I’ve been in the computer field for about 10 years now. In that time I’ve gotten a lot of little certifications that didn’t matter (vendor-specific and the like) and some that did matter like my MCSE (NT), A+, CCNA, and the like.
After nearly 3 years at my current place, I’m starting to get fed up with the Dilbert-esque* management. So, I’m putting my resume back together because I’ve been a bad boy about keeping it updated.
Something I’ve noticed, though, is in my time at this place I have done nothing in the way of certifications except some vendor-specific ones. I’ve got a lot of interesting and fairly impressive things to put on my resume from this job, but the lack of newer certifications bugs me.
Poking around, I see some of the CompTIA stuff like the Network+ and Inet+ certifications. I’ve read through the requirements, and the fact of the matter is that I could pass these things hungover and a concussion.
The question is, is it worth it? The Net+ is nothing more than the Networking Essentials I needed for my MCSE five years ago. The iNet+ isn’t much more.
So, from a resume-padding point of view, is it worth it?
*Particularly sad for a place with less than 15 employees
Off the top of my head, I don’t know of any certified, vendor-neutral compsci certification programs out there. The closest I’ve seen has been certification for Java, but even that’s tied in to Sun’s standards for certification.
From a resume-evaluation POV, certifications aren’t half as important as experience – they might be handy as a quick way to initially assess your knowledge base, but an understanding of your past duties and accomplishments, as well as your general problem-solving skills, matters a lot more. I’ve held interviews with folks who looked damn impressive on paper, but had to dink them once I found they couldn’t solve a problem that was outside their repetoire of canned responses.
If you’ve got certifications, feel free to list them, but don’t feel as if it’s a make-or-break issue. The only people who put great weight on certifications are technically-clueless managers who think they mean something.
And not to wander into Great Debates territory, but IMO don’t play up your MCSE too much – Microsoft churns out those things so fast, a lot of veteran recruiters now consider it a warning sign when a candidate overemphasizes his MCSE, since it seems like an attempt to cover up other inadequacies.
I’ve actually got the MCSE listed first among my certifications, but it’s not even mentioned till the second page under my list of certs.
I actually got the MCSE right before it started getting devalued to nothingness, but I’ve got no way of proving that, of course.
So, on a resume, what is most important? I know you’ve said experience, and for my current job I’ve got listed several paragraphs about why I’m just that awesome (because I have done an impressive amount of shit at this place). However, what about beyond that?
For example, I remember reading several years ago that a resume should always, definitely, without exception be a single page. Of course, now I can’t remember where I read that, but the source seemed definitve enough that I still have a hard time breaking that rule to this day.
Beyond that, I’ve got, as I said, my current job clocking in at four or so paragraphs (still tweaking it). All my others are only a paragraph, mainly because I don’t have much to say - I was a peon, even if I was a skilled one.
Given how fast the software/IT field changes these days, anything that shows problem-solving or quick-thinking abilities is a plus – no one can reasonbly expect you to have 10 years of experience with C#, but a smart cookie will pick it up very quickly, which is just as good.
Other than that, tailor things according to what you’re applying for – if you’re angling for a developer position (e.g., more than just banging out code), examples of innovative thinking would be nice. If you’re trying to go for a team lead, then examples of leadership would be good. Education is nice, but not a deal-breaker for most folks.
I hear you; I’ve been keeping my resumes to one page as well. I don’t think that’s a hard-and-fast rule nowadays, however – if you’ve worked on a wide variety of projects, you need multiple pages just to briefly describe everything you’ve done.
There’s also the simple truth that a lot of headhunters and HR departments these days will take your electronic resume, slap it into their database, then do a search for everyone with whatever buzzwords they need. This is a situation where brevity would work against you, I believe. I’ve gotten resumes 2-3 pages long and didn’t blink, though I wouldn’t push my own past that.
Best thing is to relax and have confidence in your abilities. The resume simply gets your foot in the door; IME, it’s the interview(s) that really make or break the deal. And if you truly know what you’re doing, that will come through in the interview.
First of all, a note to the mods out there: I thought this thread would turn out to be useful, and that others might join in with opinions or questions. If I’d realized it was going to be a two man discussion, I’d have seen if rjung would take it to email.
That’s all good, and the fact of the matter is that I am a very, very good troubleshooter. But how do I get that across in a resume?
List real-life instances where your troubleshooting skills saved the day. “6/3/2003 – Joined WAMM project when it was two months behind schedule. Quickly discovered and corrected critical problems in system design. Ultimately helped finish project one week ahead of schedule.”
