[olug] Which certifications are worthwhile?

[Obi-Wan]

> I've been working on PCs for almost 15 years.  During that time, I've never been required to have any certifications.  However, that's just changed.
> I just accepted a job that wants me to get A+ certified, and they're also paying for Dell certification.  It will be nice to have the pieces of paper that say I'm certified, but it's gotten me wondering which certs have become truly important anymore...

According to the industry rags which periodically publish salary survey
results, Cisco certs are still the most valuable certs to have.  They're
not easy to get, but they make a marked difference in your take home pay.
Red Hat certs are a close second.  Surveys generally report that Windows
certs make little, if any, difference in salary.  They're also much easier
to get, though.

Of course, all of the salary data assumes you're taking a job that will
make use of your new skills.  A Cisco cert wouldn't do you much good in
a SOHO maintenance job.

My opinion is, if you've got a good job that requires you to have a
certain cert, then get it, especially if they're paying for it.  If
you're hoping that some certification will help land a future job,
then stick with Cisco or RHCE (assuming you want that type of job).

> But, anything else that's recommended, or I should at least crack a book open on?

The above was written about earning certs.  Recommending topics to
"crack a book open on" is an entirely different matter.  There are
lots of good skill sets to have that won't cost you enormous amounts
of time and money.

-- 
Ben "Obi-Wan" Hollingsworth                             obiwan at jedi.com
   The stuff of earth competes for the allegiance I owe only to the
     Giver of all good things, so if I stand, let me stand on the
       promise that You will pull me through.  -- Rich Mullins