[PLUG] What certifications to take?

Cryptomonkeys.org louisk at cryptomonkeys.org
Tue Jan 17 04:54:58 UTC 2017


> On Jan 15, 2017, at 3:43 PM, Rich Shepard <rshepard at appl-ecosys.com> wrote:
> 
> On Sun, 15 Jan 2017, Chuck Hast wrote:
> 
>> In my field service work, I have machines that have routers and switches on
>> them, and in many cases I end up working with the customer IT people to get
>> the things on line. Now I am back looking for a job again and many of them
>> indicate that IT certs are "good to have".
> 
> Chuck,
> 
>   I'm not a computer professional (hardware, software, networking, etc. as
> my posts here consistently demonstrate), but I have run a sole-practitioner
> consultancy for more than two decades and suggest that my perspective might
> have value for you, Mike, and others in the same position.
> 
>   The bottom line in job seeking (whether as employee or consultant) is what
> value you bring to the company. They don't care about us, only what we can
> do for them.
> 
I think it might be worth thinking about this as perceived value. Everybody has perceived value to the company. In theory, your compensation is directly related to the value you provide the company, but in practice, its more weighted towards perceived value. Yes, you can always point to somebody you think is worth less (space in there for a reason). In my experience, it takes a very talented person to convince a group of people they are worth something when they aren’t. Its not always easy to see someones value, and it may not always be there to see. Depends on when and how you’re looking.

>   For someone starting out various computer certifications might be useful,
> but when HR (or a potential boss) suggests that canned IT certs are "good to
> have" it should be a red flag that they are not the company for you. My
> analogy is that teaching someone how to use a word processor does not make
> her a writer. Having a cert does not provide any useful information on what
> you can do with it.
> 
Ideally, this is true. My experience (both being hired, and hiring), as some others have alluded to, is more along the lines of the measuring stick notion. If you try to treat everybody as a unique sample and determine a way to test each person, you would never get any “work” done. In the beginning, there must be a way to provide a general measurement to determine if somebody is worth investigating further. A college degree is an example of that. Relevant certifications can be examples of this as well. Just as a college degree doesn’t mean you will be good at your job, neither does a certification. You could be one of those rare people who test well but have low practical aptitude. The measuring stick may not be the best way to determine someones skill-set. What it does provide is an easy way to check a box that makes it easier to get a conversation. The conversation is what you want. The conversation is how you get the chance to convince the other person that not only are you smart, skilled, clever, etc, its how you sell them on your value to the company. How will you solve the problem(s) they have, and make them money (directly via sales? indirectly via supporting people developing a product? convincing people they want to buy a product?). This is also why its important to know something about the company where you wish to work. If you aren’t familiar with the company, what their products are, what the market space is, you’re left at guessing what problems they’re trying to solve, or why they should hire you.

>   A very powerful job seeking approach is to make a bulleted list of your
> major achievements. For example, as you write above you've provided the
> expertise and knowledge to get things on line when the IT folks could not do
> it without you. That has nothing to do with having passed a course and
> received a certificate. I'm sure that all of you with more than 5 years
> experience can make an impressive list of the value you've achieved for
> employers, customers, clients, whomever.
> 
I would suggest phrasing this as english about how you solved a problem. Perhaps you reduced the time required by QA to test a product from 3hrs to 30m. Perhaps you upgraded a network for a collection of servers, allowing a 10x increase in transactions to be completed. Again, show how you’re solving problems. You want the person reading it to want you as part of the team because you will solve their problems.

--
Louis Kowolowski                                louisk at cryptomonkeys.org
Cryptomonkeys:                                   http://www.cryptomonkeys.com/

Making life more interesting for people since 1977

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