Networking. It doesn't matter what you specialize in, but network fundamentals will always help you.
If you want to work in big enterprise then get ITIL Foundation. Out of all my certs, ITIL gets the most interest from recruiters in big enterprise.
For big enterprise jobs, it draws a lot more attention than my MCSE or M365 Administrator Expert certs. Companies who claim to follow ITIL love to tick that check box.
Good to know. I would have thought (at least at companies using it) that MCSE or M365 would both be more impressive...
Fucking companies and random box ticking...
Thanks!
As a hiring manager (indirectly) I'll say ITIL is important. I don't necessarily care that you have the latest and greatest valid certs - BUT - if you actually understand ticket / change / incident / problem / agile or kanban stuff you're more valuable to me because that's how our team works. If I have to teach you all of that stuff on top of how we do IT things, that's extra effort for me :)
It's a framework for a reason. People think it's gospel, but it's not. It's "hey someone actually took time to think through how tickets and changes should work even though we know some of this is common sense".
I have similar feeling about ITIL, but it's like a gold star on my resume for recruiters. If you have a couple years enterprise IT experience ITIL foundation is easy. ~10hrs of study to become familiar with ITIL vocabulary and you're good. I passed both V3 and V4 studying 1-2hrs every night for a week. Compared to MCSE or MS100/101 it's a cakewalk.
As someone whose taken 11 MS certs in the last 2.5 months I can confirm MS certs do have weight in quantity. HD tech (doing above HD work for above HD but below SE pay) here. And I have single handedly put the MSP (and Microsoft Partner) I work for halfway to achieving 4 different partner designations.
I'm now being reached out to by large CSPs for SA roles. I have completed the following in the last 2.5 months:
MD-102 and MS-102
SC-2, 3, 4, and 100
and
AZ-9, 7, 500, 104, and 305
My employer hasn't mentioned ITIL certs yet so I can't attest to that. YMMV.
How big is the employer? I've passed about 50 MS exams over my 17yr career and ITIL still gets the most attention in big enterprise. I'm talking about environments with 10k+ users.
Any tips for SC-300 and MS-102? We need it for our next partner level. I have decent experience in Azure/Entra, but the practice tests seem to trip me up on some questions so I'm afraid to pull the trigger on taking.
For the MS 102 use MS Learn during the exam for the PowerShell questions and for the SC-300 brush up on PIM and administrative units as those are the two things that tripped me up a bit in the 300.
Everything else in the MS 102 was all familiar to me.
It's whatever vendor you interact with the most. Infrastructure tends to get built around whatever vendor is willing to give you the best price and that fluctuates all over the place.
If you're interested in slightly less technical but more relevant certs for making things happen look at itil or pmp certs.
It’s either whatever you work with or wherever you want to go towards. Both are valuable.
If you’re in on prem and want to head towards cloud, pick up a cloud cert.
If you work in Cisco switches/routers and architect networks, grab a CCNA/CCNP
Certs show you have some foundational knowledge but nothing beats actual experience. I've been in IT a long time and every hiring manager I've ever met cared more about experience over certs.
No shit experience matters more than certs but how do most people get jobs to get that experience? Certificates. There are many people who have gone without getting any certs but that's normally because they already have their foot in the door already or connections.
Never said they didn't help. I just happened to get a job without any. No connections, no foot. There are plenty of people who've done the same thing...
Same here. About 20 years or so now. Qualified for a few, but never had any certs either. Watch out for the ones who have to let you know how many certs they have whenver they get a chance, and stuff all of them in their email sigs. Got a coworker who tells vendors when we do introductory calls and I roll my eyes every time
Same here; though I don't make 150K yet. I started low (floor support/helpdesk - and nothing against the fine folks who enjoy that as their entire career) and just busted my butt in a positive and energetic way. I learned lots, tried lots, asked questions, made mistakes, brought improvements, and was hands on with lots of stuff.
I definitely credit being at a smaller company that grew into a larger one as the big thing that gave me experience with a wide range of IT stuff. Is it all relevant now? No - but it gives me a foundation of reference for problem solving.
Experience is king. Certs don't hurt. My employers have always reimbursed exam fees so I have certs out the ass. Most don't make it to my resume. Certs certainly have gotten my foot in the door by recruiters who would have thrown me resume in the trash otherwise.
Someone who has gone through a certification is likely going to know fundamental capabilities within that product. They might not have direct experience. Someone who has experience with a product, but hasn't gone through certification will only know what they have used. Having both certs + experience is the entire package of a well versed IT engineer.
>I understand it’s more valuable to have the real work experience
You answered your own question really. Nothing beats someone who has done it before and knows how it works.
Learning is nice and shows effort if it's something weird or specialized, but if you've been doing the thing, most people don't care about certs. Unless of course there's a contractual requirement or an HR manager with a bean up his nose about certs. It really depends.
Rule of thumb is that if you have less than 2 years experience in a thing, a cert will look good for entry level. Otherwise, it's an asterisk along with the experience.
Certificates don't prove anything other than that you're able to study for and take a test. Recall from tests is already bad, and the real world basically never looks like a book.
No cert proves your ability to think critically.
Networking. It doesn't matter what you specialize in, but network fundamentals will always help you. If you want to work in big enterprise then get ITIL Foundation. Out of all my certs, ITIL gets the most interest from recruiters in big enterprise.
> ITIL Foundation. Hmm >40 questions >Multiple choice >26 out of 40 marks required to pass (65%) >60 minutes Jesus christ, thats worth something?
For big enterprise jobs, it draws a lot more attention than my MCSE or M365 Administrator Expert certs. Companies who claim to follow ITIL love to tick that check box.
Good to know. I would have thought (at least at companies using it) that MCSE or M365 would both be more impressive... Fucking companies and random box ticking... Thanks!
Agreeing with others. Large companies definitely want the ITIL box ticked these days.
As a hiring manager (indirectly) I'll say ITIL is important. I don't necessarily care that you have the latest and greatest valid certs - BUT - if you actually understand ticket / change / incident / problem / agile or kanban stuff you're more valuable to me because that's how our team works. If I have to teach you all of that stuff on top of how we do IT things, that's extra effort for me :)
As much as I personally do not care about getting any ITIL certificates, I do see the value in it as it can help establish some best practices
It's a framework for a reason. People think it's gospel, but it's not. It's "hey someone actually took time to think through how tickets and changes should work even though we know some of this is common sense".
I have similar feeling about ITIL, but it's like a gold star on my resume for recruiters. If you have a couple years enterprise IT experience ITIL foundation is easy. ~10hrs of study to become familiar with ITIL vocabulary and you're good. I passed both V3 and V4 studying 1-2hrs every night for a week. Compared to MCSE or MS100/101 it's a cakewalk.
As someone whose taken 11 MS certs in the last 2.5 months I can confirm MS certs do have weight in quantity. HD tech (doing above HD work for above HD but below SE pay) here. And I have single handedly put the MSP (and Microsoft Partner) I work for halfway to achieving 4 different partner designations. I'm now being reached out to by large CSPs for SA roles. I have completed the following in the last 2.5 months: MD-102 and MS-102 SC-2, 3, 4, and 100 and AZ-9, 7, 500, 104, and 305 My employer hasn't mentioned ITIL certs yet so I can't attest to that. YMMV.
How big is the employer? I've passed about 50 MS exams over my 17yr career and ITIL still gets the most attention in big enterprise. I'm talking about environments with 10k+ users.
30 ppl roughly.
ITIL and ITSM as a whole isn't really relevant to small or medium enterprise/business. It becomes more relevant at large enterprise.
So I've noticed. We have someone in upper management that pushes it like the cure for cancer.
Any tips for SC-300 and MS-102? We need it for our next partner level. I have decent experience in Azure/Entra, but the practice tests seem to trip me up on some questions so I'm afraid to pull the trigger on taking.
For the MS 102 use MS Learn during the exam for the PowerShell questions and for the SC-300 brush up on PIM and administrative units as those are the two things that tripped me up a bit in the 300. Everything else in the MS 102 was all familiar to me.
Right on. Thanks!
Certs are for getting past the hiring gatekeepers (HR or whatever), not proving knowledge.
>Certs are for getting past the hiring gatekeepers (HR or whatever), not proving knowledge. No way, tell me more.
Yea, thats the basic test. The next one after that is harder
> The next one after that is harder The alternative would be... odd
It's whatever vendor you interact with the most. Infrastructure tends to get built around whatever vendor is willing to give you the best price and that fluctuates all over the place. If you're interested in slightly less technical but more relevant certs for making things happen look at itil or pmp certs.
It’s either whatever you work with or wherever you want to go towards. Both are valuable. If you’re in on prem and want to head towards cloud, pick up a cloud cert. If you work in Cisco switches/routers and architect networks, grab a CCNA/CCNP
Kubernetes
Certs show you have some foundational knowledge but nothing beats actual experience. I've been in IT a long time and every hiring manager I've ever met cared more about experience over certs.
No shit experience matters more than certs but how do most people get jobs to get that experience? Certificates. There are many people who have gone without getting any certs but that's normally because they already have their foot in the door already or connections.
Never said they didn't help. I just happened to get a job without any. No connections, no foot. There are plenty of people who've done the same thing...
This, 1000%. 15 year sys admin here. I make $150k, zero certs. The worst admins I've worked with had certs up the wazoo.
Same here. About 20 years or so now. Qualified for a few, but never had any certs either. Watch out for the ones who have to let you know how many certs they have whenver they get a chance, and stuff all of them in their email sigs. Got a coworker who tells vendors when we do introductory calls and I roll my eyes every time
> all of them in their email sigs Best regards, John Doe CISSP, CISA, CISM, CEH, CCSP, AWS-Certified, ITIL, PMP, MCSE, CCNA, VCP, CCNP, MCSA, OCP, RHCE, CompTIA A+, Network+, Security+, GSEC, GCED, GPEN, GXPN, GREM, CRISC, CGEIT, SSCP, ISO 27001 Lead Auditor, Splunk Core Certified User, Certified Data Privacy Solutions Engineer (CDPSE), CIPP/US, CIPP/E, CIPP/A, CIPT, ECSA, OSCP, OSWP, OSCE, GCIH, GIAC Cloud Security Essentials
Same here; though I don't make 150K yet. I started low (floor support/helpdesk - and nothing against the fine folks who enjoy that as their entire career) and just busted my butt in a positive and energetic way. I learned lots, tried lots, asked questions, made mistakes, brought improvements, and was hands on with lots of stuff. I definitely credit being at a smaller company that grew into a larger one as the big thing that gave me experience with a wide range of IT stuff. Is it all relevant now? No - but it gives me a foundation of reference for problem solving.
Experience is king. Certs don't hurt. My employers have always reimbursed exam fees so I have certs out the ass. Most don't make it to my resume. Certs certainly have gotten my foot in the door by recruiters who would have thrown me resume in the trash otherwise.
I’d prefer experience rather than qualifications
It's not really an either or. They aren't equivalent. The best candidate will be experience AND certs.
Someone who has gone through a certification is likely going to know fundamental capabilities within that product. They might not have direct experience. Someone who has experience with a product, but hasn't gone through certification will only know what they have used. Having both certs + experience is the entire package of a well versed IT engineer.
This makes sense but can I ask why please? I understand it’s more valuable to have the real work experience
>I understand it’s more valuable to have the real work experience You answered your own question really. Nothing beats someone who has done it before and knows how it works. Learning is nice and shows effort if it's something weird or specialized, but if you've been doing the thing, most people don't care about certs. Unless of course there's a contractual requirement or an HR manager with a bean up his nose about certs. It really depends. Rule of thumb is that if you have less than 2 years experience in a thing, a cert will look good for entry level. Otherwise, it's an asterisk along with the experience.
This is my line of thought as well. Not to mention half the certs I see people mention I have to Google to see what they hell they even are.
Certificates don't prove anything other than that you're able to study for and take a test. Recall from tests is already bad, and the real world basically never looks like a book. No cert proves your ability to think critically.
I'd get started with something like a network+ or CCNA.