Becoming an ACE

Our mission statement here at CertTutor.net is to "help you become successful in the IT field." If we were only concerned about helping you pass the exams, we wouldn't be living up to our mission statement. Getting certified is one part of success in this industry but it definitely is not the entire puzzle. Here are three things that can give you the "total package" that you’ll need to advance rapidly through the ranks. We can sum them up in one handy acronym: ACE.

The A is for Academics
We were going to use "education" here but ECE didn't have the same ring as ACE. A lot of people will argue that academics are not important in this industry. They will say that colleges and universities don't do a very good job of preparing people for network administration. There might be some truth to those statements, but there are some very good reasons why focusing on academics is a critical step in your career path.

For entry-level positions, your educational background probably won't make much difference. A lot of companies couldn’t care less if their Level One help-desk employee has a bachelor's degree or not. However, as you progress up the ladder in your organization, employers tend to put more weight on your academic record. They want to know that you are more than just a computer expert before considering you for that management position.

For many people, that promotion to the upper ranks in your company might be years away. So why should you worry about education today? That's simple. The longer you put it off, the more difficult it becomes. As you get older, the thought of going back to school becomes less appealing. Raising kids and making your mortgage payment compound the difficulty of the decision.

Our advice to most people is to get as much education as you think you will need as early as possible. If you're just graduating from high school and think that one day you might need a college degree, don't wait. Go to school now. The workforce will always be waiting for you and that decision to pass up school for what seems like easy money may come back to haunt you.

If you are working full-time, consider going back to school at night for a couple classes. Not only will you gain some additional skills, but you'll also get yourself further down the path to a degree. The reward will likely be worth all of the additional effort.

The C is for Certification
This is the area where people tend to get out of balance. They think, "If I can just get my CCIE, I'll be on easy street for the rest of my life." They don't think about anything else besides getting that slip of paper. Even if they do end up achieving the certification of their dreams (many don't!), they often are disillusioned that the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow isn't quite what they thought it would be. Why did this happen? Because they didn't put the entire package together and instead focused on only one aspect.

But it can work in the opposite direction as well. There are a lot of very bright, experienced people out there who haven't gone quite as far as they should in their careers because they ignored certification. The unfortunate part is that for them, achieving the certifications would have been quite easy. Don't let that happen to you. Recognize that although certification isn't everything, it is an important part of furthering your career.

To maximize the benefit of certification, one of the things that we would recommend is to pursue a certification that is roughly in line with your current level of experience. If you are brand new to the industry, pursuing your CCIE right off the bat doesn't make any sense. Going after an entry-level certification such as the A+ or the Network+ would probably be the best call.

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