IT Certifications - The Facts
IT Certifications are not meant for Career Change students who have no prior experience to validate!
Many Career Change students are misguided and placed in IT certification-based training programs as a starting point for their career change. These students find it very difficult to break into the IT field because they have no real world experience. We feel IT certification training is the wrong approach to training someone with no experience within the IT field, as it goes against the purpose of certifications.
Don't take our word for it. Let's look at what some of the popular IT certification vendors have to say about their certifications.
A+ Certification
The snapshot above is taken from CompTIA's A+ Certification page. Do not confuse "the starting point for a career" in the first paragraph as a IT certification course you should take to pass the exam as a beginner. A+ Certification is the starting point for most Computer technicians as their first IT certification. CompTIA recommends that an IT professional should have 500 hours of hands-on experience before attempting the certification exam, as indicated in the fourth paragraph.
A+ Certification is the first certification an IT professional takes when starting their career in the IT support field.
Many schools will place "career change" students into the A+ certification track, which is usually taught in 40 - 70 hours of instructor-led training.
The A+ Certification exam is a multiple choice exam. Students are expected to memorize facts and take practice exams with hundreds of questions to prepare for the exam.
Many Schools offer a test pass guarantee. The guarantee typically requires a student to do hundreds of practice questions and pass the practice exams with a certain percentage before they can attempt the actual exam to obtain their IT Certification.
The problem
How does a Career Change student with no prior experience in the IT field learn all the hands-on in 40 - 70 hours of classroom training that is designed to pass a multiple choice exam?
How much of the classroom time is spent on lecture and how much of that time is spent on hands-on labs?
How do you justify 500 hours of recommended experience in a 40 - 70 hour course for a career change student with no prior experience?
How do you expect to compete for a job in this economy as you are competing with experienced IT professionals?
How could you market your 30 - 40 hours of hands on experience to employers?
The IT certification based training approach is flawed when it comes to career change students. The A+ certification course taught in 40 - 70 hours should only be offered to someone who has the hands-on experience but needs to prep for the actual exam.
The truth is that once you have the hands on experience you don't need a training course to help you pass the exam. The certification validates your experience and you should not have a problem passing the test. Most schools will have you do thousands of practice questions to prepare for the exam and you can do that on your own once you have the experience!
CCTC is operated by an IT Consulting firm. Our unique training program is designed to graduate "experienced" IT professionals. CCTC offers what no other training school in Chicago offers: Real World Hands-on training.
MCSE Certification
The Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE certification) and any certification based on server platforms requires that you have a minimum of 1 or 2 years of hands-on experience working with servers in the real world. Note that most beginners or career change students start out at the PC Technician, helpdesk or desktop support level. They must work their way up to the server level and then gain 1 or 2 years of experience working on servers / networks.
The snapshot above is taken from Microsoft's MCSE certification page. The MCSE certification is meant for someone that has 1 - 2 years of real world experience working on network systems.
A career change student will first have to work in the field as a helpdesk / desktop support specialist for a year or two before they could be promoted to work on servers / network systems. After about one or two years of experience working on these systems you should attempt the MCSE certification. So, the typical profile of a candidate considering the MCSE certification should be someone with 2 to 4 years of real world experience in the IT field.
Career Change students are misguided and placed in these server / network certification tracks.
MCSE certification based courses are typically taught between 140 - 200 hours.
How do you justify 2 to 4 years of experience in 140 - 200 hours of classroom training for a beginner?
No company will allow a beginner to touch their servers or maintain their networks with no experience.
Career Change students end up wasting their time learning technologies that they will not be able to use in the real world after they graduate.
Most students who go through the typical A+ certification and MCSE certification program end up getting a low-end pc tech job, if they can find one.
IT Certification based training is incomplete!
There are many technologies used in the real world that are not taught in any one particular certification or book. Career Change Students who complete an IT certification based training program have zero experience with such technologies and have a hard time finding employment.
The problem again comes down to the fact that IT Certifications are meant for "experienced" professionals to "validate" their experience.
When career change students are misguided and misled to take "shortcuts" by attending an IT certification based training program they are the ones that have the most to lose.
CCTC offers a customized training program like no other in Chicago-land area. As IT professionals and an IT employer, we know what IT employers are looking for when they hire an IT professional.
Check out our <<Market Research>> link to learn how to research the demand for your field of interest. You will also learn how to research a training program offered by schools and if it will actually help you qualify for real jobs.
