as far as i know....having these certifications does make a difference in ur job prospects, rising up the ranks, salary....etc....discuss discuss

any1 have any opinions? any1 interested in taking up any courses?

it does make different as you mentioned. especially in IT Vendor industry. they require you to get the certs.

take me as example, when I was in technical field. I had MCSA, MCSE, MCDBA, MCAD, CCNA, CCDA, CCNP, CCDP, OCA, OCP, etc. I have no problem to find a job, to demand high pay, to sit in senior position.

the same goes to PMP, Prince2, CBCP, CISSP, CISA, CISM, ITIL, CDCP, etc.

wah, so many certs out there kaa?? i'll be continuing my CCNA next month thou..

Yes, having few certs can help you advance in your career..But, working with company that recognize those certs will be another factor for you to move forward..

one question though, seems like every company nowadays require ITIL.. what's that cert for?? more to technical or management??

ITIL is a management certification. dealing with IT management processes. recent years many MNCs following the trend (globalization) ie. from CMMI to ISO27001 to ITIL to BCP.

do take ITIL foundation certification to have advantages in securing job.

wow.....clngu....tht resume of urs is totally awesome

mind 2share some of ur experiences wit e rest of us...respect

Wah, very respect u.

U sure spend a lot effort and time to take those exam .

How many years in total for u to collect all the cert ???

haha. those were part of my technical certification. I have CIW, CompTIA, Novell, HP, Citrix and IBM Lotus in hand as well.

not to mention management certification. since this thread is about technical.

previously my job was covering all IT related tasks ie. management proposal, budget and report, design and presentation, administration and maintenance. therefore I have opportunity to play around with windows desktop system to midrange unix system, routers and switches, cabling and fiber optic, etc.

after working for two years, I then only realized the important of having IT certification in my career. so I decided to pursue my very first one - Cisco CCNA. it took me three months self-study to sit for the exam. the moment I passed it, I felt so great. from there onwards, I continued to obtain other certifications. within 18 months, I got a stack of technical certificates.

when I went for interview, the interviewer looked at my resume. the first impression was WOW. after that within few days, called me to come and sign the offer letter. haha.

you paid for all the exam fees or company-sponsored?

Wow you really expert man ..

Did you self study most of your cert or attend for class ?

How long time you took ?

Im currently aiming for CCNA, and that took such long time for me ..

some paid by company, some paid by myself. however majority from my own pocket.

I did not attend any training class. wasting time and money. just bought official curriculum and reading materials from bookstores. and done hands-on.

you need to commit to yourself, push yourself to study and take the exam.

but the training kit of MCSE and CCNP quite expensive

i've attended ITIL course, but failed the exam huhuhuhu

investment in IT certification is big. but ROI is hugh. example, spend 10k and get 50-75% increment.

clngu ..

may i know how long you took from beginning ?

Im tyring my best self study too ... but hands on i have no idea lol ... no lab or anything.

clngu, do you mind telling what jobs you've held and are currently holding? And also, how much do you think a fresh grad today with CCNA can get for a network admin/network security analyst job?



This post has been edited by NicholasG5: Jun 19 2008, 12:16 PM

clngu,

do you mind to tell me, how much you earn per month? ...just roughly only

coz, i think right now i've been underpaid , 2.5 years on Networking environment with no any network cert , i earn

around rm3k only ... need to support my wife too . thinking to take ccna and ccnp within this year. do you

think how much i get increment?

---

Added on June 19, 2008, 4:20 pmi got officemate ,holding degree + ccna + 1 year exp . my company offered around rm2300 + - , but i think, if fresh grad also around that figure too.

This post has been edited by r34: Jun 19 2008, 04:20 PM

[quote=Hybz,Jun 19 2008, 09:30 AM]
clngu ..

may i know how long you took from beginning ?

Im tyring my best self study too ... but hands on i have no idea lol ... no lab or anything.

[/quote]
1st certification took me 3 months to achieve. if taking technical exam, no hands-on before. quite tough but still possible to pass the exam without practical experience.

[quote=NicholasG5,Jun 19 2008, 12:14 PM]
clngu, do you mind telling what jobs you've held and are currently holding? And also, how much do you think a fresh grad today with CCNA can get for a network admin/network security analyst job?

[/quote]
am in IT managerial position now. depends on which industry you move into, fresh graduate with CCNA can get RM3k for network administration related job. for security analyst job, you need IT security certification.

[quote=r34,Jun 19 2008, 04:13 PM]
clngu,

do you mind to tell me, how much you earn per month? ...just roughly only

coz, i think right now i've been underpaid , 2.5 years on Networking environment with no any network cert , i earn

around rm3k only ... need to support my wife too . thinking to take ccna and ccnp within this year. do you

think how much i get increment?

[/quote]
RMxx,xxx per month. 2.5 years networking experience (depends on the complexity of your environment) with CCNA - around RM3.5-4k. with CCNP - around RM4.5-5k. (also depends on which industry you move into).

---

Added on June 19, 2008, 4:20 pm

i got officemate ,holding degree + ccna + 1 year exp . my company offered around rm2300 + - , but i think, if fresh grad also around that figure too.

[/quote]
yupe. many fresh graduate without experience can get that amount or more.

clngu!!!

I had a CCNA, MCSE, MCSA: Security, LPIC - 1 + BCompSc (Hons) with 2.6 working experience in firewall, network and system environment . How much should i get the paid?

This post has been edited by Secret_Garden: Jun 19 2008, 08:46 PM

wahhh so many...suddenly u become my hero...lol...bro im thinking on taking the MCSE or maybe CCNA cert...how much course and how to register??

Hey HURUHAR..i know why u failed the exam..everynite FIFA08..haha..joking dude.. me also gonna take CCNA end of this year...self study need more time n practice..

I'm AGree with you ......... Need more practical @@

Don't know it is good news for you or not ....
i plan to sell my cisco home lab, if you are interested kindly let me know or pm me ... sell in cheapest price @@

I'm having 3x 2600 series 1x 2500 series and 1x 2950 switches ... enough for CCNA, CCNP, CCDP and CCIP.

Thanks

wow...................


may i know, can u get 10K per month with the below cert's ?

1st time i hear ppl got own cisco lab at home for practical ...

salute u all

very much depending on which technical certification you hold. from my experience with MCSA, MCSE, MCDBA, MCAD, CCNA, CCDA, CCNP, CCDP, OCA, OCP, you can easily earn RM9k with relevant experiences.

if you want to earn RM10k above, you need something else. i can guide you to earn RM15k or even RM80k per month with the right certification and experience in your career.

[deleted]

This post has been edited by NicholasG5: Jun 23 2008, 10:37 AM

am given to understand that most of the IT fresh graduates having difficulties to find their right career path. let me share my experience.

from the threads, am found most of you interested in pursuing Cisco CCNA certification, which is ok as majority MNCs is using Cisco products as part of their IT strategic plan. most of the local universities provide industrial training (to gain some levels of knowledge and experience) to students before they graduated. some universities partner with IT service providers (example Cisco) to provide products knowledge to students.

now the question is how to secure the job easily and get higher pay than others. 1st - you need to know your interest at the moment ie. networking, programming, database, compliance, security, disaster recovery, etc. 2nd - you need to know the current IT trend in local industries ie. mobile technology in banking sector, radio technology in logistic sector, etc. 3rd - you need to know the skill/knowledge needed in local industries ie. disaster recovery in banking sector, ITIL in insurance sector, etc.

let assume you interested in networking and would like to work in bank. the skill and knowledge require for this area is very broad. so let say you prefer security specialization. now what do you need. you need anything related to networking and security knowledges. sound too many for fresh graduates. in today market, for fresh graduates to work in bank as ... [sorry. be right back.]

clngu,
its very noble of u to share ur experience in this...
i'm not a fresh grade but i wanted to specialize in sumthing rather than do IT clerical works. so now i'm planning to get some certs for advancement...
still clueless tho... i know bits of networking, server, programming, security etc... like i said, 'bits' of this and that...

really appreciate it if u can give some tips and advise...

ps:- keep up the good work...

This post has been edited by winnie08: Jun 23 2008, 12:11 PM

hmm, got a question, currently im now final year in electrical and electronics. So is all this cert important for me? Btw, i do have a course name CCNA larr. Will all this cert helps to advance my career in the future?

thanks !

[continue]

let assume you interested in networking and would like to work in bank. the skill and knowledge require for this area is very broad. so let say you prefer security specialization. now what do you need. you need anything related to networking and security knowledges. sound too many for fresh graduates. in today market, for fresh graduates to work in bank as network security engineer/security analyst. the candidates require to have IT networking certification as well as IT security certification. normally without working experience (just paper qualification), the interviewers are not easily to be convinced. but then you need to learn how to tackle such situation into your advantages.

since you gone through industrial training (attached to MNC for couple of months), to certain circumstances you did learn something in that organization. next you passed CCNA exam. the cert added value to your resume even though your hands-on experience very little. with basis degree and CCNA still not enough to help you to work in bank as network security engineer/security analyst with higher pay. but CCSP/CISSP level is too high for fresh graduates. what you need to acquire is some network security certifications ie. CIW Security Analyst, CompTIA Network+, CompTIA Security+, Security Certified Program SCNS, etc. these are vendor-neutral type of certification. it is a very good start for fresh graduates or junior level professionals. it is not advisable for fresh graduates to take product-specified ie. Microsoft, Novell, HP, etc. due to hands-on experience is required.

of course if you are an ambitious person, then you can acquire some IT management certifications that the bank is looking for. fresh graduates can take ITIL foundation without working experience.

from my observation/experience, i summarize the type of skills/knowledges that IT professionals should equip for their career development.

Hard Skills (Technical)

Networking
- Cisco CCNA, CCNP, CCSP, CCIE
- Nortel NCSS, NCSE, NCA

Database
- Oracle OCA, OCP, OCM
- Microsoft MCDBA

Programming
- Microsoft MCAD, MCSD
- Sun SCJA, SCJP

Firewall
- Checkpoint CCSA, CCSE, CCMA
- Juniper JNCIA, JNCIS

Technology
- Microsoft MCSA, MCSE
- Linux LPI Level 1 & 2
- Sun SCSA, SCNA
- Novell, HP, IBM, Citrix

Soft Skills (Management)

Project Management
- CAPM, PMP
- Prince2

Business Continuity
- ABCP, CBCP, MBCP

Audit
- CISA, CISM, SOX, ISO 27001 Lead Auditor, ISO 9001 Lead Auditor, CFE

Wireless
- CWNA, CWSP, CWNE

Security
- ISC2 SSCP, CISSP
- SCP-SCNS, SCNP, SCNA
- EC-Council CEH, CHFI, LPT

Storage Area Network
- SNIA SCSP, SCSE, SCSA

---

Added on June 23, 2008, 3:53 pmif you want to earn 10k and above after 5-10 years concrete experiences, you need specific skills/knowledges. in today job market, the high-pay career is;

1. Business Continuity CBCP and MBCP
2. Project Management PMP (working in US-based company) and Prince2 (working in UK-based company)
3. Information Security CISSP, CISM, ISO27001 Lead Auditor, CEH, CHFI
4. IT Service Management ITIL Practitioner and ITIL Service Manager
5. Network Infrastructure Cisco CCIE
6. Database Oracle OCP and OCM
7. Storage Network SNIA SCSE and SCSA
8. Data Centre CDCS and CDCE


about Cisco CCIP and CCVP, you should be able to earn RM5k. where to work. preferable Vendor industry.

about SAP, am not working in the environment before. from my friends' feedback. you only get high pay once you able to gone through at least 1-2 full lifecycle. if i were you, my advice is to get SAP Security certification.

This post has been edited by clngu: Jun 23 2008, 03:53 PM

if you want to earn 10k and above after 5-10 years concrete experiences, you need specific skills/knowledges. in today job market, the high-pay career is;

1. Business Continuity CBCP and MBCP
2. Project Management PMP (working in US-based company) and Prince2 (working in UK-based company)
3. Information Security CISSP, CISM, ISO27001 Lead Auditor, CEH, CHFI
4. IT Service Management ITIL Practitioner and ITIL Service Manager
5. Network Infrastructure Cisco CCIE
6. Database Oracle OCP and OCM
7. Storage Network SNIA SCSE and SCSA
8. Data Centre CDCS and CDCE


about Cisco CCIP and CCVP, you should be able to earn RM5k. where to work. preferable Vendor industry.

about SAP, am not working in the environment before. from my friends' feedback. you only get high pay once you able to gone through at least 1-2 full lifecycle. if i were you, my advice is to get SAP Security certification.

depends on whether you like IT governance (more to design, analysis, lots of paperwork) or IT Installation/Maintenance (more to support, lots of labor work). or call centre environment, picking up calls.

also very much depending on your interest. one of my friends from E&E field moved into IT Networking. he chose to specialize in Cisco products. so he took CCNA, CCNP and CCIE. now working in Shell Cyberjaya.

hi clngu,
i would like to know how and where did you applied for your CCNA and CCNP exam?

This post has been edited by ahshang: Jun 23 2008, 05:31 PM

you mean register ?

yup, i would like to take these exams without taking formal courses as well.

Thanks a lot guy, i learned alot in this topic...
Salute to clngu, u r god-likely for me lolz...

i'm a lost IT diploma holder (due to wrong trusting college) & dunno where to go....
stuck in current job (non IT field) make me really sick of it...
Should i go for Degree or Pro Certs or just continue lost?
CAn any one suggest me what to do?

im already enough to stick inside IT helpdesk picking calls and doing email and desk work ... very hard to jump

Im interested in IT, more toward networking, servers, security, data centre , midrange , mainframe etc

not really into programming n oracle thingy ...

Can u guide me how to make money with SCJP cert? I want to take SCWCD next year if my money enough.

I just have MCP. my colleague started take exam for MCTS . but my company not rili use .NET. mostly on java and php. so i intend to take oracle or java cert. any centre can recommend around KL for me to take exam ? tks.

I'm doing my own CCNA study rite now. Hopefully to get it in few months time.
After that, I might consider Security or SE. See how. Still need $$$ for all this.

how?
1. go to Pearson VUE
2. go to Test Taker Services. under Select your category. choose Information Technology (IT). Select your program. choose Cisco Systems.
3. under Test Scheduling. choose Schedule Online. the choose Career Certifications and Specialization Exams.
4. now choose Create a web account. if you have not register in VUE before.

where?
1. login to VUE. select a Test Centre.

remember to plan your budget. the moment you done a schedule, select a test centre and made a payment online. you have to commit yourself to it.

hi clngu,

how can i register for microsoft, oracle and some other certifications?
Pearson VUE does not provide any courses about that.

for example, how I register myself for PMP and where to get the course materials?
besides that, if i want to take MCPD, what are the exams that I should take? how can i register it if i do not want to go through the training centre?

it seems quite hard to search for the local information about these certifications through the website.

This post has been edited by CosmicZone: Jun 24 2008, 11:40 AM

Microsoft exam certification is conduct by PROMETRIC if i not mistaken.

Last time i took my microsoft cert under Prometric and Cisco cert under Pearson VUE

1. go to Prometric
2. under Select your testing program. choose both. select Microsoft.
3. under Select your region. choose Malaysia.
4. select Next.
5. choose Schedule an Appointment.
6. select Next and Next.
7. choose Exam number and Language.
8. select Next.
9. choose Available Test Sites.
10. now choose Are you a new user. if you have not register in Prometric before.

for PMP, you need to fulfill 35 contact hours before registering for the exam. either you attend Exam Preparation course locally or online.

clngu, thanks for your help Will register on VUE.com.

take me as example. when I graduated (BSc Computer Science from non-famous university) few years ago, I had hard time to find IT job with good pay. my 1st job was doing IT support with RM1.6k salary. after working for 2 years, I managed to get a new job with RM2.7k salary. after working for 1.5 years, I felt I lost my direction. I was standing in cross road. my career never improve and I was doing the routine works day-in day-out.

so I decided to pursue my study in order to develop my new career. at that time I had little savings to allow me to take Master Degree. the part-time programme would take 2 years to complete. so I done my research about what Master Degree I aim for and which college to study.

one day I talked to my friends. I found that they were taking ACCA, CIMA, CIM, CPA, etc. then I started asking them what was that. only at that moment I given to understand there was something called professional certificate, licensed/registered career. so I started doing research about IT professional certificate.

finally, I had 2 options in front of me to choose for my career development. one is taking Master Degree. another one is taking Professional Certification. say I have RM20k in hand.

option 1 - taking Master Degree. need 2 years part-time to complete it and get the certificate. then may be can find a higher position and get RM2k increment. so after 2 years, salary would be RM5k.

option 2 - taking professional certification. depends how many certificate i want to get. say as many as possible within RM20k. say need 1.5 years to change job. position and salary would be determined by the type and number of certification i hold at that moment.

at last I made decision to choose option 2. shorter route. Master degree can take later. within 6 months completed Cisco CCNA, CCDA, CCNP and CCDP. another 6 months completed Microsoft MCSA, MCSE, MCDBA and MCAD. another 6 months completed OCA, OCP and etc.

then I went to Headhunter to submit my resume and requested RM5k job. they very impressed about my qualification. within 1 week i received interview from MNC. during interview, I showed HR and interviewer my professional certifications. no question at all from them. within a week i got an offer of RM5k job. after working for 3 months, I saw from newspaper that a MNC hiring professionals with some certifications that I was holding at that time. so I just try to send my resume to them, request RM7.5k. within 1 week I received interview from them. after interview, HR called me on 3rd day to sign the offer letter stated RM7.5k. my story goes on. today my pay is 5 digits.

All the certification u study yourself or using Testking? or Pass4Sure?

not too late to change your career. your interest is broad. i have to ask you to choose it by priority.

networking, servers, security, data centre, midrange, mainframe. arrange them from 1 to 6.

all study by myself. books from Kinokuniya and MPH. hands-on from working experience. I know Testking but never buy it. sometime googling to find free question and answer to know how the exam format being structured. sometime friends sharing testking with me if they got it.

it is tough to just self-study and hands-on. I failed exam few times as well. so referring to Testking or Pass4Sure is no harm. my advice is don't rely too much on TK or P4S to get certified. be a real competent professional. not a paper qualification professional with little skills and knowledge.

might consider Security, so the decision is not firm yet. you have how many year of working experience.

I'm considering server as well. I'm currently the assistant for a bunch of network engineers in a local ISP company.
Working experience? Around 4 years already.

i got CCNA,win in Cisco Network Skill Competition,cisco partner company only offer me 1.8k - 2.0k...how come?

a single specialty hard to earn more. if you look at Java certification route map, there are 5 specializations and 1 master. with only SCWCD, you won't go too far. should do research about current Java trend in today job market in Malaysia and which industry require Java professionals.

i would say either to take all 3 specialties under Java EE or to take 1 specialty from each Java SE, Java EE and Java ME or to achieve SCEA.

hi,may i know wat kind of company u working?is IT company or bank, finance?

clngu, ur story made me feel that still hope for me thanks you very much & i already looking for books to study myself already thanks for sharing

4 years working in ISP. allow me to advice on your career path.

1. ISP, great point to add value in your resume.

2. Server Administration, what type of server ie. File, E-mail, Internet, Application, etc. and technology platform ie. Microsoft, Sun Solaris, HP-UX, IBM, Linux, etc. you wish to focus.

3. Security, you prefer to concentrate on security design and implementation or security analysis and investigation.

Actually I worked for this ISP company for more than a year now. Before that I was IT Admin/Support doing mainly clerical works like MsOffice, etc for 2 different companies;- one at a local hotel and one at subcon company for government.

Joined the ISP company early last year thru my cousin; one of the network engineers there. She was the only girl there. Now got 1 more lady engineer and me as their assistant.



We have file, email, application(I think) servers here... on Windows2003 and Linux.
So I guess its probably Microsoft or Linux...


I'm not sure which... one of my task rite now is monitoring the IDS for our company.. using Broadweb hardware and BEMS monitor...



This post has been edited by winnie08: Jun 24 2008, 02:43 PM

am working in Financial industry.

I will discuss later why you need paper qualification to support your career development. there is this thing called Talent Management. and it has been implemented in many MNCs.

depends on you working for Gold or Silver or Premier Cisco Partner.

there is always a hope. you have to be confident, passion and ambitious. study and learn hard. don't be lazy.

i would agree to be ambitious... other then certification what else

then you take MCTS and MCITP on Server Technologies. and Linux LPI Level 1-3 or Red Hat certificates.

IDS monitoring is under analysis and investigation. you can take EC-Council CEH, CHFI, ECSA and LPT. and Microsoft MCTS on Security. and CIW Security Analyst.

with the above certificates, you already no problem to get job and salary increment in Vendor industry ie. Microsoft or Financial industry ie. Bank, Insurance and Securities or Oil and Gas industry ie. Shell, Exxon Mobil or other MNCs.

if you are an ambitious person, see beyond the future. with 4 years working experience, you can take security certification CISSP, storage certification SNIA, IT service management certification ITIL and project management PMP. rest assure you will get a very good job and pay.

i had gone for the Cisco Gold Partner Company interview,they just offer 1.8-2.0k...
but now i also work in financial company,not bank but doing financial planning..i doing IT Support,support IT infrastructure they have..
but seem not so professional..bcoz the main core business is not IT,for the things more professional,they outsource to vendor..

This post has been edited by realnormalman: Jun 24 2008, 03:35 PM

Wow clngu... thanks for the tips!!!
Will do a research on the courses available...
Really appreciate it!!! *smooches*

you are fresh graduate, am I correct?

Cisco Gold Partner normally won't pay lot to CCNA as they already have many CCNA holders. unless you have something they looking for.

i guess you working in Insurance company. since you doing financial planning, no harm to take CFP and RFP and LOMA. those certificates definitely add values to your career development. normally company subsidizes 100% or 50% for their staff to take the course.

in Financial industry, you better take ITIL since most of them is implementing the processes now.

clngu and others,
do u know any places that provide microsoft(other than informatics) and ec-council training and exam?
normally how much the cost?

thanks a bunch!

APIIT, InfoTrek. EC-Council training not cheap oh.

yaya..i m fresh grad,i m not working in insurance company,just a company selling unit trust like tat..
thanks for ur recommentation..

Oh. Are u suggesting me to study on my own and just take the test when I'm ready?
Is that possible? I mean, I dont know how the test looks like, similar to CCNA?

the 1st exam you need to take is CEH. a theoretical exam. you can buy official self-study kit or go to Kinokuniya/MPH to get alternate reading materials ie. Sybex, etc. but you really need to study hard. no more entertainment.

of course is better to attend CEH training ie. APIIT, whereby trainer give you 5-day intensive knowledge in order for you to be ready to sit for the exam.

CCNA is Cisco product exam. CEH is about hacking. quote "A Certified Ethical Hacker is a skilled professional who understands and knows how to look for the weaknesses and vulnerabilities in target systems and uses the same knowledge and tools as a malicious hacker."

few years ago, a candidate who holds CEH can demand RM10-12k with relevant experiences.

clngu,i now doing the IT Support,dun know whether choosing the right path or not..coz the job not touching into deep on the IT related thing..just support the normal server n network..if faces more advance problem the company wil look for vendor d..so is it good?

Lol. U misunderstood me. What I meant was, the test/exam style... nevermind. I just downloaded a sample test for CEH.
Thanks anyway.

Hmmm... last question for today, should I go on with my CCNA or change to MCTS or CEH or...?

Phew. Loads of reading. Felt my head wanna burst. Pening pening. Thanks clngu and others for the tips.

Hi Cingu,

How your made it ? in six month you can aim to finish CCNA and CCNP.Another six month you finish MCSA ,MCSE etc.This consider very hard and tough challenge .You have to work daily so each day you only sleep 3-4 hours.Huh any secret recipy to share to all of us here.First how you able to manage you time to grab a cert in this short time.

Thank

---

Added on June 24, 2008, 9:36 pmhi Cingu,

Thanks for sharing,you really make me feel that there is still a hope for me.I have a basic degree in Comp Sci work at IT support line as system engineer for 4 hours.Experience still very green coz all the while i am working in a end user company to provide support to end user means provide the first level support in server,email ,desktop,backup etc.....The next higher level of support is usually outsource to vendor.I have senior but he is very selfish in knowledge so everything have to self swim.I found that i no luck work in IT line.Everywhere i go i have to survive myself?which i mean my senior is not helpful or no senior at all.Currently i plan to take MCSE to take add my value.

I would like to check with you in case i want to move my line to Oracle next? how should i start the initial step? As i know for Oracle database the company very seldom will hire for fresh grad as this is the critical application.Beside where can i get the course for Oracle beside Oracle Malaysia which is expensive .Kindly advice to get the OCA and OCP.Do you do your self study anyway?

Hope the better will come... thanks

This post has been edited by Leong Forever: Jun 24 2008, 09:36 PM

Depending too much on ur seniors wont take u far.
I had alot of problem coping with everyone in my previous companies since its a very rare sight for a girl to apply for technical jobs.
When I asked for help(no, not those noobs kinda questions), the guys would either be too shy, skeptical or have no confidence in sharing the knowledge with me.
Shy becoz they never met a girl before(lol).
Skeptical, whether I truthfully wanna learn or just ask questions randomly.
Have no confidence, whether I as a girl can handle the information(bleh).

Thank goodness we have the internet!!! And I have the tools to play in the office. The guys usually just let me play the old servers/desktops etc.

Hi clngu,

Any advice for someone who already work in M$ .Net programming about 5 years and wish to get as much as your salary figure? Do you think taking M$ programming cert will help in getting better offer as charms as yours ?

Thanks for yr help

typo work for four years hehe

clngu , im wondering if i get a BEng in Electrical and Electrical Engineering, i zzit possible for me to take IT professional certificates ? .. I mean i will not have as much related knowledge on IT .. as compared to you who graduated from BSc Computer Science. ...

whats your opinion on this ? ... what kind of certs can I seek for ?

hi clngu,

where can I obtain the resources or reading materials about MCPD exams?
I am looking to sit for a paper but I am not sure how to get the references to prepare myself for that?

As I concerned, both MPH and Kino sell certain reference book for these certification exams but not all. So, is there any other ways to obtain this?

thank you.

my 1st job was doing IT support as well. handled MS Windows servers and basic network infrastructure. if facing complicated issues, have to call HQ to send down seniors to troubleshoot the problems. cause I was just a junior and have very little knowledge about the computer systems that I support.

i am the type of person who don't like people to look down on me and think am just a useless guy, and think am just a liability to the company. so I learn from seniors (watching them and taking notes myself) when they came to troubleshoot the problems. during free time, i read books/magazines/etc, surf internet for information and print it out for record. play around hardware and software. learn little by little. sooner or later my skills and knowledge would improve.

however it was a small scale computer system, i have hit the limit or bottleneck. then i decided to move to new environment (change job).

haha. i see. The examination consists of 150 questions. Format is Conventional multiple choice. The duration of the test is 4 hours. The passing score is 70%. The examination tests you on security related concepts, hacking techniques and technology.

you should go on with CCNA, MCTS, CEH and others. unless you only want to earn little income and climb career ladder slowly. haha. just kidding.

Thanks! Its more on the budget.

Ok I'll finish my CCNA.

Can u recommend where to get the MCTS and CEH? Maybe your personal favourites other than those in VUE and prometric.

Thanks to u, the thread is one of the hottest in Jobs&Careers.

The exam fees for CCNA 640-802 already increase from USD150 to USD250 effective from 24 June 2008.


http://www.cisco.com/web/learning/netacad/...PriceChange.pdf

http://www.pearsonvue.com/vouchers/pricelist/cisco.asp


USD250 is around RM 800 just to take CCNA exam alone.

Walao very expensive leh.One times increase around RM300++

ya lor..i just receive the news letter...die,wat also increase now..
dun know microsoft wil follow not....

sometime you have to push yourself to the limit. at that time I sacrificed my time, my entertainment, etc. I used free time to study, to hands-on, even to sleep in the office. ya. I slept around 4 hours a day. weekend also stayed in office.

however I chose the right path, the right decision. i received harvest after 18 months. now I have Cash, Car, Credit Card, Condominium, Career, Certificate, Club. is this not what you are dreaming for ???

surviving is an art. some people willing to help you. some people don't. Your senior not willing to guide you, to share with you. because he scares you better than him. he has no confident about himself.

if you want to build your career in Oracle, you need to have;
1. Oracle systems for you to hands-on
2. books to refer
3. associations/experts to network with

Small and Medium Industries do hire fresh graduates to support Oracle (small scale system). even MNCs also do hire fresh graduates to assist Senior to support Oracle systems.

if you want to take OCA and OCP, you can go to Oracle Training Partners ie. CSA.

for OCA, i self-study. for OCP, I attend the course.

This post has been edited by clngu: Jun 25 2008, 01:46 PM

previously female is a minority group working in IT Technical area. nowadays more and more females competing with males in every aspect of IT industry. however still a small percentage of males could not accept females can do technical jobs as good as them. this is mentality issue.

the company now I working in, has around 200 IT staffs. one of the largest IT department in Financial industry. i dealing with many colleagues, recruiting candidates (fresh graduate and experienced), train/couch/counsel/mentor/discipline them. i would say female is getting strong and even tougher than male.

ya. it (solid experience & professional certificate) would definitely help you in your career development. if you can acquire Microsoft Certified Professional Developer+Microsoft Certified Business Management Solutions Professional, you should be easily earn around RM8k. and if you able to gain sufficient knowledge in CMMI, your value is even greater.

ya. you can have IT professional certificates. you might need it (depends on your job scope and type of industry). I have a friend who is an electrical engineer working in oil&gas industry, using SAP system is part of his job scope. so he took SAP certificate to add value to his career portfolio.

another friend who is an electrical engineer as well. he changed his career to become IT engineer. he took network (routing and switching) certificates.

you need to find out which IT area(s) you want to excel. only then i can give my opinion.

you can surf internet to get free reading materials. you can buy reference books from Amazon.com. you can attend courses to get relevant materials.

how much MCSE and MCAD cost? interested to join.