10 May, 2014, EzBreezy wrote in the 1st comment:
Votes: 0
Hi! I've been a (lurking) member of the MUDding community for about 15+ years under various names (I'm also realedazed on Mudconnect/tms, I don't really like that name anymore :/) so I thought it was Ok to post. I'll delete if you like.

Anyway, I'm trying to get into a school called Western Governor's University. I chose WGU because you pay a flat fee ($3500) and you can earn as many credits as you like. Basically you can take 6-9 credits at a time and as you successfully pass classes, they allow you to move on the the the next. Each class ends with a proctored test or a tech cert. It's completely self paced, so if you have the time and/or previous knowledge, you could could earn several tech certifications during that 6 month period and it's all included in that one price.

WGU is very selective. They only accept you if you have 2 years work experience, a certification that is in the program you will be taking or have studied high level tech courses. I have no prior work experience other than help desk. I've taken a bunch of self study courses (Android Programming on Coursera), but that's not what they are looking for. So, I'd like get the CIW Web Foundations since I've started web programming and I think I have at least half of the required knowledge. Anyway, I can't afford the practice tests or the voucher.

http://www.gofundme.com/90cvas

TL;DR: I started a GoFundMe to help me fund a tech cert. Do you guys have any advice (free, cheaper practice tests, study guides, etc) to offer or would you like to help spread the work of my fundraising campaign?

Thanks!!
12 May, 2014, JohnnyStarr wrote in the 2nd comment:
Votes: 0
I think that it's good that you want to get an education, but I do have
a few suggestions regarding your road map. I have a friend that went the
WGU route. He also chose WGU because it was 'cheaper' than a standard
university. He received some financial aid, however it was a complicated
mess and he still ended up paying out more than was advertised.

He never graduated, but left with several certifications; all of which he
could have studied for on his own. Obviously, not everyone will have the
same experiences. From what he explained, you really have to fight hard
to get any help from instructors. He had to do a lot of work on his own
without the kind of support a local campus would provide.

Basically, I can see WGU being a good fit for a professional with several
years experience but just doesn't have the 'paper' to get that next job.

I honestly think it all has to do with your end-game. Are you trying to
get into the IT industry? MUD admins, coders and players typically have
a good base knowledge so a simple certification may be all that you need.

In my case, my most recent job was working on the Help Desk of my company.
Due to many years playing with Unix and the last several years programming,
Recently, I was promoted to a System Administrator. I have no college
degree nor a single certification. I am training for the LPIC-1 Linux
cert as it will help me with my current role.

Don't get me wrong, I would have loved to go to school. In fact, if I could
I would rather be in school full time getting a PHD in CompSci. Realistically,
I have a family and have to work. I realize this is a bit off topic from your
original post, but I felt like ranting a bit :)
13 May, 2014, Idealiad wrote in the 3rd comment:
Votes: 0
Just curious, what is the deal with tech certifications anyway? How important are they in getting a job?
14 May, 2014, Runter wrote in the 4th comment:
Votes: 0
Idealiad said:
Just curious, what is the deal with tech certifications anyway? How important are they in getting a job?


I think for large companies they may filter applicants by certifications for certain types of job postings. (Like desktop support, network admin general IT)
14 May, 2014, Nathan wrote in the 5th comment:
Votes: 0
Idealiad said:
Just curious, what is the deal with tech certifications anyway? How important are they in getting a job?


Wish I knew. I'm not trying to get any, but I would think if you were trying to get a job in certain fields that being certified is kind of like icing on the cake for someone with a degree, and a way to get a job for someone without a degree. Seems like it would make up for not having past job experience to cite. Probably help you if the company uses Cisco tech and you have a certification with that particular kind of tech.

Easiest way to answer that is probably to read job listings and see what they want.
14 May, 2014, EzBreezy wrote in the 6th comment:
Votes: 0
@JohnnyStarr:

My end goal is Jr. Developer or something similar. I'm taking the TeamTreeHouse.com Ruby on Rails track and so far, I think I'm doing well.

I'm in a weird situation and I'm not really sure how to proceed. Without getting too personal, I'm going through a divorce and have 2 toddlers who are staying with me. I was a stay at home mom for 4 years and planned to go to school full time when they started school. I only have 2 years left. Anyway, now the only job I can get is customer service which barely covers daycare. Anyway, I'm working on various self study courses and my own projects on basically on a full-time schedule. WGU seems perfect since I'll be working full time and I'm OK with learning by myself (I take full advantage of google and ask lots of questions on dreamincode.com and stackexcange when I need to.)

I go to tech related meetups every so often to try to meet people in the industry (preferrly recruiters). A while back a friend of mine told me that graduate schools look for volunteers a lot for their programming needs. My soon to be ex-husband has gotten very lucky when it comes to finding jobs. But I think its because of his skillset which includes C# and onBase. He literally beats off recruiters with a stick. He mentioned giving me a virtualbox with onbase on it or something, but never really followed through. So, I'm not sure where I would even begin with learning that. But, then again I've been partial to Ruby, since he said that was in demand as well.

Oh, I'm rambling a little bit. ANyway, thanks for reading and responding :)
19 May, 2014, Kelvin wrote in the 7th comment:
Votes: 0
Idealiad said:
Just curious, what is the deal with tech certifications anyway? How important are they in getting a job?


It really depends on the company/job. I'm a co-founder at a small business, and these would be absolutely useless to us. I'd promptly skip over them on your resume and look for more relevant/important bits. Our culture and our needs aren't the same as everyone else's, but for a developer position we want to see open source projects or contributions. As a small business, hiring "misses" are a bit more of a blow to us, so if we can't figure out what kind of dev chops and social skills you have from looking at your Bitbucket/Github/SF/whatever profiles, we're not likely to bite.

Criteria will differ hugely from company to company, but we look for potential or actual capabilities, good social fit, and a healthy love for software development. For example, we'd have zero qualms hiring a competent Rubyist that knows zero Python, even though we are a Python shop. If they're an enthusiastic, capable developer, they'll learn the language/tools and be a contributing member of the team in short order.

Of course, if you ask an HR guy at a big company, they will probably not work like this. But I hope to never work at BigCo again, so good riddance :)
21 May, 2014, quixadhal wrote in the 8th comment:
Votes: 0
Being unemployed at the moment, any advice I give is to be taken with a few pounds of salt… but…

I would think employers care about work history first, skills and projects next, then education, and then certs.. maybe flipping the last two around depending on the company. They're a nice filler if you lack experience (or like mine, it's too old for anyone to care about), but if the company makes that the most important thing, I'd likely be moving on anyways.
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