindset. Certifications don’t make an engineer, but they do show some initiative and some level of knowledge.
Most positions I’m trying to fill have zero fully qualified candidates, especially at the rates we pay. But we aren’t looking for entry level skills, and certs are usually just a footnote in my resume review.
Certs will help get past HR review, and help pull you ahead of equal candidates. But I’m looking for how well you think and troubleshoot, over how well you test.
Agreed.
Most of the time, I find someone that says they’re a sysadmin and can barely explain how to remove a computer from the domain. They say that they’re a route/switch guy and they can’t tell the difference between Layer 2 and Layer 3 traffic. I don’t care what certifications you have, if you can’t explain network concepts or processes to get tasks accomplished, it’s not going to go well for you.
On top of that, we haven’t even discussed culture of the company. You may be the most talented engineer the company has ever seen. You’re a hippie with Triple/Quad CCIE, CISSP, JNCIE, but the company is managed by a gun toting good ole boy redneck crew, it’s just not going to work. (Nothing against either stereotypical persona)
Exactly, that’s why I teach at the space. Its not about creating a generation of individuals that know a tool or how to interview and underperform but actually have mold a mind that can evolve with the technology requirements of today’s and tomorrow’s business needs.
After all the current rate of skilled talent in IT that is locally sourced is on a decline:
With these sorts of trends there will be less individuals capable of fulfilling our growing IT needs and larger pressure to further push another one of america’s top paying careers overseas.
Sure these are prep courses being presented but prepping isn’t just to pass the test for a piece of paper but to be able to prove one’s capabilities every time.
I’d invite you and anyone else that reads this thread to vote above, spread the word, and attend the course. If one already has their cert then smashing. I bet you know someone that’s always asking about it or could benefit from the training being presented.
So the majority of you have voted for Security+ and a bit on AWS. This works great with the work with Tensorflow, python classes, and grid computing projects being worked on.
We’ll get the class material together, Lab VM’s, and events up on the calendar. But to prep make sure you have at least a solid intermediate or expert level understanding of Linux command line tools, TCP/IP Networking, bash scripting, python scripting plus the following books on hand:
This course will not teach one to hack for profit but teaches advanced principles for securing IT networks, identifying and managing security risks, and plugging holes in IT networks before malicious agents discover them. We will cover topics from vulnerabilities to penetration testing, this training gauges and prepares students to mitigate network attacks and vulnerabilities. The courses will cover the technical skills and knowledge for students to engineer and design secure solutions across advanced enterprise environments.
Structure to expect:
Naturally the course will be available to all to sign up, however given the subject material and available time for the course seating will be limited.
Reply to this thread when it goes live. I do this stuff for a living, but I’m always open to new ideas.
If you’re a member of the Vintage Computer Committee Patreon then you’ll be the first to know before we post onto the calendar and social media.
