Self investment
- Thread starter Miguel554
- Start date
jstolaruk
Lifetime Supporting Member
If I was an IT guy, probably.
By the time I realized certificates were useless and basically a waste of paper I had to throw away over 100 of them.
No employer or prospective employer cared about any of them, what fields or area of expertise they were in or how many I had.
That was in the early 2000's and I have thrown many away since then.
NOTE: certificates not from an accredited college or university.
No employer or prospective employer cared about any of them, what fields or area of expertise they were in or how many I had.
That was in the early 2000's and I have thrown many away since then.
NOTE: certificates not from an accredited college or university.
geniusintraining
Lifetime Supporting Member + Moderator
I was talking to a friend that is/was in IT... he has been looking for over a year for a job, he is smart but all of his experience was on the job training and said because he did not have any certs no one would even interview him.
He was working at the same plant for 25 years then got laid off... his 401 has just ran dry, now he's in trouble
He was working at the same plant for 25 years then got laid off... his 401 has just ran dry, now he's in trouble
geniusintraining
Lifetime Supporting Member + Moderator
I think it depends on the industry you are in... our world I would agree but in the IT world I think its different.
I think the IT people are cutting their own necks. For some reason most of them don't seem to want to work with "OT".
I have worked with several IT departments trying to get all of the machines on a separate network so that the OT can manage the plant floor.
It's like pulling teeth to get a VPN setup for a certain application on the plant floor.
And here's what it boils down too. The plant floor can operate without the IT department but the IT department would not exists without the plant floor.
Let's face it manufacturing has/will/can operate without the IT.
I have worked with several IT departments trying to get all of the machines on a separate network so that the OT can manage the plant floor.
It's like pulling teeth to get a VPN setup for a certain application on the plant floor.
And here's what it boils down too. The plant floor can operate without the IT department but the IT department would not exists without the plant floor.
Let's face it manufacturing has/will/can operate without the IT.
HoldenC
Member
The down side to the CCNA is that you have to re-certify every 3 years. I have a degree in IT, but I never took any CCNA exams.
I received the same certificates from my college, but as stated above they were worthless.
Anytime I went for a job interview, they never asked about any exams, just experience, and asked me job specific scenarios.
I would imagine it depends on the jobs you are applying to. A lot of the times they state they are required on job postings.
Its also worth noting that Cisco is almost like the AB of the networking world. Most people use them because they are/were the standard. As time moves on, new companies are doing just as good, if not better jobs with much cheaper priced hardware. At my current job, I am slowly replacing all the Cisco gear with Ubiquitu. I like it a lot better than the Cisco gear.
I received the same certificates from my college, but as stated above they were worthless.
Anytime I went for a job interview, they never asked about any exams, just experience, and asked me job specific scenarios.
I would imagine it depends on the jobs you are applying to. A lot of the times they state they are required on job postings.
Its also worth noting that Cisco is almost like the AB of the networking world. Most people use them because they are/were the standard. As time moves on, new companies are doing just as good, if not better jobs with much cheaper priced hardware. At my current job, I am slowly replacing all the Cisco gear with Ubiquitu. I like it a lot better than the Cisco gear.
In the PLC world, I've never ran into a situation where certificates were valued, except possibly when they were safety standards related.
The knowledge that you need to pass the test definitely has value, but the actual certification isn't worth the paper it's printed on to a controls house.
The knowledge that you need to pass the test definitely has value, but the actual certification isn't worth the paper it's printed on to a controls house.
Depends on the employer. If you have the ISA CAP certification where I work it can get you and extra 10k.
Last edited:
jstolaruk
Lifetime Supporting Member
There is another exception in our neighborhood if you're doing GM work onsite - they now require the GCCS-2 certification from Macomb Community College. At least in body and assembly from what I understand, I haven't run into the requirement with Powertrain yet, but its been a few years since I had to go onsite.
Huh, good to know! I've never been onsite at a GM plant.
I've been in a Chrysler plant a couple times, helping out someone halfway down the contractor chain. It felt like I got snuck in, I have no idea if Chrysler knew I was there, or what requirements I was supposed to have met. I feel like there should have been at least a safety video.
harryting
Lifetime Supporting Member
There are two questions here, is CCNA useful and is $800 a good price to get it.
You do not need to spend $800. There are a lot of cheap or free resource on youtube or Udemy.
Is CCNA useful? Absolutely in my case. Studying for it really firm up one's understanding of networking. Having said that, I still haven't taken the test yet. I will probably get it but not bother to renew it every 3 years. The reason for my position is that we are constantly contesting who owns what in my industry and having that background or cert give me credibility on the negotiating table. Again, it's very industry dependent.
and, based on past discussion on PE, degree, etc.. let me just say that having a cert doesn't mean you are not an idiot.
You do not need to spend $800. There are a lot of cheap or free resource on youtube or Udemy.
Is CCNA useful? Absolutely in my case. Studying for it really firm up one's understanding of networking. Having said that, I still haven't taken the test yet. I will probably get it but not bother to renew it every 3 years. The reason for my position is that we are constantly contesting who owns what in my industry and having that background or cert give me credibility on the negotiating table. Again, it's very industry dependent.
and, based on past discussion on PE, degree, etc.. let me just say that having a cert doesn't mean you are not an idiot.
First time I've seen a company validate this one. I've pondered going through this as more of a personal warm fuzzy then financial gain. Glad people are getting compensated for it.
Personally, I think CCNA would help open alternate doors more than any other certificates, assuming networking interests you it gives you an option to move into IT/Networking.
For industrial automation, probably better to buy a few books and study on your own.
For industrial automation, probably better to buy a few books and study on your own.
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