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Are you wondering which certificate is ideal for you? Do you know how much you will earn after getting your certificate? Do you have the prerequisites for the certification program you are preparing for? Do you just want to know the passing score of your certification exams?

If you have any question about any certification, simply ask CertAdvisor. CertAdvisor will get an expert to answer it for you. CertAdvisor will work on your behalf to get you a reliable, practical advice to your most pressing concerns.

CertAdvisor is also available as a weekly newsletter.

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Current CertAdvisor (February 12, 2001)

Question of the week
Follow up to last week's CertAdvisor
Select questions & answers
Share your cert-experience
How CertAdvisor answers questions


Question of the week

Q1) I am a technical trainer for computer/ electronic technicians, and have started a project for researching CompTIA's A+ and Network+ certifications.  I wish to know what these certifications are worth in bonus compensation or pay raises.  Please help. (from Mark Cawley)

ans) Salary figures vary with region and experience. Further, different salary surveys, media reports and consultants report varying and even conflicting figures.

CompTIA certificates essentially test entry-level (A+) and intermediate-level (Network+) skills. So CompTIA certificate holders usually earn less than professionals with advance certifications in the industry. For example, according to a recent industry survey Oracle Certified Professionals earned 33 percent more than CompTIA Certified Professionals.   

The same survey reported that the average annual income of CompTIA certified Professionals was $46,000. Getting an A+ or Network+ certification boosted income of a professional by 10.9 percent or about $ 5,058.

These figures seem to be slightly on the higher side in my opinion. Sm@rt Partner reported sometime ago that A+ graduates could be hired for around $30,000 per year. You can expect Network+ graduates to earn more relatively.

You can find a frequently updated salary survey at http://www.CertIT.com

Follow up to last week’s Cert Advisor

Q2) I am in college and got my MCP credential recently. I am planning to prepare for MCSE or CCNA certifications. I am worried that layoffs and economic slowdown will make it impossible for me to find a good job. What do you think? (From Martin Doan)

ans) The current economic slowdown is expected to get over soon – say, by the end of this year.

The layoffs have adversely affected the IT job market, but even this seems to be a short-term setback.

Despite layoffs and economic slowdown companies are not expected to cut IT spending. The latest Information Week reports that without sophisticated enterprise resource planning, supply-chain, logistics, and business-intelligence applications manufacturers could have been hit a lot harder. So, to retain agility and enhance productivity businesses will continue to spend on IT.

IT sector is further poised for tremendous growth. The number of worldwide Internet users surpassed 400 million in 2000 and will increase to more than a billion by 2005, according to a report by research firm eTForecasts.

So do not get discouraged by the current layoffs. Work hard. Future is bright for competent professionals.

Select questions & answers

Q3) Are there any Java Certification programs offered by
companies other than Sun? Does IBM offer any certification for Java
programmers. (From Lokesh Shiva)

ans) Java is a language developed by Sun. So no other company can offer Java certifications independently of Sun.

Java has established itself as a core skill for various job functions such as enterprise database administrators, network administrators, Web masters, technical consultants and so on.

So, to establish industry standards for certifying expertise of Java developers Sun has launched a multi-vendor Initiative called ‘jCert’.

BEA Systems, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Oracle, Sun Microsystems, iPlanet E-Commerce Solutions and Sybase are some of the participating companies in ‘jCert’ Initiative.

The Initiative gives Java professionals an option:

a) To obtain a general credential for Java programming from Sun or 
b) Train for specialized but Java-related certification programs from participating companies such as Oracle and IBM.

IBM offers following Java-based certifications:

IBM Certified Solution Developer - IBM VisualAge for Java, Professional Edition, V3

IBM Certified Solution Developer - IBM WebSphere Application Server, Standard Edition, V3.5

IBM Certified Enterprise Developer - IBM WebSphere Application Server, Advanced Edition, V3.5

For more details please visit: http://www-4.ibm.com/software/ad/certify/crossvendorcert.html

Q4) By passing following exams, can I get both MCSE (Windows 2000) and MCDBA certificates? (From ritmcse)
 
Core

70-210    Windows2000 Professional
70-215    Windows2000 Server
70-216    Windows2000 Network Infrastructure
70-217    Windows2000 Directory Services

One core Elective

70-220    Designing Security for Windows2000 

Two Electives

70-028    Releated SQL Server
70-029    Releated SQL Server

ans) By passing these exams, you would get both MCSE (Windows 2000) and MCDBA certificates.

If you are a rare IT professional with good expertise and years of experience in both network and database administration you should follow this plan.

If you are starting your career please note that these two certificates will lead you to two different job functions. You should pursue the certification program and choose exams that make the most sense for your job function or aptitude.

Q5) I wanted to know what will happen to Cisco Certified People in the near future? Cisco is flooding market with the Cisco Certified People. There is a good chance that as there is a glut of MCSE professionals now, there will be a surplus of Cisco certified professionals in future. What do you guys at ExamsOnline.com think about this? (David Jinn)

ans) I am afraid I have to disagree with you.

With the first-time fail rate at 85 percent and less than 5,000 graduates in the program’s history, CCIE professionals command starting salaries of at least $100k, while high-end certified professionals make $200k without breaking into a sweat.

To quote an analyst, “To become a Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE), you have to show that you just aren't good at multiple-choice questions; you have to show that you really can make a router route and a switch switch.”

Cisco certifications are expensive as well. If your company foots the bill, CCIE training will cost it about $30,000 per employee, including training courses, the exam, travel and missed work.

Though lower Cisco accreditations such as CCNA and CCNP are relatively easier to achieve, they are still well regarded by the industry. A salary survey pegs incomes for CCNA and CCNP professionals with substantial experience, in the mid-$80,000 range.

Good professionals would never stop at CCNA and CCNP. They would always aim for the toughest challenge to claim the highest honor in the industry. I would say, such professionals would always be rare.

There are reportedly fewer than 25,000 people with Cisco certification.

Share your experience

This week “FredM” provides tips on how to find entry-level jobs.

“There is a "hidden job market" especially for the entry-level jobs such as those related to help desk or quality assurance. This market is ‘hidden’ because many companies do not take the trouble of advertising for them and choose to hire when they come across good candidates.  The way to tap this market is through networking -- not of the computer kind, but of the people kind. Make a list of all your friends (and their friends) holding tech jobs. Call them up to inquire if there is any entry-level job matching your qualification. This worked for me. A sister of a friend’s friend not only alerted me on a possible vacancy, but also put in a word for me. Though the job was very low-paying it gave me a good start.” 

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• By submitting a question to CertAdvisor, you hereby grant ExamsOnline.com the permission to post your question and our answers online.

• The expert counsel from CertAdvisor is intended to help you make the right decision. You are still urged to base your decisions on your own research and assessment.

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