# Best Path......



## jolenmoh (Dec 12, 2009)

Best path to a career? Who wins the battle Degree or Certification?


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## rs21 (Apr 1, 2009)

both are required at some level in job. Degree holds more value than certification, it proves that you have acquire theoritical knowledge and you have spent 2-3-4 years on that particular engineering. 

In certification, it just matters of 3-6-12 months for preparation , and proves that you are technical sound and your skills are certified by a renowned certificate. But that doesnt mean that certification doesnt hold ne value. They help at the time of promotion and differentiate from others at the time of interview also.

Both have theior own value and demand an dits diffcult to judge who is better and hold more value...


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## blackbeagle (Aug 8, 2008)

jolenmoh said:


> Best path to a career? Who wins the battle Degree or Certification?


To me that's an incomplete question. It's like, "Who wins the battle of automobile: an SUV or a Sedan?".

First off, who does this pertain to? Someone right out of high school? Someone that's been in the Tech industry for 10+ years and need a promotion? Someone that is switching careers? Who's career are you talking about? 

In general, a degree wins out most of the time. 

Certification is good if you want to UPDATE your skills. Those that have tons of experience, a degree or two, would NOT need another degree. They just need to update their skills. Therefore, certification would be the best path.

On the other hand, if you're talking about some kid out of high school, he/she would waste their time on certification because no one in their right mind would hire them. They be best served by learning through a computer science degree or by going to a tech school to learn IT, Networking, programming, CAD, graphics, etc.

Certification was the hot thing during the late 1990s. It is no longer viewed as a desirable by employers UNLESS the person has tons of experience.


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## BlitzMX (Dec 17, 2007)

Communications runs first in Cisco, Microsoft and now Linux.

Cisco: CCNA -> CCNP -> CCIE
Microsoft: MCSE and many more
Linux: Comptia Linux+, RedHat, etc.


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## DarrilGibson (Nov 12, 2009)

jolenmoh said:


> Best path to a career? Who wins the battle Degree or Certification?


If you have a choice, get both. If it's one or the other, determine if you want long term gain or short term gain.

The degree is long term and the certifications are short term. I earned a Master's degree over ten years ago and it's still valid today. If a company requires a Master's (or lower level degree) they don't care when I earned it. On the other hand, I also earned a MCSE in NT 4.0 over ten years ago but it's of very little use today. 

During the dot com boom, degrees didn't matter much for many technical jobs. Certifications often got you an interview and if you could do the job you were in. On the other hand, during the dot com bust, degrees did matter. Highly qualified people without degrees found themselves shut out as companies only hired the most qualified and degrees were often the separator. Things change but the degree will last.

It may be difficult to pay for a degree so a job that helps pay for the degree is worthwhile. Get a certification to get a good job in the short term and use it to help get an education to help you in the long term.

HTH,

Darril Gibson


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## scorpio85 (Dec 24, 2009)

As certification is something which u can do while doing job but regular degree requires your full time well bachelour degree is required minimally to fetch a job well a person can do 4-5 of certifications in 2-3yrs but still what I think person shud do degree then get a job & do a certifications sideways while getting job experience & after 2- 3 yr experience choose a particular line to do masters


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## perryny (May 11, 2009)

If I'm reading a resume (and I read a lot, specifically for small business network admins), both hold equal weight but take a back seat to experience. :sigh:

It's been mentioned several times in multiple threads here... experience is king. If you have none, either a degree or certification plus a smashing cover letter will help you get your foot in the door.


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