Okay, folks.
I’d like to brush up on my skills and get a job working on someone else’s computers, servers, etc
I’m looking at:
Apple Certified Technical Coordinator 10.6
Link: http://training.apple.com/itpro/snowactc
and
Microsoft Certified IT Professional (MCITP)
Link: http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/certification/mcitp.aspx
Red Hat Certified System Administrator (RHCSA)
Link: Red Hat Certified System Administrator
as well as A+ and Net+ [both of which should be stupid easy for me]
Smart? Dumb?
Some of these smart? Some dumb?
Feel free to suggest additional training/certs.
Ooops. Forgot to paste what I’ve done in the past.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Online Retail Operation 2010 - Present
On-line retailer of [product type redacted] ; annual sales ~ $400K.
Sole Proprietor
Managed marketplace data using Access software; managed desktop for self and 1 employee, Managed accounting using Quickbooks Pro 2010 and used Amazon EC2 Cloud Computing to
farm marketplace data.
Product Manufacturng and Service Company 2001-2010
Technical Support and Project Coordination 2008-2010
Managed 4500 locations serving as first point of contact when major customer’s equipment encountered technical challenges with product. Provided remote troubleshooting over secure VPN.
Organized and supervised several roll-outs of hardware and software patches to client’s sites ensuring seamless transitions and providing exceptional customer support.
Salvaged deteriorating customer relationship by identifying and resolving recurring malfunctions. Became direct contact for major customer introducing frequent equipment inspections and quickly responding to automated alerts of product failure.
Technical Support Agent 2001-2008
Provided remote support to 1300 member network of nationwide field service technicians regarding troubleshooting and installation of analog and digital video equipment. Offered full-time, permanent position within 6 months of temp-to-hire position.
- Recognized by upper management for salvaging high dollar corporate relationship; became SME on product and resolved all escalated service calls. Streamlined complex, cumbersome security system into user-friendly, simple to administer system.
- Identified video recorder failures by creating and analyzing data spreadsheet for ~ 3200 customer sites. Introduced soft fixes identifying underlying issues and successfully collaborated with vendor relations in securing ~100K in free labor and parts replacement.
Researched and identified a “bug” in Windows file system leading to breakage and unusable hard drives. Data records instrumental in driving engineering to develop a “hot fix” remote distribution of patch.
Manufacturing Firm 2001
PC Desktop Support Agent
University
1998-2000
Computer Technician
Repaired and upgraded ~ 200+ PCs in computer labs, faculty offices and staff offices
Administered Linux system operating streaming Audio / Video for college radio station.
Selling Computers Out of My Dorm Room 1996-1998
Entrepreneurial venture providing personal computer support
Owner/Operator
- Operated small business selling, upgrading and repairing personal computers. Serviced several dozen customers annually.
- Migrated data, updated hard drive, sold and supported new computer systems
EDUCATION
Completed 60 credit hours: Liberal Arts Degree
University
I’ve been out of IT for a while now but I thought the days of piling up a stack of certs hoping for employment ended in the mid 00’s?
Part of the goal here is to update my skills.
Unless you have a specific reason to get the Mac cert, I’d forget that one. Macs are not really used much in business unless you are getting into graphic arts, etc.
The A+ is, from my perspective, an entry level cert for newbies wanting to get a job. The Network + is the same for networking.
The Red Hat might be useful if there are businesses in your area that run *nix variants. That is a big if.
The MCITP is probably the most useful. I’d go for that and maybe a CCNA. For some reason people ignore switching/routing quite a bit. (Just got my CCNA, it was the area I was the weakest in and we do a lot of advanced Cisco stuff where I work).
The problem with certs is that there are a ton of programs which will get you a cert without actually being able to do anything once the tests are passed*. Experience is good. Certs + experience is better. Use the cert to back up your experience and look in your area to see what people are looking for.
Slee
- A new guy was hired where I work. He has an MCITP. And some VMWare experience. He is worthless. He cannot apply anything that he may know to real world situations. I tried to explain UNC pathing. \server\volume\directory\file. For about 25 minutes. It went from me stating how it works to pulling out the white board to my giving up in disgust. How freaking hard is UNC? Apparently too hard…
I have a friend doing support for an ad agency that got me thinking about it.
I’ll research before spending money on that. Thanks!
Haven’t worked with the federal government lately have you? It’s all about certs, even if people end up knowing less than sleestak’s cow-orking co-worker.
In terms of marketability my guess is that MS certs would have the most demand, followed by Cisco and then Red Hat, with APple a distant fourth. In my not-entirely-informed opinion, Cisco certs are well respected because you really have to know your stuff to get them - not just pass a multiple guess test and write a check.
Look for as many free study resources for any tests you do take, both online and at your public library. Inter-library loan is a great thing.
Here in the Pacific NW, Linux administrators are in high demand and generally earn 10% more than Msoft admins. My company is constantly losing them to competitors, and are having an even worse time trying to keep a MySql DBA in house. I’d ignore the A+ and Network+ unless you’re aiming for the same work you were doing before college. Your experience is already far beyond both of them.