Reply With QuoteI have pondered this question throughout my IT career. Although my career has been short in IT (around 8 years), I still feel that I know what people are looking for.
I have always been told that a college degree just shows an employer that you can learn and push yourself to attain knowledge. I whole-heartedly agree with this statement. After all, most positions that you apply for will require you to adjust to a certain way of doing things and learning new things. Obviously, employers want someone who can learn fast and efficiently.
That being said, I think earning a bachelors degree in college is a great benefit in the IT world. Of course I'm biased since I have one.
When I'm in the real world work place, I see that your accomplishments and experience outweigh any certifications that you may have. This actually makes sense. When you get a certification, you are only demonstrating that you know the product or subject area. But the experience has a big upper-hand in all of this. The certification shows that you know what to do when everything is working right, but what if things go wrong? Obviously if everything was perfect in the IT world, there would be no reason to hire anyone. But, of course, things go wrong and that is where experience comes in. Employers respect experience more because the person can fix things when they don't work. The courses for certifications can never, ever replace these kinds of situations.
There is also another force that has become important in the IT world. That is person-to-person contact. I believe that people skills have become very important when hiring IT personal. Employers actually have the convenience of hiring people that have good people skills over those that don't. No longer can the know-it-all geek come in and flaunt their "genius". There will be others with the same knowledge that can actually communicate and create a very friendly and respectful environment with the end-users.
Overall, though, I believe getting certificates is great for someone to learn about the new technologies that are out there. But then, all IT people should always be learning about new things all the time. Certificates are a great starting point in a career, but can never, ever replace any knowledge that you have accumulated in the field. The employers know this and that is why certifications can be overlooked so easily.
So, what's the best way to get into the IT field now? Well, it's very crowded right now, so you have to stand out. Go to college. When in college, seek work in a computer lab or some kind of computer support for the college. Don't give up on this! Be very aggressive in getting some kind of position in IT with the college. If you can't get a position with the college, then look elsewhere for a tech support job. Get your bachelors degree. Only get certifications if you find yourself lacking in a certain area and need to really know the product. But don't count on it getting you anywhere.
Oh, and one more thing...learn to work with people, not just computers.
Jeff
