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Wendell Odom

Your 2009 Certification Goals Vs. the Economy (Surveys)

By wendell on Mon, 01/05/09 - 11:23am.

I spent a lot of time with family and friends over the last couple of weeks, and had lots of conversations about the possibility of getting laid off, getting a new job before companies folded, and anything related to jobs. And it's also a new year, which is the most likely time for folks to think about setting goals. Those topics together got me thinking - what should the average networker do for setting professional development goals in 2009? Get deeper skills, or get broader? Get certified, or focus on the skills while ignoring the certs? Save cash in case layoffs happen, rather then spending the $$ to get a cert? Or, do you even look to change careers away from IT?

For example, just a few days ago, I talked with a friend whose contract with a large Service Provider just ended. No one in his group is getting their contract renewed, so while he's looking for the next gig, he's going to take the step from knowing a lot of CCNA/CCNP level stuff already to getting his CCNA. A family member of mine is looking for a new job because the layoffs at her current company have been happening every few months - so it may be better to jump to a more stable company now. Another family member is looking at helping his company iron out processes so the work can be outsourced outside of the USA. Those examples aren't meant for complaining or grousing, even by proxy - it's just a microcosm of what's happening in the world today.

So, back a little closer to the general topic of my ongoing blog - Cisco certs - what impact do these times have on our development plans and goals for 2009? Personally, I think it's important to spend the time to think about this year's goals, and we all tend to think more about goals around new year's anyway.  I do find it useful to write down the goals as well, although I admittedly don't do as well at that personally as I'd like to do.

In light of your current environment, I'd be curious to know what you'll do differently this year. Will you be more diligent in setting, writing down, and reviewing your development goals? Will you be more or less aggressive in going for Cisco certifications? Will the economy make you more likely to get Cisco certs, or more likely to focus on skills but ignore the cert process?

Weigh in with your comments and votes in the surveys, and I'll spend some more blog space on this general topic on my next post.

 

 

Get Certs!

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By Adrian M (not verified) on Mon, 01/05/2009 - 2:05pm.

In this moment of crysis i think the certs are even more important. Both for keeping the old job or for getting a new one.
Maybe if you start learning for a new cert you won't be fired. The company will see that you are trying to get more skills, improve yourself and maybe they'll consider you an employee worth keeping.
Also, if bad things happen and you are laid off, the certs will give more chances to be selected for interviews. There will be lots of people applying for jobs and certs might give you an advantage. Lots of people have the skills but don't have the certs. Skills are more important in your day to day job, but certs might help you when you're looking for a job.
I think this crysis is a good moment for learning more, getting more skills and being ready for changes in your professional life.

Getting the skills + cert

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By wendell on Wed, 01/07/2009 - 6:58am.

Adrian,

Thanks for the post.

Your post, along with an article at network World (print; couldn't find it online), spurred some interesting thoughts. It showed what IT pros think is important to list in resume's, and certs were... 6th! First was project and/or technology experience, 2nd was industry experience.

I make my living in the certification space, and I think they're important. But that ranking got me thinking that given a choice between volunteering to work extra hours on a project at work now, rather than study for a cert, it might have more short-term benefits than a cert for which you have no related work experience. Whatta ya think?

Wendell

I think certs are a good way

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By Adrian M (not verified) on Thu, 01/08/2009 - 12:33pm.

I think certs are a good way to prove that you are a good learner and you can learn stuff by your self. Project or work related experience might be oriented towards some specific areas which might not help you so much when you try to change your job.
It's hard to find a job in these days and i think that being certified in more than one area might give you an advantage.I think that being certified in multiple areas is a very important fact if you want mobility on the job market, by this i mean being able to find a new job after the old one(because you don't like it, you were fired,etc.).
It's good to have a CCIE(in R&S lets say), but it's also important if you also have a CCSP and/or CCVP.
From my experience, at the moment i'm going after the CCNP cert,after that i want to take the CCVP path and maybe get my R&S CCIE in a few years.

Education

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By TomT (not verified) on Mon, 01/05/2009 - 4:25pm.

Wendell -

While I don't necessarily think of it as "getting certs" or "not getting certs", I think this type of economy is the perfect time for one to invest in one's self and one's own education/development. The best investment you can make is in yourself.

I actually keep a 5 year plan for my personal and professional development. I set my goals up by month and keep track as I go along. I don't always reach what I'm shooting for, but at least I'm constantly moving forward.

When you're green, you grow...when you're ripe...you rot!!!!!

Reply from the partially rotting guy

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By wendell on Wed, 01/07/2009 - 7:02am.

Tom,

Love the quote. 5 year plan - fan of the old Soviet econimic system, eh? ;-) Seriously, that's inspired me.  I do feel like I'm rotting sometimes when it's been all work and no development of new knowledge and skills. I'm going to make a plan, write it down - maybe not for 5 years, but at least for 2 years - and even try the monthly goal review. We'll see if I can stop the rotting! ;-)

Wendell

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About Cisco Cert Zone

Odom, CCIE No, 1624, splits time between writing books for Cisco Press and teaching classes for Skyline ATS. In his 25-ish years in the networking industry, he has worked as as a pre-sale and post-sale SE for a few networking vendors, as well as a network engineer implementing network technology. Wendell has spent the majority of the last 15 years teaching, consulting, and writing about networking technologies, most of which in some way relate to Cisco products. His books include titles on QoS, CCIE R/S, as well as several titles related to CCNA certification, including the September 2007 book CCNA Official Exam Certification Library (CCNA Exam 640-802) (Read a sneak peek of chapter 7). Click for the list of current titles by Wendell.