Considering getting MCITP or CCNA @ local community college - Is it worth it?

tankman1989

tankman1989

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I've had a tough time finding a good job in the last couple years. I became frustrated with IT in general so I was thinking of dropping it as a career in general and heading in the direction of Alt energy (either sales, installation or engineering). BTW, I'm 31 and have a BSBA in MIS and am very capable of most administrative tasks in all MS OS's as well as most flavors of Linux. I'm mostly self taught.

I have always shied away from certs as I figured that I would pick up much of the experience in the field or in my reading. Unfortunately it is hard to prove what I have learned in my private studies or experience.

I have experience working for/with fortune 100 companies to as small as self employed single person businesses. I have been responsible for just about every task under the sun with regards to IT, sometimes just touching on some skills but learning and doing enough to get by.

My ideal job would be to be self employed and have a clientele of mainly business users, small businesses, Home offices and some residential. I would be willing to work as an employee as well.

So, the following are the classes which are available at my local community college. I feel that I need a "refresher" after being out of the IT industry for some time. Prior to my unemployment I feel that I could have easily attained an 80% + on the A+ exam with little to no prep. I have also done some studying on Sec+ and Linux+ but never tested for them.

I think in the long run I would like to pursue IT/network security but I think this is something that is going to take some time to acheive so in the meantime I need to make myself marketable to provide support while I letn IT security.

The class offered at my community college is:
Microsoft Certified IT Professional (MCITP): Server Administrator $6,225
MW 6-9:30 pm 2/16-5/25
Saturday 8 am-4 pm 2/19-5/14


There is also
CompTIA A+ $3,079
Tuition includes textbook and certification exams.
TR and 6-9:30 pm Staff 1/18-3/22
S 8:30 am-12 pm Staff 1/22-3/19

CompTIA Security+ $1,849
Tuition includes textbook and certification exam.
TR 6-9:30 pm Staff 5/10-6/9

CompTIA Network+ $1,895
Tuition includes textbook and certification exam.
TR and 6-9:30 pm Staff 3/29-4/28
S 8:30 am-12 pm Staff 4/16-4/30

Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) $3,325
Tuition includes textbook and certification.
MW and 6-9:30 pm Staff 2/7-3/28
S 8 am-4 pm Staff 2/26-3/26

I could take A+, Sec+ & Net+ for about the same price as MCITP.
 
You are wasting your time....

I am sorry to say this.... but the glory days of IT are over.

There are heaps of IT helpdesk and desktop support positions wanting 1-3 years experience. I very rarely see jobs advertised questing 5-10 years experience.

MS certs are dime a dozen.....

CCNA are also common.

I think you are best to find another industry.

I am in a similar position and the truth is bad.... jobs are beign exported to India....

The 1 saving grace is S-M Business and some home users......

The IT industry is terrible.
 
Holy crap, that's expensive. Honestly, I couldn't imagine getting a RoI on those cost, unless financial grants are available. Are those boot camps, or are they over time? The local community college here offers classes geared towards certifications, but are the standard $ per unit.

Edit: just saw that they are not boot camps. Wow.
 
That is too much money!!!!

A+ is not worth anything anymore. I would not dream of paying 3k for the class, just get the $20 book and study it yourself and then take the test if you really want the A+ cert.
The M$ certs like MCSE are not worth what they were back in the day simply cause the boot camps have churned out tons of paper certs. Sad to say I think that the CCNA is going the same way.

I am thinking about studying for the new version of the MSCE simply cause I like to learn and it helps me stay competitive in the business market.
To do so I would set up a home lab with virtualbox/vmware and study away, not pay $$$$ to someone where most likely they just read from the book.

Most places look for a degree, certs and the experience to back those certs when looking to hire.
 
At those prices: NO WAY.

Like said by others above, I passed Net/Sec self studying w/ a 29.99 book each (Meyers' Passport Series ISBNs: 007161530X & 0071601236).

A+ was paid for by the company I worked for in 2005... and they had a fun online training center... but seriously... $2000+ is ridiculous.
 
Honestly I say don't bother with any of those. For $500 you could setup your own home Cisco network and work through a Wendell Odom or Todd Lammle book for the CCNA.

If you are interested in a career in IT Security buy a copy of VMWare Workstation and setup a host with BackTrack and a bunch of VM hosts for attacking. Ed Skoudis' book Counterhack Reloaded can walk you through a bunch of tools and scenarios. Just make sure you keep all that stuff isolated in a VM lab. They can come back and bite ya! Work towards obtaining a CISSP the All-In-One book from Shon Harris is a great book for that. I used that one and the CISSP for Dummies book and passed the test.

Hit me up on PM if you want to... I spent most of my career in sys admin and the last 3 years solely in IT Security and I have certs in CISSP, Pen Testing, Forensic Investigations, and Incident Handling.
 
I thought those prices seemed pretty expensive. I can only imagine how many people are being "taken" by these education "scams" only to find out later that there are no jobs in the field.

the $6,225 for the MCITP isn't nearly as much as "New Horizon's" was trying to sell me for a MCSA for $18,990 and MCSE for $28,900 a couple years back. They said I would be "garunteed" a $65K+ job upon graduating though:rolleyes:
 
FINACK-IT said:
Honestly I say don't bother with any of those. For $500 you could setup your own home Cisco network and work through a Wendell Odom or Todd Lammle book for the CCNA.

If you are interested in a career in IT Security buy a copy of VMWare Workstation and setup a host with BackTrack and a bunch of VM hosts for attacking. Ed Skoudis' book Counterhack Reloaded can walk you through a bunch of tools and scenarios. Just make sure you keep all that stuff isolated in a VM lab. They can come back and bite ya! Work towards obtaining a CISSP the All-In-One book from Shon Harris is a great book for that. I used that one and the CISSP for Dummies book and passed the test.

Hit me up on PM if you want to... I spent most of my career in sys admin and the last 3 years solely in IT Security and I have certs in CISSP, Pen Testing, Forensic Investigations, and Incident Handling.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I did my ccna with both the Todd Lammie & Wendell Odom books.
 
if you go with CCNA, thake the Wendell Odom book, it is well better than the Sybex CCNA of Todd Lammie, i thing that the book of WO is give you a much more broad understanding of the networking.
 
With all my studying I found I needed more than one book, maybe it was just me but certain study areas seemed to hit home in one book and other areas in other books.
 
Those courses are well over priced for what are very easy exams.

Comptia exams are pretty much the lowest level IT exam you can take. Anyone with half a brain can pass them with a book. The CCNA is a bit harder but still perfectly straightforward to pass. So no way would I personally shell out that kind of cash for someone to go through a book with me.

You could sort of justify paying money for the harder MS exams but even then, some application and time with books and practice papers and you will pass anyway.
 
hen770 said:
if you go with CCNA, thake the Wendell Odom book, it is well better than the Sybex CCNA of Todd Lammie, i thing that the book of WO is give you a much more broad understanding of the networking.
Click to expand...
Is this the book you were talking about?
 
honestly

To succeed in this industry you really need to be motivated enough to study for and pass the test, without any classes, probably up to the CCNA level. If you're motivated enough to set up all the labs, download the exam cram stuff, get a bunch of used servers and set up everything, etc etc, then you will succeed in this industry. If you're the type to go take classes for this stuff, I highly doubt you're going to make a lot of money. Its just too competitive. The certification classes are a scam for people who take them, and then end up never landing a job in IT....that's the sad truth. If you really want to make a lot, get your CCNA/MCSE yourself, get at least an associates in business administration or marketing, and go out on your own, you should be able to make $100k+ with some basic business know-how, good client relationships, and some web marketing.
 
BostonGeek1 said:
To succeed in this industry you really need to be motivated enough to study for and pass the test, without any classes, probably up to the CCNA level. If you're motivated enough to set up all the labs, download the exam cram stuff, get a bunch of used servers and set up everything, etc etc, then you will succeed in this industry. If you're the type to go take classes for this stuff, I highly doubt you're going to make a lot of money. Its just too competitive. The certification classes are a scam for people who take them, and then end up never landing a job in IT....that's the sad truth. If you really want to make a lot, get your CCNA/MCSE yourself, get at least an associates in business administration or marketing, and go out on your own, you should be able to make $100k+ with some basic business know-how, good client relationships, and some web marketing.
Click to expand...

Well that is good to know as I've probably set up servers on my home network 100 different times and different ways, all just to learn how to do it and use the servers for a short time.

Thanks for your opinion!
 
tankman1989 said:
I've decided to go for a CCNA and then work up the Cisco cert ladder. I really don't see networking going anywhere but I do see a possible change in the OS marketplace.

I started a thread asking what is the best CCNA books/guides to get as well as video or audio tutors.
http://www.technibble.com/forums/showthread.php?p=179714#post179714
Click to expand...

I've read this thread and I don't see where it says what certs you already have. For some reason by reading it I am going to say "none"? If I am wrong let me know.

But I would still go the A+, Net, Security+ then a Microsoft test.

Reason I say this is based on thinking you have no certs. From a hiring perspective if someone comes to me with only a CCNA and no other certification I would question as to why CCNA. I would then look at what exact Cisco experience the person has. Lab in home environment is not real world and would be treated as such.

To me this would not be a good route to take. I see it all the time with people taking one cert and the one they pick is Security+...Yes they really have no experience and no networking experience. The Security+ jobs do not care as much about the cert as they do the experience. The cert if mainly for the employeer to charge a higher rate.

I think certs are very important but they have to be done in a certain order in order to get the full value of them.
 
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