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.

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.

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.

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.

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

[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.

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.

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.]

[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.

you mean register ?

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.

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.

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.

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.