IT Salaries and certifications

Experiance trumps Cert\degree\etc. in the fields. TBH haven't had much luck with graduates etc. unless you/company have the time to upskill them on the job.
 
I expected Java Prog to be on the certification list - definitely pays big bucks if you're decent at it.

Regarding increases, hmmm, let's see, I generally get 4% and it's not 'cos I suck at what I do :)

I still think a tertiary qualification holds some benefit, as it tends to give ppl a wider view of the landscape and not just a silo view as is usually gained by vendor specific training with no other training. I've also worked with super smart graduates who couldn't point and click their way out of any Windows OS. I'm generally against tertiary institutions introducing MCSE, CCNA type course in their curriculum for various reasons. I'm also a firm believer, in the best person for the job i.e. be good at what you do, be effective, be efficient, be a team player (some guys are great on their own, put them in a team, and the entire team sinks).
 
Over the past 8 or so years managed to get a few of these pieces of paper. Mainly for company partnership programs and prerequisites for other training. None of them landed me any jobs, companies seemed to look at experience mainly...
 
lawries72 said:
Except you can't get into the US without a degree --- not so?
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Applying for a US Work Visa will get you automatically denied (Simply because we do, in fact, steal their jobs)

You have 3 options:

1.) Have a family member married to someone there

2.) Go on "Holiday" to the US, get a temp job, do insanely well, and get the company to sponsor your stay.

3.) Do something majorly fantastic in SA to get noticed by the US, and have them pay to ship you there.

Good Luck :p
 
Network+ and Security+ made the list but A+ didn't?..
 
UnUnOctium said:
Our research group produces lots of Telkom specialists. Tell your sister that while undergrad will give her a decent job and decent pay (if she were to start this year for example, she'd probably make around 22k fresh out), people are known for not lasting long there. Telkom loves to flush and replace. 80% of the time, your engineering degree will make you end up in management after 3-4 years, but if she can (and she's willing to) she should do an MSc or a PhD. Especially for PhD, you'll start off on 40+ a month easily and you get classed as a specialist (because doing postgrad degrees is exactly that) and will basically put you right into management.
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dr_tech said:
In today's world everything is based on IP, thus a CCNA/N+ will always be valuable.
Then databases like Oracle and MySQL are also valuable, if you add Linux in there you'll be top notch.

Project Management and Business Management are also important to have for later in life for more senior roles.

She's lucky to be with Telkom, although on the outside they are not well liked, they invest in their staff and really give good training.
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Thanks for the advice. Will show her this thread. From past articles the management roles always seem to be the best. But probably also requires a decent amount of experience.

P.S. Although I am also a Telkom hater, they do seem to pay their staff well. I have a few friends in upper roles in Telkom who are earning big bucks. The bursary they offered is also one of the best. R10k for laptop, full studies covered plus I think R20k-R25k for lodging plus allowance for books etc.. Since she stays at home she has a lot of spending money. :)
 
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Kayoss said:
Network+ and Security+ made the list but A+ didn't?..
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IT Salaries: Best certifications revealed. IT Skills and Salary Report reveals which IT qualifications will produce the highest salaries in the field.
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Maybe it's not the best certification and don't produce the highest salary?
 
SaiyanZ said:
Thanks for the advice. Will show her this thread. From past articles the management roles always seem to be the best. But probably also requires a decent amount of experience.

P.S. Although I am also a Telkom hater, they do seem to pay their staff well. I have a few friends in upper roles in Telkom who are earning big bucks. The bursary they offered is also one of the best. R10k for laptop, full studies covered plus I think R20k-R25k for lodging plus allowance for books etc.. Since she stays at home she has a lot of spending money. :)
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Just remember that if she does decide to do postgrad in telecomms, she can go either physical layer-related (signal processing, maths, stats, tons of it!, what I do) or network layer (the CCNA/CCNP but a thousand times in more details and specialisation, plus you invent new things instead of learning how to set up existing hardware). Telkom prefers the latter by a big margin. But in both cases, I strongly advise postgrad. Engineering opens a lot of doors, postgrad in engineering opens all of them.
 
NMMU in Port Elizabeth offer CCNA and CCNP as part of the Btech: Communication Networks degree (well recommended!) Although it is important to note you still have to do the industry exams with Pearson Vue to get the proper certification.

I found that the main problem with the Cisco certs are that there are very few companies in SA that actually use Cisco hardware - due to the expense. I got my first job as a network admin because I explained I had studied the CCNA/CCNP and ended up working mostly with Linux/3Com/HP/Billion equipment. I have since made the move to a company doing Cisco Unified Communication and now I have to re-learn all the Cisco material I learned back at NMMU to do the proper industry certs. While the CCNA material is not difficult, there certainly is a lot to cover +-1000pages!
 
ag what the heck. i think i should move overseas....

Work my ass off and get underpaid by R 11k a month. (according to a recent MyBB article on average IT Salaries.)
 
experience always trumps qualification , if you have both you write your own paycheck. you won't believe the BS people put on their CV's and once you do a quick tech assess you smell the BS a mile away.
 
Seriously point-less report from a networking perspective using the lowest/most common certification (CCNA) every second idiot is a CCNA. They left out CCNP/CCIP and the jump to CCIE is significant more.

FAIL!
 
Would like to see a survey done by age group say 18 - 25, 25-35 and above and compare the salaries at those levels. Still think it doesnt matter that you have a degree but what language you go into, i personally would love to get back into C# but because i only have one year development experience in this language getting a job paying my salary although small i doubt is possible but will keep looking :)
 
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