In light of what's happened with the pandemic, I'm considering a career change and had considered IT as a possible direction. I've seen that Google offers an online IT certification program and was wondering if any members had experience with it or any input in general. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Warning: I have strong negative opinions about the value of certification programs in general, I can't speak to Google's program.

I have been in the IT business for over 35 years and have hired, supervised, and worked alongside many certified IT professionals of every stripe and certification. I have come to conclude that the typical certified candidate is actually less likely to be an effective staff member than the self-educated enthusiast/geek who lives, breaths, and hacks computers in his parents' basement. The latter also seem to get much more personal fulfillment out of the jobs that they are asked to do. In other words, I don't think obtaining certification is an effective way to gain entry into the IT workplace. Certain large employers and the Government like to get their low-level staff credentialed, I suspect it is mostly so they won't embarrass themselves or their boss when their contractor, the one who does the actual work, tries to explain what they did to fix a problem, or set up a new service.

I will give a little credit to certain specific certifications, When asking an inexperienced technician to do a specific job, for example, I might give a CCNE a Cisco IOS configuration assignment before asking a Linux guy to do it.

So, bottom line, please don't buy the training academies position that certification is the only or best path to a high-paying IT career. Your burning interest, and self-motivated hands-on experience is much more valuable, and will stand you in far greater stead when you hit that first tough problem that nobody else seems to be able to solve. Certifications (mostly) won't hurt, but don't bet the farm on them.

One other thing, IT is an incredibly broad field with many areas of expertise. Knowledge and experience gained in one area of IT does not effectively cross over to another. An entrant should probably have a pretty good idea of exactly what they want to be doing, not to forget that burning desire, before they start seeking work.

With all that said, here's wishing you good luck going forward. It can be an interesting and rewarding career for many people, it certainly has done all right by me.

^^^

D. All the above.

That specific cert may get your foot in the door of a help desk, but not much else. I work in a very large corporate IT department, and unless you have a masters degree you're more than likely going to spend a couple of years on help desk before being considered for something more advanced. I have colleagues sitting on the help desk with the basic tech certs and college degrees in IT that can't move up. Previous poster was right about the self learn hands on types. It's them that I look for in tech interviews.

I once looked into Microsoft Certification and found the courses teach you how to pass the Microsoft Certifications. They didn't really teach you the real world skills you'd need.

IT's a big field- What are your interests, background and skills?

Another vote against certifications.

I'm an Electronic Engineer/Programmer and I have 12 professional certifications.

Ten of them are attendance certificates. In other words, if you showed up and didn't die in class, you "passed." They're meaningless.

Two of them are real. One of the two is so hard to get that people brag about flunking out of the class. It's by invitation only so you have to be one of the best just to be allowed in the class.

The other one is a 5 part certification. Levels 1 thru 4 and then the final 5th part. The pass level is around 50 percent for each of the first 4 and then perhaps 10 percent go on to try for the next level. The 5th level involves a lengthy (two day) test followed by an evaluation of your ability to interact with others as there's public contact involved.

Again, most certifications are not worth the paper they're printed on.

Certifications like any education degree or otherwise is just a part of the overall picture.
For those who denigrate certifications or even college degrees for that matter are just ignorant of that picture.
Yes, by all means yes experience and history of work is all important and and completely related.
Years ago when I first got certified from Microsoft after a 4 year degree I thought it made me entitled but I was wrong, dead wrong.
It didn't get me the job I wanted so I started out on my own.
However, the education and knowledge was valuable, very valuable during the actual working experience.
The combination of experience and education is what matters.
But nothing wrong with certs or degrees but you cannot stand on that alone.

quote:

Originally posted by architect:

I have been in the IT business for over 35 years and have hired, supervised, and worked alongside many certified IT professionals of every stripe and certification...

I've got almost exactly the same qualifications... and I'm not quite so hard on certifications because they're just part of the equation. I've only ever been burned one time by someone with the certs who could talk a great game though, and got past my screening.

Otherwise, a candidates attitude towards certifications is a tell during the interview. I've found those that completely reject certifications as a "personal affront against them" is a terrible employee, and more often than not simply don't have the deep knowledge required for the position. Same with those that are the exact opposite that are all certs but no real experience. The best candidates have been those that view having at least some certs as a necessary evil that weeds out the worst, and go on to explain that they have learned at least some knowledge during the certification process. Because if they've got to take a cert/training course, and learn nothing, they're either unable to learn or they are a unicorn that somehow truly knows every single thing about a realm of study, more so than instructors that teach the classes.

I was am IT consultant for many years and my work started to dry up until I got certified.

It gets you past HR.

I increased my salary considerably with certs.

It does help with creating a common language.

I can tell when someone has a couple of specif certs, they tend to use the same terms in describing things.

You still need to be able to get the job done.

I'm with architect. When I was hiring I rarely gave certs much weight.

quote:

Originally posted by K0ZZZ:

... and I'm not quite so hard on certifications because they're just part of the equation .

I've found those that completely reject certifications as a "personal affront against them" is a terrible employee, and more often than not simply don't have the deep knowledge required for the position.

Same with those that are the exact opposite that are all certs but no real experience .

^^^ while I did snip a bit this sums it up quite well.

I would add it is possible for someone with little actual work experience but took the time to get certified aka knowledge to have the passion for the industry.

I find that to be valuable but not necessary complete but if possible and a position is possible to give them a chance.
Sometimes they have to start down a rung and work themselves up ~ which shows dedication - a plus in my book.

For those who only have a degree/cert who think this this entitles them to a job and have no passion for the industry I would also reject.

Unfortunately there are plenty of HR incompetents that rely only on the latter.

quote:

Originally posted by K0ZZZ:
I've found those that completely reject certifications as a "personal affront against them" is a terrible employee, and more often than not simply don't have the deep knowledge required for the position.

I don't regard them as a "personal affront." I simply never found them particularly good indicators of a candidate's worthiness--one way or the other.