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In Need of Certification seeking Recommendations

Hello Everyone , 

                               I am making this Topic to better understand on  acquiring legitimate professional certifications . Anything ranging from Different Agency and schools to online options for obtaining certifications in the I.T world and tech field. Not seeking College 4 year degrees but some options that can educate me and certify me ,

                                some of the certifications I am looking into are listed below. I would like help understanding others that might be easy to obtain maybe what orders to procure or other helpful certifications , If anything else I want to be able to apply for help desk and I.T positions Networking or repairs . server technician, I understand Pc components and can handle common software and domestic problems people have . I do under the type of work that is required any help is welcome thanks for your time.

 

  •  Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA)
  •   CompTIA A+ Technician
  •   Network+
  •    Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP)
  •      Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE)
  •  
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I think A+ is the bare minimum. 

 

Obviously a degree is the highest regarded but that may not be an option. I forget the IT guys on this forum. @Zando Bob might know some stuff though. 

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A+ is the minimum you'll see in a lot of places.

 

Network+ and Security+ would also be good to have for the kind of job you want.

CCNA isn't a bad option, either.

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MCSE can be good depending on what you want to do. It has many different tracks though. If you want to work with MS servers (read designing AD, changing a few drives does not take much) it is more or less a have to unless you do university studies. That is always better to get a job.

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It's better to get a job instead of a cert, most people with certs are cluesless and fake their way through their careers. If you actually have experience you might learn what to do. The problem is recruiters have no idea how to judge talent so they only look for certs. They have trouble even reading a resume themselves so they resort to an automated software package.

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On 2/3/2019 at 12:54 PM, RAM555789 said:

CompTIA Security + will be what you eventually want to get to move into Administrator, and other IT security positions.

They must have improved difficulty level a lot on that one then :)

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Just now, drinklime said:

It's better to get a job instead of a cert, most people with certs are cluesless and fake their way through their careers. If you actually have experience you might learn what to do. The problem is recruiters have no idea how to judge talent so they only look for certs. They have trouble even reading a resume themselves so they resort to an automated software package.

You are aware that you take the certifications to get a job or because it is demanded by the company you work for right? It is not like you either get a job or a certification :)

 

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My company did not demand it; on the contrary everyone that had a certification was a borderline zombie that could not operate Windows. The worst is Security+ these people have no idea how a modern network operates; they try to change policies that make no sense (change password every 30 days)

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Just now, drinklime said:

My company did not demand it; on the contrary everyone that had a certification was a borderline zombie that could not operate Windows. The worst is Security+ these people have no idea how a modern network operates; they try to change policies that make no sense (change password every 30 days)

Talk about being clueless!

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14 hours ago, drinklime said:

My company did not demand it; on the contrary everyone that had a certification was a borderline zombie that could not operate Windows. The worst is Security+ these people have no idea how a modern network operates; they try to change policies that make no sense (change password every 30 days)

Change password every 30 days is a pretty common trend in security practices, some go even further and force you to have a different password then your last 10 saved passwords, though while Sec + on its own won't teach you how to operate a modern network, combining in CCNA and MCSE will both give you good basics to then land you a good job and from their further expand your knowledge.

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14 hours ago, LinusOnLine said:

They must have improved difficulty level a lot on that one then :)

Yes it is very difficult now and expensive, when I was down in Georgia at Fort Gordon for my AIT training where we learned the basics of computers, CCNA, and security we had the option to go for certifications. If your grades were high enough in class you could go for your Network + certification and if you got through that you could then go for your Security + certification, though you also had to be a Specialist in order to get a wavier and they were SUPER restrictive about in because the fail rate was so high.

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6 minutes ago, RAM555789 said:

Yes it is very difficult now and expensive, when I was down in Georgia at Fort Gordon for my AIT training where we learned the basics of computers, CCNA, and security we had the option to go for certifications. If your grades were high enough in class you could go for your Network + certification and if you got through that you could then go for your Security + certification, though you also had to be a Specialist in order to get a wavier and they were SUPER restrictive about in because the fail rate was so high.

I took it when it came out many years ago and then it was basically the level of knowing what SSL and a firewall did :) Nice to see they have improved it because I really like the idea of CompTIA certifications that are not vendor based. I remember you could wave Networking Essentials on the old NT 4 MCSE for Network+ if you had that. Also CTT+ was a fast track to becoming an MCT. CTT+ is really good since it is both a test and a video of you holding a class that will be judged.

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9 minutes ago, LinusOnLine said:

I took it when it came out many years ago and then it was basically the level of knowing what SSL and a firewall did :) Nice to see they have improved it because I really like the idea of CompTIA certifications that are not vendor based. I remember you could wave Networking Essentials on the old NT 4 MCSE for Network+ if you had that. Also CTT+ was a fast track to becoming an MCT. CTT+ is really good since it is both a test and a video of you holding a class that will be judged.

I know some people in my reserve unit who landed admin jobs (I think there making like 30/hr) just by having that Sec + certification just to give you an idea of how much weight it now holds. 

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18 hours ago, LinusOnLine said:

They must have improved difficulty level a lot on that one then :)

The new 501 is a beast by what current trainiees going through tech school are saying.  At least compare to the previous version of the test.  Though, the previous was nothing to laugh at.  When I went through, the fail rate at the training squadron was about a 40% to 50% depending on the class taking it.

 

3 hours ago, RAM555789 said:

Change password every 30 days is a pretty common trend in security practices, some go even further and force you to have a different password then your last 10 saved passwords, though while Sec + on its own won't teach you how to operate a modern network, combining in CCNA and MCSE will both give you good basics to then land you a good job and from their further expand your knowledge.

Yep, don't know how that is even new to folks.  Thats been standard practice for awhile now.  Actually, the new software on military/gov machines can detect pattern passwords and disallow those.  O boy the faces flight crews and folks where doing when that rolled out.

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On 2/4/2019 at 7:23 PM, drinklime said:

It's better to get a job instead of a cert, most people with certs are cluesless and fake their way through their careers. If you actually have experience you might learn what to do. The problem is recruiters have no idea how to judge talent so they only look for certs. They have trouble even reading a resume themselves so they resort to an automated software package.

I would like to see all of these clueless fakers with a CISSP. 

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They download exams online and share the answers. There's whole Youtube channels dedicated to cheating the exams so many outsourced jobs come to United States based on the  certification. It's an easy way to get a VISA green card H1-B

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17 minutes ago, drinklime said:

They download exams online and share the answers. There's whole Youtube channels dedicated to cheating the exams so many outsourced jobs come to United States based on the  certification. It's an easy way to get a VISA green card H1-B

I have a feeling you haven't taken many certs if any. You can find practice test questions sure, but the exact exam questions is going to be a PITA to find not to mention they have several versions of the tests and they would be in random order.

 

Then you have tests like the CISSP which even if you happened to some how cheat (unlikely) you would still need 5 years of proven experience in the security field to even qualify for the cert.

 

I mean the truth is it would take almost as much time to memorize all the answers as it would to just study and understand the test material. The latter being much more beneficial for everyone involved. Honestly, passing a cert isn't hard if you give yourself a month or three to study up and prepare. Read a book on it, take practice tests online until you are confident you can score 90% or higher and then go take it. 

 

 Now when it comes to certs if you have a degree or experience you can generally pass on the CompTIA stuff as imo they are pretty entry level certs. They can help you get your first few jobs/assignments, but you will out grow them fast.

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