Ed Tittel's IT Certification Success

IT certifications are extremely valuable credentials that can get you noticed, get you jobs, or get you promoted. Figuring out which one is right one for you, successfully preparing for the required exams, and utilizing the certification in your career can be a daunting task. In cooperation with Pearson IT Certification, we developed this series of articles to help you achieve IT certification success.

This series of articles is designed to assist anyone, regardless of the certification track you are interested in pursuing. By posting these articles online, we'll be able to keep the material fresh and current as programs change. In the materials that follow, you'll find 29 articles divided up into these four categories:

Throughout, our goal has been to create materials that explain the process of finding, choosing, and earning IT certifications, and then using them to aid your career, improve your job prospects, and meld your technical interests with personal and professional development goals.

—Ed Tittel


General Certification Information: Programs, Benefits, Pros and Cons

Why Vendors Like Certification Programs

Why Organizations and Professional Societies Build Cert Programs

Why Employers Like Cert Programs

General Certification Program Characteristics

Benefits of IT Certification

What’s Not To Like About IT Cert Programs

Ranking Certifications, Part 1: One Method for Rating Certifications

Ranking Certifications, Part 2: The Ratings

Ranking Certifications (2016 Edition)
 

 

IT Certification Planning, Preparation, and Training

Overall Certification Preparation Overview

Certification and Career Self-Assessment: Can and Should You Do It?

Crafting a Personal Certification Plan

Understanding IT Certification Ladders

Build Your Own Customized IT Certification Ladder

Pros and Cons of Classroom and Online Training for Certification Prep

Using Practice Exams for Study and Preparation

Establishing a Certification Support System
 

 

IT Certifications, Employment, and Career Planning and Development

Top Job Posting Web Sites

Using Job Posting Web Sites

Working with Professional Associations and Societies

Working with a Personal Network

Finding a Job That Fits

Working with Technical Recruiters
 

 

IT Job Roles and Related Certifications of Interest

When Ideal IT Job Candidates Meet Real Job Requirements

An Ideal PC Technician

An Ideal Network Administrator

An Ideal IT Internetworking Professional

The Ideal Security Professional

An Ideal Project Manager

An Ideal Programmer

   

Meet Ed Tittel

Ed Tittel has been writing about and training others on computing topics since the 1980s. He has contributed to more than 140 computer books, and written many thousands of Web and magazine articles. Perhaps best-known for creating the Exam Cram series of IT certification prep books, Ed writes regularly for Tom's Hardware, various TechTarget Web sites, and InformIT.


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