[c-nsp] Cisco Certifications

[Ted Mittelstaedt]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: cisco-nsp-bounces at puck.nether.net
> [mailto:cisco-nsp-bounces at puck.nether.net]On Behalf Of Kim Onnel
> Sent: Saturday, January 22, 2005 4:23 AM
> To: cisco-nsp at puck.nether.net
> Subject: [c-nsp] Cisco Certifications
>
>
> Hi,
>
> I'm new to the ISP/networking business here, and there is this weird
> concept that i dont get around the scene here,
>
> Your resume will look ugly if it doesnt have any certs.

No, it will look ugly if you don't know how to write a resume, nor how
to spell.

> But if it does, instantly the other party will think, well son, you
> seem to have certs and thats fine, but that is not counted compared to
> practical real experience boy,
>

Depends on what they are looking for.

> I'm sure y'all look at resumes alot, and do alot of hiring, i'd like
> to know how you guys weight Certs when they look at someones resumes,
> and how do they weight practical experience,...
>

Depends on the context that the cert was obtained.

Personally I have a lot of respect for someone who goes and gets a cert
of
any kind.  I don't particularly have a lot of respect or expectation for
the certs themselves.

You have to understand that companies create cert programs primariarly as
a tool to sell product.  Cisco is much more interested in cert candidates
knowing all of the new funky bells and whistles in their product than
they
are in cert candidates knowing how to configure a Cisco device running
IOS
9.x that's on an internal card in some old Synoptics or Cabletron hub, or
INDX node.  In the real world though, you may need to know how to do
that.

Microsoft isn't any better nor are any other vendors.

Having a cert or certs is only one more clue about the type of candidate
that I'm interviewing.  It mainly shows the candidate isn't completely
lazy and expecting that everything is going to be handed to him on a
silver platter.  But the lack of any certs at all isn't particularly a
bad thing.
It could show if the candidate has been working elsewhere that he's been
too busy to get them - which might mean that the previous employer
really depended on him to be doing a lot of things.

Now, with this in mind you have to be aware that as a general rule things
work differently with small and large companies and hiring.

With a small company the hiring process is generally very short.
Candidates
quite often interview with their bosses right out of the box.  The need
for a long pedegree isn't that important except that without the pedegree
and without the experience you are going to be offered a lot less money
if they think you can do the job.

With a big company you almost always have several layers of 'flappers'
who in the words of my sales manager, 'can't help you, but
can hurt you' ie: people who offer nothing whatsover to the hiring
process
except obstructionism.  Mostly these people are there to prevent
total time-wasters, such as the candidates who are on unemployment and
are just coming in to interview so they can tell the unemployment
people that they interviewed at some place, and really don't want a
job there.  Unfortunately these flappers
generally tremendously overestimate their own importance to the hiring
process, and my experience is frequently reject perfectly usable
candidates based on things like missing certs, degrees, etc.

So what it boils down to is there's no free lunch.  If you say to hell
with it I'll just shoot for gaining a job with no experience and no
certs, then you probably should write off even an attempt to apply at a
large company, and stick with applying at small companies, and accept
that
your going to have to take a lower wage for several years.  If you gain
the cert and have no experience then that opens the door to a larger
company
and probably better benefits, although still not that high a wage.  And
for someone new to the industry, it is highly advisable that you put in
a few years working for a large company, because frankly once you get
really
skilled and good at your job, your probably not going to be willing to
put up with the political bullcrap of a large company, and end up working
for a smaller company at a much better environment, and better salary.
And the experience at working at a large company is invaluable because
until you have done it, you will not understand why many of the things
exist in networking products.

Ted