Certs! Your ticket past HR

[Daemon]

Certifications, Certs. Those devilish things...
It seems like we in the hacker community, not just EZ but everyone in it, are very enthralled with the stereotypical "hacker" image in that we don't like to take courses. We idolize those gguys who are so 1337 that they can out-code, out-hack, and out-smart virtually everyone through self-taught skils aand a brilliant mind. And hell yes, it would be awesome to be the guy whose so pro he taught himself, then SEd himself a job despite his lack of formal qualifications or the guy who hacks so well that hhe gets a job ofder instead of going to jail. But the truth is, that is now the hardest way to get your self. a legit job that pays well. Instead its becoming much easier to either gget formal education and/or certifications. And lets face it, formal education blows. So that leaves certs, which cost money. Despite this though, you can get a respectable well paying job WITHOUT getting a degree so long as you get some certs to get you past HR and into an interview where you can show off your skills to an employer and land yourself a job.
Since tthere's hundreds out there, bot all of which are that useful, lets go ahead and list some on here!

MCP is one, by becoming a microsoft certified professional (lol I knoe) you can get some easier IT assistant jobs. Now idk if you have to be a part of a company to get it, but I'm sure they have individual certs as well. Personally ill be getting mine through work, just cause its an easy one and my boss needs it for his business.
Others are:
Comptia certs, there's a lot out there but the comptia a+ is a good beginner one, and the network+ and security+ are well respected.
Ccna certs, same as comptia in that there's a lot, but their also well respected
OSCP, very well respected if your looking to get into pen-testing/comp. security fields. A bit spendy though

What others can you guys think of that are actually well respected by companies/employers? List the certs abbreviation and whether its spendy or not, as well as a little bit about it such as what field it will help a person break into. Also tell us which ones to avoid because it just ain't worth it! Especially those of you who have experience/knowledge with HR and what their looking for. Nexus, pen-testing ones would be awesome. Any forensic analysts out there? Any programmers know of a few that'll help? Network admins, RedBullAddicted, tell us which ones will help us land a sys admin job. TurboBorland, if you still check the forums, post some on here. M0rph, any advice from you? Lets help each other out with some fuidance towards getting a day job so we can afford all the cool toys to hack all night 

[RedBullAddicted]

Yeah Daemon you are absolutely right. Certs are very important in the IT business. Which one you really need depends on the company you are working with. If you are going for a network specialist you wont get a job with a MCITP (Microsoft Certified IT Professional) Certificate. Even in the networking sector there are plenty of manufacturers with different certifications. Most likely your company will tell you what certificate they want to see. I was working for an IT supporter for a couple of years and they need specific certificates for a better partner level with different manufacturers.

Here are just a few I see around very often.
VCP - VMware Certified Professional
MASE - Master Accredited System Engineer HP Networking (highest Level)
CCIE - Cisco Certified Internet Expert (the most recognized network certification ever.. really difficult! You can have that certification at different topics like routing and switching, voip, san, security and so on)

If you ever get a CCIE certification you dont need to care about jobs. They will come to you automatically... lol.

These are the ones I have:
MASE HP ProCurve (the old one before HP Networking), CCNA, CCNP, CCSP, RCSP (Riverbed Certified Solution Professional) and the last I made was CNSE (Palo Alto Certified Security Engineer).

For someone in the network field I would recommend all of them.

[Z3R0]

As RedBullAddicted has said, the Cisco Certs are all very well respected, and even a CCNA can land you a 70k job. The only advice I have with certs though, is don't rely solely on help-guides like passforsure. It's fine if you're using those services for a quick review, but don't expect to pass an exam with only those questions and answers. From my experience, CompTIA Security+ and Network+ are extremely easy to obtain. In my opinion, CompTIA certs are also very over-hyped (which is good for getting a job, but bad for the actual knowledge gained from them). As for CCNA, that path of certification takes a lot of time (researching, getting experience with the IOS, learning additional modules for the devices, trouble-shooting experience, etc), but you will come to understand networks in a completely different sense than what you may think now, and the knowledge gained is extremely valuable.

My Certs:
****, Sec+, Net+

I'm constantly working on OSCP. It's kind of hard for me to work at it when I'm always moving all over the place. I've gained a lot of knowledge just from the course itself, and I've noticed my attack technique is constantly improving and more precise than ever before. I can't wait to finish it.

[Stormhammer]

Dont forget that the CCNA is split to the CCENT/CCNA now!

Also, CCNA doesnt always guarantee you that 70k job. I know a guy working helpdesk for 35k/yr with a CCNA.

That, or he just sucks at finding jobs and passing interviews.

[lucid]

Don't mind me guys, but what would your recommendations on the first certificate to go for be? Also, are there any particular books that are better than others?

[fox]

Lucid; There are heaps of things to learn. Some good material is over at bitme / bitspyder. I've got an invite for a few people just pm me.

[Dijkstra]

 I think it really depends on what YOU want to do. If you like the application side of things better, go microsoft, MCSE is very respected, although I believe it has been replaced by something else. Microsoft also offers a programming certification route, C# is in high demand where I am at.
 
 I went for my AAS, planned on going for my BA in computer science. I went ahead and got my A+ and Network +, while I was working on my AAS. Figured it would help me in the future. I started getting real interested on the networking side of things, going into a comm closet and seeing tons of networking equipment all wired together (not having any idea how it worked at the time), feeling the cool air from the massive AC units keeping everything cool, I knew as soon as I saw it, that I wanted to be a network guy. Thus the end of my college career, and the start of my job career.
 
 So I got my CCENT, CCNA, CCNA:Security, and my CCNP . I landed a network administration job after I got my CCNA. Now that I've got my CCNP I am on my way to earning the position of a network engineer. I work in a network of pretty much only cisco gear. I am also managing ISA/TMG firewalls, but those are a Microsoft application.
 
 I see a lot of employers looking for Juniper experience as well. They are kind of shadowing Cisco in their certification tracks. I have thought about jumping over and getting an associate certification from them just to widen my employment opportunities.
 
 I am very passionate about networking. If you want to get your foot in the door on that side of infrastructure go for the CCNA. The CCENT is a good start, but I don't see many employers wanting it, I mainly see CCNA. Once you have that, find what you like best, (Routing/Switching, Voice, Security, Wireless, Design), and go down that path.

[HeRo]

True. Certificates are something you can hold and be proud of. A have a really bad record when it comes to formal education, and had to take an acceleration exam just to finish high school. And since I'm 21 now, going to college to a shitty country like mine would be a definite no for me. From there, I reviewed various certification lessons (CompTia+a, CEH), so far I've finished understanding all the lectures. What is left is for me to gain some monehh and take the exams.


For someone like me, certificates will be the foundation of my skills. That is why I took the liberty to take 3 separate edX courses while it's free.


I plan to take the A+ and CEH certification this year, and continue collecting more for the coming 2012.


But be reminded that holding a degree can never be as satisfying as holding a certificate for both you, your parents, and employers.

[Mordred]

I'm sorry for the necro, but I thought that since this thread exists already and I have some questions regarding certs it's better to revive it than to create a new one.


Hey guys, I've been doing a bit of research on which certifications I would like/want/need to take after I get my Bachelor's degree. I'll start off by saying that I don't intend to do a Master's course because I think it's too expensive and too time consuming for my own career goals when compared to taking a few certifications.

Now to the juicy stuff. I mostly am looking to profile myself on penetration testing and malware analysis (haven't done anything related to the latter yet, but I'm very interested) and because I'm a perfectionist and I consider myself to be quite intelligent, I intend to take a few exams before trying to get a job so that I can boost my CV and experience intensively right before jumping into the job market.

Below is a list of certifications that I compiled from various sources. In green are diplomas I already have (so that you guys know), in orange are the certifications I would like to take before starting job-hunt, and in red are the certs that I want to have within the next 5 years. Apart from what's below I'm of course open to any other ideas! So the list:

    CCNA Cisco Certified Networking Administrator
    CCNP Cisco Certified Networking Professional
    CEH Certified Ethical Hacker
    CIPP Certified Information Privacy Professional
    CISM Certified Information Security Manager
    CISSP Certified Information Systems Security Professional
    GIAC Global Information Assurance Certification
    LPT Licensed Penetration Tester
    AHC Anti-Hacking Certification
    AISC Advanced Information Security Certification
    CHFI Computer Hacking Forensic Investigator
    CPP Certified Protection Professional
    SSEC Software Security Engineering Certification
    OSCP Offensive Security Certified Professional
    OSCE Offensive Security Certified Expert
    OSEE Offensive Security Exploitation Expert
    OSWE Offensive Security Web Expert

So which ones do you think are good to do?

[silenthunder]

I'm getting my Comptia A+ in 2 months or so!

[lucid]

I'm working towards my CCNA. Well, I'm studying for the CCENT right now with the intention of getting my CCNA as well as my CCNP. Got a groupon thing that gives me modules and practice tests for all CCENT and CCNA and then some. Which leads me to a question. What certificates are associated with:

 ICOMM v8.0 - Introducing Cisco Voice and Unified Communications Administration (Cisco_461)

Implementing Cisco IOS Network Security - IINS

Implementing Cisco IP Switched Networks - SWITCH

Troubleshooting and Maintaining Cisco IP Networks - TSHOOT

Implementing Cisco IP Routing - ROUTE

I realize this is probably a dumbass question but there are so many certificates out there and I've heard of CCNP and CCIE as well as CCNA and CCENT in regards to Cisco but I don't know what these are.

[Z3R0]

I realize this is probably a dumbass question but there are so many certificates out there and I've heard of CCNP and CCIE as well as CCNA and CCENT in regards to Cisco but I don't know what these are.

CCENT is one test out of two for CCNA, unless if you want to take the CCNA mega-test.
CCNP is the level of certification above CCNA, yet lower than CCIE.
CCIE is the top level of Cisco networking certifications, unless if you plan on working for Cisco (then you can still go higher yet).

You can technically try to test for any CCIE-level certification at any time, without any prerequisites (but it's extremely expensive, and extremely difficult).

It's a really sad day when you are more qualified than your boss. -_-

[lucid]

Well so are the ones I posted their own certs? Like are SWITCH, TSHOOT, IINS, and ROUTE certificates or are they called something else.

[Mordred]

The Cisco curriculum is divided over CCNA and CCNP as a major division. Each of these in it's own is then subdivided as follows:

CCNA - 1. Introduction; 2. Route; 3. Switching; 4. Accessing the WAN;
CCNP - 5. ROUTE; 6. SWITCH; 7. TSHOOT (there used to be a module 8 about WAN again but it was removed)

If you take the exams directly, you take an exam for CCNA or CCNP which encompasses everything.
If you do your exams as part of a study (as I did) you're enrolled in the Cisco Networking Academy and you do your exams one by one, however they have both a theoretical and a skills-based assessment (with the exception of Cisco 1; Cisco 2&3&4 have group skills exams; Cisco 5&6&7 have individual skills exams).

As far as my understanding goes, it's easier to take the direct exam because it's not tremendously difficult and most importantly there is no practical part. In my class out of 40 students we lost around 20 just because of the difficulty of some of these skills exams.


Later edit: Oh yeah, and apart from those modules, I also took two extra ones: Wireless and VoIP. These were standalone and not part of the normal Cisco Networking Academy curriculum.

[lucid]

The Cisco curriculum is divided over CCNA and CCNP as a major division. Each of these in it's own is then subdivided as follows:

CCNA - 1. Introduction; 2. Route; 3. Switching; 4. Accessing the WAN;
CCNP - 5. ROUTE; 6. SWITCH; 7. TSHOOT (there used to be a module 8 about WAN again but it was removed)

If you take the exams directly, you take an exam for CCNA or CCNP which encompasses everything.
If you do your exams as part of a study (as I did) you're enrolled in the Cisco Networking Academy and you do your exams one by one, however they have both a theoretical and a skills-based assessment (with the exception of Cisco 1; Cisco 2&3&4 have group skills exams; Cisco 5&6&7 have individual skills exams).

As far as my understanding goes, it's easier to take the direct exam because it's not tremendously difficult and most importantly there is no practical part. In my class out of 40 students we lost around 20 just because of the difficulty of some of these skills exams.

Awesome! So not only do I have access to resources for learning and testing CCNA I also have CCNP at my disposal. That's wonderful