Are Certifications A Good Investment?
<div class="IPBDescription">Unique situation.</div> A little background before you answer my question:
My father is VP of business growth for <a href='http://allwayson.net' target='_blank'>Allways On Wireless</a> and wants to hire me for a position at some point. However, he wants some little piece of paper that somewhat qualifies me for a position. He doesn't want to just "hire his kid," ya know?
Basically, I would be installing, setting up, and troubleshooting large wireless networks. They basically put up one antennae and "light up" up to a 5 mile radius (the usual is 1/4 mile to a mile).
I was looking for some real opinions on the usefulness and applicability of two certifications:
A+
Network+
I know that A+ isn't focused on networking, but I believe it would be better to have two certs instead of one.
My father is VP of business growth for <a href='http://allwayson.net' target='_blank'>Allways On Wireless</a> and wants to hire me for a position at some point. However, he wants some little piece of paper that somewhat qualifies me for a position. He doesn't want to just "hire his kid," ya know?
Basically, I would be installing, setting up, and troubleshooting large wireless networks. They basically put up one antennae and "light up" up to a 5 mile radius (the usual is 1/4 mile to a mile).
I was looking for some real opinions on the usefulness and applicability of two certifications:
A+
Network+
I know that A+ isn't focused on networking, but I believe it would be better to have two certs instead of one.
Comments
I do have this question for you, do you really want to follow in your fathers footsteps in his business or pursue your own dreams?
Anyway, the Network+ cert is, imho, useless as well. It does not go over as much as the CCNA, and doesn't look as good on a resume as a CCNA (if that's what you're going for (ie the entry on your resume)).
I just hate the entire idea of certifications. It usually doesn't gague what a person actually know about the topic, it just simply demonstrates that some monkey with a tamborine could've crammed the night before, passed, and gotten the same certification as someone who actually knows his **** about the topic.
So yeah. If you're going into networking, and having some sort of "official" mark on your resume is a must, you should probably look at taking the CCNA exam. After you get some experience in the field, start taking other certifications that build off of your expierence (ie the CISSP).
if you know what you're doing already and you don't need a certification, just prove it to your father somehow. show him what you can do. he can consider it an 'interview'. :> then maybe he'll give you the job without any piece of paper saying you know what you already do know...
if you're just gonna be installing giant antennas, you probably don't need to know anything they won't teach you anyway...
He just wants me to have a better "background" before he hires me. He doesn't want me to be "Stu's kid" to everyone else.
So, in this situation, would it be worthwhile to spend a few hundred bucks and get a Cert or two?
Dont be affiliated with your dad at work, keep it formal and no one ever has to know that you are related.
The certs do look good on a resume, but dont really mean much learning. they will help get further jobs at larger businesses who have too many applicants to bother reading the 'unqualified' resumes.
On the other hand I'm also taking a CISCO class. I'm about half way done and I've learned a lot of useful stuff about networks. If your going to get a cert take get a CISCO cert.
Also, just to clear up any misconceptions, I have alot of dreams and goals in life, and working for my dad for a few years is just a stepping stone to greater things. I work full time at a grocery store right now. Working for my dad gives me everything that my current job doesn't: flexibility, better income, and travel.
Right now, I work 40-50 hours per week ordering an aisle and stocking shelves while getting yelled at for everything stupid under the sun. Nothing's ever fast enough, straight enough, full enough, etc. I'm not griping here; I'm just simply saying that my job sucks the life out of me and that I'm not going anywhere with it. I net only between 18k-19k per year. If I worked my butt off for like 5-6 years straight, I might get "promoted" to Class 50 (Head Clerk, Management's B1tch), which is $13.50 an hour starting, bigger bonuses, minimum 45 hours per week, if not 50, 2 nights closing, etc, etc. That's a crappy deal. I could, in theory, work my way up to Store Manager (Net 90K per year or so) or maybe even Grocery Supervisor (probably $150k-200k) over a 40 year period, but I don't believe that it's worth it. You see, by the Class 50 point, you're hooked in.
As you can clearly see, working for my dad's a much better proposition for me, both short term and long term.
1) Certifications are mostly worthless. In fact, sometimes it can gurantee they won't hire you. I know of some places that will almost always dismiss from their consideration people who list dumb certifications on their resumes because of their experience with people who are certified but still don't know what they're doing.
2) You can be the most qualified person on earth, but you're still gonna be "the boss's son". That said, working there will be better than the grocery store any day of the week. Just don't be a **** and be like "omg i will get u fired" and you'll be fine.
3) Don't think that just because you've set up a LAN or two that you're prepared to create and maintain a large corporate network. It is loads more complicated when you gotta deal w/ VPNs and PIX's and etc. And since it looks like you're more on the ISP side of things here, that makes things even more complicated. You haven't said much about your skillset, so don't take this the wrong way if you really do know what you're doing.