Actually how useful are Microsoft, Cisco etc. certificates?

[Tomek20225]

Hi, guys!
I'm having a lot of trouble picking my high school. I choose between one technical school that is closer to me and one that is far away, but is far better than the first one (or at least it is known as such).
The second one's main advantage is possibility of gaining Microsoft IT certificates + Cisco etc., while the first one only offers profession exams.
So I'm here to ask - are these certificates useful or important? I'm not saying that I'm lazy or dumb, a third of my grades at school are As with Bs covering the rest + I love to learn new things, so I would be able to pull through that school with passing exams with good marks easily. Even though I'm Polish you can see that I find English pretty easy, so I would be able to work abroad. It's just that why would I need to learn more and wake up earlier if it gives me nothing in my adult life?
If any of you has certificates like this or has experience with these things then please, let me know. It's very important to me and I have to make my final decision in 2-3 weeks.
If that helps, then I'll probably pick an IT class, because I love these types of stuff and I'm interested in it. Electronics are far better pick, but I simply don't enjoy it as much, even though it would be much more interesting.

Thanks in advance!
Thomas

[DXMember]

get a degree first

worry about certificates during your internship and after that let the company you're working for worry about the damn certificates

[samcool55]

Just an FYI, i'm going for a cisco certificate and such thing has an expiration date. Just keep that in mind.

It's a nice bonus if you want to manage an infrastructure, but as said degree first, certificates later.

Maybe you pick up some certificates on your way to a degree like me

[Lurick]

A degree without actual hands on classes will do nothing to teach you how something really works. You don't need certs but you damn sure need to know how to configure something when its placed in front of you. You don't need to know everything but the basics will get you much further in an interview than just saying "well I read about how to configure it once". I would suggest at least going for the basic ones while you get your degree.

[Denned]

At least for Cisco, they could be a huge benefit. Even if it's just a CCNA, it could be the advantage that gives you the job. And if you get the next one, which is CCNP then it should somewhat high chances that you'll be needed in quite a few positions. And after CCNP there's CCIE which normally limits the field quite a bit in terms of who can afford to pay you salary. It'll mostly be ISP's and as a consultant. In theory you're just 3 certifications away from getting at least $100.000 a year. (Spoiler: It's not easy)

CCNA and CCNP certificates needs to be renewed every 3 years. So it will always be relevant, meaning that you should have the knowledge about newest technologies.

 

At least for MS certs, I feel like it's very dependent on what you want to achieve. I know of people who to this day still talk about their Office 2003 and Windows NT certifications.

 

 

[The_Stealthy_Shadow]

3 minutes ago, samcool55 said:

Just an FYI, i'm going for a cisco certificate and such thing has an expiration date. Just keep that in mind.

It's a nice bonus if you want to manage an infrastructure, but as said degree first, certificates later.

Maybe you pick up some certificates on your way to a degree like me

Meh! Lel followed signature

[Tomek20225]

Huge thanks guys!
It's just that you can get Microsoft certificate only in that school in the region and you have to be it's student. I'm not sure about the others, but it's very good to know that they may have an expiration date.
That's also the point - in the technical school you pass profession exams, which prove that you're a technician. Technically, those should be enough to get a job right after school, while guys from ordinary high schools would have to study or go to college. Microsoft and Cisco exams should be even more helpful when looking for one.
So here's another question - even with these certificates, which are very rare in Poland, I would have to still go to college in order to find a decent job? If yes, then there's no point in making those at school, except the fact that they'll prepare you for it?

[Lurick]

2 minutes ago, Tomek20225 said:

Huge thanks guys!
It's just that you can get Microsoft certificate only in that school in the region and you have to be it's student. I'm not sure about the others, but it's very good to know that they may have an expiration date.
That's also the point - in the technical school you pass profession exams, which prove that you're a technician. Technically, those should be enough to get a job right after school, while guys from ordinary high schools would have to study or go to college. Microsoft and Cisco exams should be even more helpful when looking for one.
So here's another question - even with these certificates, which are very rare in Poland, I would have to still go to college in order to find a decent job? If yes, then there's no point in making those at school, except the fact that they'll prepare you for it?

 

I thought you were in college, almost all places will want you to either have a 4 year degree or a 2 year degree + some certs or experience. Get some experience while in high school, start work on an entry level Microsoft cert and your CCENT at the least.

[Tomek20225]

1 minute ago, Lurick said:

 

I thought you were in college, almost all places will want you to either have a 4 year degree or a 2 year degree + some certs or experience. Get some experience while in high school, start work on an entry level Microsoft cert and your CCENT at the least.

I'm not certain how it works in other parts of the globe, but in Poland it looks like this:
You go to school when you're 6.
Then you have to pass 6 years of elementary school.
Then there are 3 years of secondary school.
And here's the point where you have to make important decisions in your life, at which I am at the moment:
You can choose between ordinary high school, technical school and vocational school.
Ordinary high schools are typical for humanists. You can't get any certificates there, so it's obligatory to go study right after ending it. The class that you pick only affects how many hours of a specific subject you'll get more or expanded. Most of the teenagers go to these types of schools. These are also just 3 years.
Technical schools are the best in my opinion. They're 4 years, but you can gain certificates proving that you're a qualified technician, which means you can go to work right after it. Also ordinary subjects are reduced in order to have more room for those that teach you a specific profession.
Vocational schools scrap all the ordinary subjects to learn you only what you need to do your profession. If you visit any of these, you'll see that at least 70% of students are dumb or haven't passed some classes in elementary or secondary school. These are 3 years.

I'm interested in two technical schools: one that is close, and the other one, where I can get certificates (in the first one there aren't many participants to get these, I don't know why). I can only get Microsoft certificates in the second one, not only because the first one is lazy, but also because it's one of 12 in whole Poland that Microsoft patronize. That's why I can't get it anywhere else.
My original question was whether is it even important, because I don't want to waste my free time for hours of traveling in order to get something that isn't even useful.
The rest of the exams I can take on studies, but in this specific school they'll prepare me for these.

[Lurick]

1 minute ago, Tomek20225 said:

I'm not certain how it works in other parts of the globe, but in Poland it looks like this:
You go to school when you're 6.
Then you have to pass 6 years of elementary school.
Then there are 3 years of secondary school.
And here's the point where you have to make important decisions in your life, at which I am at the moment:
You can choose between ordinary high school, technical school and vocational school.
Ordinary high schools are typical for humanists. You can't get any certificates there, so it's obligatory to go study right after ending it. The class that you pick only affects how many hours of a specific subject you'll get more or expanded. Most of the teenagers go to these types of schools. These are also just 3 years.
Technical schools are the best in my opinion. They're 4 years, but you can gain certificates proving that you're a qualified technician, which means you can go to work right after it. Also ordinary subjects are reduced in order to have more room for those that teach you a specific profession.
Vocational schools scrap all the ordinary subjects to learn you only what you need to do your profession. If you visit any of these, you'll see that at least 70% of students are dumb or haven't passed some classes in elementary or secondary school. These are 3 years.

I'm interested in two technical schools: one that is close, and the other one, where I can get certificates (in the first one there aren't many participants to get these, I don't know why). I can only get Microsoft certificates in the second one, not only because the first one is lazy, but also because it's one of 12 in whole Poland that Microsoft patronize. That's why I can't get it anywhere else.
My original question was whether is it even important, because I don't want to waste my free time for hours of traveling in order to get something that isn't even useful.
The rest of the exams I can take on studies, but in this specific school they'll prepare me for these.

Ok, that makes sense then. So you're basically going for what is the equivalent of a 2 year degree here in the states (aka. an Associates Degree) where you get the general knowledge but take classes that specialize in the career path you're interested in. In that case I would say coming out with some certs is better than coming out with no certs since it shows you can take the knowledge you learned and apply it to some extent which shows employers they can teach you and mold you but don't need to focus as much on the basics.

 

Depending on what you really want to do or are interested in I would go for the Microsoft certs and at least the CCNA which can be taken in two parts as you learn more about networking you can take each part of the test, unless you like trying to learn it all and then just take a single test.

[SImoHayha]

Well last month our school had a career fair. And he said EXPERIENCE IS What gets people hired. And getting CISCO is a must because it offers real life situations as having to 2 days to fix a server that isn't working and get it back up to normal usage and such.

[Tomek20225]

2 minutes ago, Lurick said:

Ok, that makes sense then. So you're basically going for what is the equivalent of a 2 year degree here in the states (aka. an Associates Degree) where you get the general knowledge but take classes that specialize in the career path you're interested in. In that case I would say coming out with some certs is better than coming out with no certs since it shows you can take the knowledge you learned and apply it to some extent which shows employers they can teach you and mold you but don't need to focus as much on the basics.

 

Depending on what you really want to do or are interested in I would go for the Microsoft certs and at least the CCNA which can be taken in two parts as you learn more about networking you can take each part of the test, unless you like trying to learn it all and then just take a single test.

I've no clue how everything works yet, since I'm not in these schools yet and I don't have much contact with older friends.
I'm sure that profession/technician exams are divided between years, but levels of specific certificates are probably taken one by one, if you're even willing to do these. These are quite hard and expensive and you can't take them everywhere. I'm also not sure which specific branch of IT I should go for, because I like to do everything. At the moment overall networking and writing drivers seems the coolest to me.
Ok, so now understand everything, but could you please explain to me how it works in states? You just made me curious, that's all!
 

So, long story short - CISCO is a must for finding a good job very quickly and Microsoft's isn't that important when I don't want to work in Microsoft, but it may be useful when looking for a job?

[Lurick]

5 minutes ago, Tomek20225 said:

I've no clue how everything works yet, since I'm not in these schools yet and I don't have much contact with older friends.
I'm sure that profession/technician exams are divided between years, but levels of specific certificates are probably taken one by one, if you're even willing to do these. These are quite hard and expensive and you can't take them everywhere. I'm also not sure which specific branch of IT I should go for, because I like to do everything. At the moment overall networking and writing drivers seems the coolest to me.
Ok, so now understand everything, but could you please explain to me how it works in states? You just made me curious, that's all!
 

So, long story short - CISCO is a must for finding a good job very quickly and Microsoft's isn't that important when I don't want to work in Microsoft, but it may be useful when looking for a job?

If you're interested in the networking field then yah a Cisco cert will pretty much be required unless you're working at a startup or small company where you'll be the all hats network guy but spend a lot of time dealing with Microsoft products.

 

In the states it works similar but different. Like this:

5 years of elementary school, you learn the basics of reading, writing, etc.

3 years of middle school, same but more advanced and things can branch a little bit between normal and harder classes.

4 years of high school, same as before but you have electives which can teach you some basics about the real world.

 

Then its either straight to work, 2 years of college, or 4+ years of college for your different degrees. An Associates is focused more on technical knowledge and application whereas a 4 year degree can focus a little on that but tends to be theory and minimal hands on unless you pay out the ass for schools that may or may not matter (aka Devry) where they say you'll learn X but really you can come out knowing almost nothing and then have spent $50k+ for a worthless degree and no job.