Certification (FYI)

人生无解

Certifications in all areas of IT consulting are becoming more prevalent, but which ones really make a difference in pay and hiring trends, here is the answer from new research and analysis at certmag.com and our own research into the 3,000+ new requests for IT consultants over the last year:

Roles where the right certification secures the position or increases the rate:
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2 t4 F: F+ m' V4 ]( p% m7 E  |Security Specialist - CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professionals) Cisco Network Specialist - CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate) Systems Administrator - MCSE (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer) Breakfix hardware technician - A+ SAP Functional Expert - SAP Certification in the module required i.e. FI/CO, MM, HR, PM
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Roles where certification can help:

Project Management - PMP (Certified Project Management Professional) Database Administrator - OCP (Oracle Certified Professional) Java developer SCJD (Sun Certified Java Developer)

Roles where certification really is not an influencing factor at all:
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Business Analysis
- h2 V2 m% C& L0 SMost Software Development
( b& f2 Y! C- q9 r! ?) }2 Z  HQuality Assurance
1 ?8 L5 k2 ?2 M3 I0 J' [Technical/Web Writing
Business Intelligence
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The top certifications for salary increase according to a recent 2005 survey by Certmag are:

MCSE+    - average $12,909 increase
: Q* i2 I( ~5 bMCT      - average $11,723 increase
9 Y' i; U, {4 n8 bCCNA     - average $9967 increase
+ @$ ^0 y! H3 F: f3 J# SCNE      - average $7262 increase
MCP+     - average $7072 increase
CNA      - average $7061 increase
Network+ - average $6487 increase
A+       - average $5134 increase
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( m) A4 h1 e* J% xThe only professional certification in Canada is the Information Systems Professional (I.S.P.) designation from CIPS. More information can be found at www.cips.ca/standards on this designation and the impact it can have on your marketability as a consultant.
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Humor

$ H4 }& w' r5 g' Y. zTop 10 replies by programmers when their programs don't work:

% z% Q  u6 z0 s0 z3 w10. "That's weird..."
/ t/ p% i; }1 b. m: ~/ ], p9. "It's never done that before."
8. "It worked yesterday."
! ~1 M* U1 t/ @* M/ w7. "You must have the wrong version."
6. "It works, but it hasn't been tested."
5. "Somebody must have changed my code."
( A. M4 I  U# x4. "Did you check for a virus?"
/ V9 f' T5 v" i+ z2 g3 j! H# f7 x. S3. "Where were you when the program blew up?"
& j$ R3 j$ @) \$ J1 y4 Y% v2. "Why do you want to do it that way?"


and finally ...
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, ~7 h1 f' N; ~( B  P" b/ R1. "I thought I fixed that."

xmTiger

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