What Certification should you pursue next?

Career Development

People often ask me for advice on what certification they should be pursuing. As with most questions in IT, the answer is, “It depends…” 

The “right” certification for any given individual will vary greatly depending on where they are in their career and where they want to go. Here are a handful of things to consider while deciding what to study for next.

INITIAL CONSIDERATIONS

JOB POSTINGS/REQUIREMENTS 

If your next career move involves applying for external positions, take the time to research the certifications listed for the type of role you are pursuing. Don’t underestimate the importance of certs in getting past an HR filter, whether that be a human or a bot (To learn more about how automated HR systems work, look into Applicant Tracking Systems )

If you are interested in a particular employer, it may be worth it to look into a range of job postings for that company to see what platforms/technologies they use. Even if there aren’t certs listed on your specific job listing for the particular role you are interested in, it would significantly increase your chances of landing a job if you are certified in the tech they use. 

INTERNAL CAREER PROGRESSION 

You don’t always have to leave a company to land the role or compensation you are aiming for. As an internal employee, you are uniquely suited to know where your team/organization’s skill gaps exist. Leverage that knowledge to position yourself to fill skill gaps that will make you an invaluable member of the team. You may find yourself in line for promotions, or it may merely secure you as an essential member of the team. 

Don’t be afraid to reach out to managers in your organization to learn more about what skills they are missing on their teams. You may find that they want to move the team in a new direction but don’t have the toolsets available to make it happen.   

LEARNING PATH 

In many cases, I knew that I wanted to learn more about an important topic but didn’t know about all of the related sub-topics necessary to gain the context I needed. Certifications do an excellent job of organizing subjects in an approachable way. Leveraging a certification as a learning path may also force you to dip into subtopics you wouldn’t usually have but are vital to understanding a larger picture.

HOW TO CHOOSE THE SPECIFIC CERTIFICATION PATH

RESOURCE AVAILABILITY/COST

Check Reddit or blog posts for what other people have found useful when pursuing the same cert. If a certification has been out for a while there is usually community consensus around the best resources for preperation. Most entry-level certifications have several low-cost/free options in terms of study resources. Still, as you progress to more advanced ones, you may be limited to proprietary study material. Scope the environment out and understand what it will take to be successful for a given exam.

EXAM/ MAINTENANCE COST

The cost of an exam attempt is an obvious factor when choosing a certification but make sure you know the answers to these questions: 

  • If you fail the certification attempt, will you have to pay the full amount to retake the exam? 

  • What fees are required to maintain your certification status?

  • To renew, will you have to retake the newer version of the exam or can you maintain it with CPEs? 

CERTIFICATION CHANGES

Companies are continually updating their certification paths and exams. Be sure to pay close attention to the version of the exam you are preparing for and make sure it’s not slated to expire soon. Otherwise, you may find yourself prepared to take an exam that is no longer available. 

CERTIFICATION PITFALLS TO AVOID

SUNK COST 

Not all certifications are right for everyone at different stages of a career. Be ready to accept the idea that you have been pursuing the wrong certification for weeks or months and move on to something else. You may start down the certification path only to find that it’s not what they expected it to be, and that is OK! Here are some reasons that you might bail on a certification path:

  • Career trajectory changes 

  • You aren’t excited about the things that you are studying

  • The material isn’t as technical or as in-depth as you thought it would be from the outline

Example: After studying for a Linux exam for a couple of months, I failed the exam. After the exam, I sat in my car, writing down the areas that I needed to go back over to pass the exam next time. The resulting list was primarily geared towards rote memorization of exact file paths and specific flags for programs. I realized in that parking lot that I didn’t want to spend time memorizing these things when the industry leverages man pages and tab-complete to do real work. I dropped that certification and chalked the last few months of studying as some quality time learning a bit more about Linux.

EXAM DUMPS

Exam dumps are (likely illegal) collections of legitimate or previous exam questions. Rather than learning the material, some people use these questions like flashcards, memorizing the questions/answers in hopes that they will see them on the legitimate exam attempt. Avoid exam dumps/cramming at all costs. While this strategy might be viable for entry-level certs/positions, if you establish a shoddy foundation, it will come crumbling down as you try to build on top of it. Your lack of foundational knowledge will become evident in conversations with other professionals, interviews, and on the job problem-solving. 

It’s is not to say that all practice tests fall into this category; some practice tests/questions will tell you WHY the answer was correct and, equally important, why the other choices were incorrect. These types of tests can be used for genuine learning but make sure you are walking away with a better understanding of topics and not just a score.

DEEP DIVING INTO EVERY TOPIC

It’s important to know where to put your time in terms of expanding on the basic knowledge covered in a cert. It’s a tough line to walk to identify what will be a building block to your future career. Avoid spending time getting to the “why” and “how” on topics that you will likely not encounter in your day-to-day role. 

Example: Let’s say someone is pursuing a SOC analyst position and is studying for the Network+ to strengthen their network chops. Given the option to dive deep into DNS record types or Routing protocols, it makes sense to investigate DNS records more closely. Taking the time to capture DNS traffic and analyze it in Wireshark is beyond the requirements of the cert but its foundational knowledge that will tremendously help you in your career. On the other hand, advanced routing protocol knowledge would only be more useful if you worked for an internet service provider like Comcast.