Certification - November 2008 - (Page 32)

VIRTUAL VILLAGE Career Guidance, Please! DEANNA hARTLEY With the New Year imminent, those who make resolutions are beginning to reflect, and assess what needs improving. Members of the CertMag community have been soliciting suggestions for career paths and certification recommendations. Over in the Careers forum, CertMag member Sam from the United Arab Emirates has a bachelor’s degree in computer science with a major in software development and a year’s experience at an IT consulting company as an assistant to the project manager. Having had no luck with his job search during the past few months, Sam wonders if obtaining certifications would increase his chances of getting some hits. He is looking to the CertMag community for advice on which certifications to pursue. “What do employers look for?” Sam asked. “[I’m] mostly interested in security, followed by project management and then Web design; so what certifications from the aforementioned [areas] are targeted at entry-level?” Senior member Ken Wagner offered his advice. “Every country has [its] own views,” he said. “I can say that from a general perspective, as an IT manager who also sits on interview panels, what I look for in a candidate is a good base of education — academic, vocational and/or professional — experience and personality.” Ken Wagner referred to Sam’s three choices within the IT field — security, project management and Web design — and noted how disparate they were. “I would recommend concentrating on one field. Otherwise you may spread yourself too thin — [becoming] a jack of all trades, master of none,” he said. He also suggested a few certifications in each field: “An entry-level certificate for the security field would be the CompTIA Security+ [but] please be aware that even though it’s an entry-level cert for that field, it isn’t an entry-level cert for the IT industry,” Ken Wagner said. “An entry-level certification for project management would be the CompTIA Project+, and take a look at CIW [Certified Internet Web Professional] certifications. You may also want to check out [the Web site] W3Schools. com for basic tutorials and certifications.” Ken Wagner noted that even though obtaining certain certifications will improve one’s job prospects, it 2 CERTIFICATION MAGAZINE November 2008 won’t guarantee a job, nor is it a substitute for experience. “Remember [that] professional certifications should reflect your job roles and responsibilities,” he said. “Pick a field in IT that you want to go down and then shape your career from there. Please take note that two months of hearing nothing is really nothing. It took me five years to get into IT; just be patient.” Sam decided to take Ken Wagner’s advice and returned to the forums with a specific career path in mind: IT security. “I have been advised to first get the CompTIA A+ and Network+ certificates before going for the Security+ certification,” Sam said. “I am hoping that getting the A+ certificate will improve my chances of maybe getting into an IT support role and I can continue to [work] towards the others while gaining some sort of tech-y experience.” Sam then wanted additional feedback. “Security+ is a non-vendor certification and is the first step in the security certifications; what are the next steps?” Sam asked. “I have heard of vendorspecific certifications — for example, the Cisco and Microsoft ones. Is there any way to remain neutral or http://certification.comptia.org/a/default.aspx http://network.certmag.com/forum/topic/show?id=2210502%3ATopic%3A2426 http://certification.comptia.org/network/ http://www.cisco.com/web/learning/le3/le2/le37/le54/learning_certification_type_home.html http://www.microsoft.com/learning/highlights/security.mspx http://certification.comptia.org/security/ http://certification.comptia.org/project/ http://www.ciwcertified.com/ http://www.w3schools.com/ http://www.w3schools.com/

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Certification - November 2008 Editor's Letter Contents Tech Careers Dear Techie Virtual Village Data Stream Academic Connection Troubleshooting What We Like Look Ahead The Gender Gap: IT Lacks a Woman’s Touch IT for Free: Volunteering Today Interface Technical Architect: Learning, Growing, Innovating Inside Certification Endtag Ad Index

Certification - November 2008

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