Back when mainframes roamed, 'programming schools' abounded, but college degrees were 'the ticket'.
As Howard mentioned, in recent years, and as major technology changes come about, 'certificates' started to be 'the thing'. I have a degree, and have stayed away from certificates, just because I think people need to know how to think their way through a problem, rather than know it is on one drop down menu vs another. When HR folks get a job request, they are given a set of 'buzzwords' to look for. Once you get enough things checked off, you are typically passed over to the hiring manager that may or may not know how to filter your CV or Resume. But this is the person that must eventually say YES, all others in the process can have a vote, but typically their only vote option that is listened to is NO. Yes, I am cynical about the whole process. If you want to work for someone else, be prepared to send out a ton of resume's, get the door slamed in your face a lot. But also spend time networking. If you don't know how, ask. Attending NLUG, your church(etc), social clubs, civic clubs,etc and build a network of acquantances that you communicate with regularly. Dont say 'do you have a job for me', but ask, 'Do you know someone who has a contact that could help me find a job doing xyzzy?' Also networks work better with exercise. Expect to be asked for input and help from others too. Electronic networks are great, but people networking is where the power is, whether it is electronic, in person, or your telephone list. But I digress, even again. Personally, I think no education is ever 'lost', it all adds to the fabric of your life. If you want education to make your life more rich, get a degree, the more and higher the better. If you want to just get one more job, find out what is needed and get a 'certificate' in that area. Neither of these guarantees a job, but they both up the chances over 'competition' that has neither. If you want a more 'educated' job, researcher, college professor, etc, higher degrees (PhD, or even a few post doc's) are imperative. I say all this, and here I stand without a job for over a year. Life goes on. Story: I was working for a consulting company that had about 100 Windows admins's and 400 UNIX admins working for it. RedHat wanted to start their certification program. They took about 100 UNIX admins and 50 Windows and just gave them the RHCE test, all passed but one Windows guy on the first try. The next time they tried it with a different set of tests and people, most still passed after some training, but the failure rate was much higher. M$oft heard about it, and offered to pay for any UNIX admin that wanted to have the training and for the MCSE tests. It took about about 3 months part time, and about 300 UNIX admins got their MCSE. In both cases, all these folks were 'paper certified'. ... These tests basically proved that an certification without experience is useless in real world applications. It still gets folks the job, but that is not enough to keep them on the payroll. Folks that knew how to 'think like an admin' did well with or without the 'paper'. The certification just says that you have the base knowledge, not that you know how to apply it. Enjoy. ... Jack --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "NLUG" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/nlug-talk?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
