Your Information Technology Career: Certification vs. Experience

Whether you're starting or jumpstarting your IT career, the "certification vs. experience" question is going to come up. Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, tells you how to get the best of both worlds.

Whether you're just starting your Information Technology career, or wanting to get further ahead in your current IT career, you have probably thought about earning one of the many popular computer certifications such as the Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) certification, or the MCSE (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer) cert.

A major point of frustration for individuals pursuing one of these certifications is a possible lack of experience with these technologies. Many future CCNAs or MCSEs simply stop trying to earn their certification, feeling that their lack of experience will hold them back.

Adding to this are those in IT who will stop everything they're doing at the drop of a hat to stomp on the dreams of others. I recently saw a post by an IT newcomer on a popular website where he declared his intention of earning his CCNA. Within minutes, several naysayers popped up and told him that he shouldn't bother, it wouldn't do any good due to his lack of experience, etc. (Did you ever notice that people who bash certifications generally don't have any themselves?)

I am in no way discounting the importance of experience. What I am saying is that every single one of us was a beginner at one point, and a lot of IT professionals forget this. None of us was born knowing everything we know today, and we shouldn't spend any time dismissing the goals of others in the IT field, or those just breaking in.


I am speaking from experience on this point. I had a tough time breaking into the IT field, and made a lot of calls and knocked on a lot of doors before I got in. I found out later that the reason I got that entry-level job is that I had a professional certification where the other candidates did not.

The pursuit of certification is the pursuit of knowledge, and in our field, you can never have too much knowledge. If your work is strictly on the Local Area Network side, don't let that stop you from pursuing a CCNA. If you work exclusively on the WAN side, don't let that stop you from going after your MCSE. If you're just breaking into Information Technology, don't let a lack of experience prevent you from studying for your A+, Network+, or even your MCSE or CCNA.

Because one day, opportunity is going to knock - and the more you know, the readier you'll be to answer that knock! Use your long-range vision to envision the day when you will have both experience and certification - an unbeatable combination.

How To Start Your Career In Information Technology

The hardest part of your IT career can be just getting it started!  Chris Bryant, Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert  #12933, shares his experiences and offers tips and advice on how to get started.

Many newcomers to Information Technology get an overly-optimistic picture of the field from tech school ads that continually make note that "an average MCSE salary is $80.000 a year!".  

And if someone's thinking of getting into IT and goes on the internet to do some research, they're met with the opposite end of the spectrum - complaint after complaint about how much IT is a terrible field, you can't break in, there's no room for newcomers, etc.

As usual, the truth lies in the middle.  As much as I love the IT field, I'll be the first to say that it's often hard to get that first job.  Many tech schools have a job placement department, and that can be one big plus in their favor. 

What if you don't have that resource working for you?  When you're breaking into any field, IT or not, you must not make the classic mistake of sending a ton of resumes and waiting for the phone to ring.   The odds are that it won't.

You must get out and talk to people.  The term "networking" doesn't just refer to allowing computers to talk to each other; it also refers to people talking to each other.  In your case, you've got to get out and meet people.  Check the business section of your local newspaper.  There will be dozens of networking meetings listed in there.  It doesn't matter that you aren't in the field yet; go to these meetings and meet people.  Initiative is never a bad thing.

And once you get that first job, make it count.  Show up on time and do what you say you'll do.  If you don't know something, dig into Google and find the answer or ask a more knowledgeable colleague.  (Just doing these few basic things will put you way ahead of the pack.)

Getting started in IT is as tough as breaking into any other field.  Having worked in a few different jobs in my life, though, I can tell you this:  No other field in the world rewards individual drive, initiative, and achievement like Information Technology.  The fact that you have to work so hard to get in will make your eventual and unstoppable success just that much sweeter.

How To Excel In A Technical Job Interview

A technical job interview can make anyone nervous!  Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, has been on both sides of the interview table, and offers you several tips on how to do your best in this pressure-packed situation.


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Ah, the technical interview.  Nothing like it.  Not only does it cause anxiety, but it causes anxiety for several different reasons.



How many people will be asking questions?  From experience I can tell you there’s nothing like walking into a room and seeing nine people on the other side of the table.  



Second, what will you be asked?  You’ll sometimes hear people say the questions they were asked in a technical interview were “easy”, which translated means “they asked me stuff I happened to know”.   Sometimes you’ll hear people say the questions were “hard”, which translated means “they asked me stuff I didn’t know”, or “they asked me about stuff I’ve never even heard of”.



Having been on both sides of the technical interview table, I’d like to share some tips for those being interviewed.  In doing so, I’ll share some of the more memorable interviews I’ve been involved in.



No good interviewer expects you to know everything.  The problem is, you’re not always going to be interviewed by someone who’s good at it.  



Sometimes, the person who’s giving you a technical interview was asked to do it about ten minutes before you showed up.   Maybe they’ve never interviewed anyone before, or maybe they’re just in a bad mood.   I’ve heard of technical interviewers where the interviewer derided an answer, and that’s totally unprofessional.  I’ve had many a job candidate give a bad answer to a question, and my only response was silence followed by moving on to the next question.  If your interviewer mocks any of your answers, you didn’t want to work there anyway.



None of us know everything.   If you’re asked a question you just don’t know the answer to, don’t try to BS your way past it.   This is a good opportunity to tell the interviewer how you would research that particular question.  It’s not about knowing everything, it’s about being able to find out anything.





If your interviewer acts like he/she already dislikes you, that’s because they do.   I once worked with a technician who felt threatened by anyone who applied for a job there, but especially if the applicant had a professional certification and then had the nerve to know what they were doing.



This technician participated in a group technical interview where the applicant was an incredibly bright guy, and had a particular skill that the department really needed.   Problem was, the technician considered himself “the man” when it came to that skill.  Recipe for disaster, right?



The applicant fielded four questions from the rest of us flawlessly, then faced this particular tech for a question.  The threatened tech had a list of questions for the interview, but decided to ad lib.  Big mistake.  He asked a convoluted question that Rube Goldberg would have been proud of.  When he was done, the applicant answered:



“You can’t do what you just described.”



The tech started defending his question, and it became obvious that he hadn’t been able to follow his own question!  The interview went into a bit of a meltdown from there.



Realize right now that there are some unprofessional people out there giving technical interviews.  Be prepared for it, but remain professional yourself.



Be prepared for a practical technical interview.  The best technical interviewers find a way to get you in front of the technology you’ll be working with.  A great way to quickly find out whether you know what you’re talking about is to ask you to actually perform common and perhaps some not-so-common tasks.   We can talk about technology and take all the computer-based exams we want, but it all comes down to performance.  Be prepared to prove you belong on your interview day.



Be professional.    This covers a lot of ground, so let me make a quick list for you.



Show up 15 minutes early.  Nothing makes a technical interviewer more surly than waiting for the applicant.



Dress for success.   The way you look when you walk into a room leads to your interviewer’s first impression of you.



Don’t chew gum during the interview.



Don’t be arrogant.   Look, there’s nothing wrong with having an ego and acting confident.  I do, and you should.  But don’t come into the interview room acting like you’re too good to be there.



Finally, relax.  Easy to say, hard to do?  Not really.  Realize that the majority of interviewers you’ll ever meet are going to be professional about the entire thing.  The world’s not going to end if you miss a question.  If you were not qualified on paper for the job, you wouldn’t be in there.



Do not look upon the interview as something negative.  Rather, look at it as an opportunity to prove you know what you’re talking about.  With the proper mental attitude, your technical interview will be a springboard to the next step in your career!



Chris Bryant

CCIE ™ #12933

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