So the question came up and I couldn't talk them out of it. :) My blog was posted on Spiceworks (a great free tool and community by the way. I would highly recommend getting hooked up with both if you are new to IT because there is a wealth of knowledge in the forums and the software is pretty cool - my name is Kimberlin in the forums if you want to say hi.) A user by the handle Fink asked the question below. I have also included my response because I thought it was a good conversation to have and it might be useful for those outside of the Spiceworks community (but you are totally looking into joining their awesome free network right?).
Begin pasted convo.
Where should I start in IT Certifications (non-Microsoft) ??
Should I start with PMP, ITIL, Cobit, Prince, .... ??
... by the way, apart from the "start", where should I go for a "second round" of certifications? Where to go after "the start" ??
Thanks for all in advance!
My response:
So non MS certs? You break my heart a little :). That is a very broad category but I will do my best to answer it. If you are interested in Linux I think CompTIA Linux+ is a great place to start. The reason I like Linux +, although it gets flack over being basic, is that it can be used as a combo cert. Linux+ is powered by LPI (Linux Professional Institute) so you can also get LPIC 1 for passing the 2 tests needed for Linux+. Below is the quote from the CompTIA website and a link if you want more information.
A new benefit for CompTIA Linux+ Powered by LPI candidates is that they may choose, at the time they take the exams, to have their exam record forwarded to the Linux Professional Institute. Certification in CompTIA Linux+ Powered by LPI, attained by passing CompTIA exams LX0-101 and LX0-102, enables candidates to become certified in LPIC-1 as well, enabling further participation in the LPI program if the candidate chooses.
http://certification.comptia.org/getCertified/certifications/linux.aspx
I always say why not get two certs for the price of one. Well I don't always say it but I do say it when it is applicable.
Another path I would look at is VMWare VCP that is a great cert that is pretty respected, if you want to go the virtualization route. VCP requires that you take a VMWare approved class and sit an exam and the class can be expensive, but my tip on this is some community colleges offer the class as an adult education class or continuing ed so it is much cheaper. Take a look at the VMWare class offering and see if you can find one at a local community college.
go to http://mylearn.vmware.com/mgrreg/locations.cfm?ui=www_edu and enter your location and see if you can hit on something.
So many paths to go...If you are interested in storage EMC Proven Professional is a good path to go, if you are interested in networking Net+, CCENT (which is the first half of CCNA), if you like networking but don't want to go Cisco there is Juniper JNCP. My advice still stands, find what you want to do then decide what cert fits it.
Now to answer the questions more directly; the certs mentioned were PMP, ITIL, COBIT and Prince. I don't view any of these as an IT certification in the truest of definitions. Although ITIL and Cobit do revolve around IT, heck IT is the first two letters of ITIL, they aren't really tech certs they are IT service management (ITIL) and IT governance (COBIT) certifications. PMP and Prince are both project management certs that may or may not lead to a career involving IT. The fact that these were the non-Microsoft certs that were mentioned leads me to believe that you may be interested in IT management or workflow more than the down and dirty technology and that is great too. ITIL is a great certification path, stating with the foundations cert you can then move your way up in the world of service management. ITIL was a really hot cert a couple years ago and is still holding its own quite well. If you are interested in going that route I would highly recommend ITIL. Out of the ones mentioned I think ITIL is the perfect balance of industry recognizability and low barrier to entry. PMP is also quite respected and could probably fetch you a higher starting pay than ITIL but that is a project management cert and they have quite a process to getting your PMP. You need to have a decent amount of provable PM experience to even get into the program. It isn't a study, sit, cert kind of program. That being said, if you have the required PM experience (or you want to work toward it) and it interests you then YES go for PMP. PMP can open up a wide range of opportunities in fields beyond technology as well. Most of the same advice goes for COBIT and Prince but they are less recognized and good additional certs, or what I like to call tier 2 certs, meaning why not go with what will pop on a resume first then use those to fill in additional knowledge and breadth of appeal later?
I hope this answered your question or at least got you pointed in the right path
DK
@MSTrainerGuy
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