not really. But I do tend to look at it from Sys Admin point of view.
IT is a broad field. We all work in IT, but chances are that all of our jobs are completely different.
i can tell you my job is different that all of yours 
We give less hand jobs?
The system that I work on is extremely unique
:eekdance:
I bet you have never seen the 2nd basement of the Pentagon!
you :snky: bastard probably hanging out in secret NSA rooms at major telcos
Ya when someone says “I have networking experience.” or “I have IT experience” it could mean anything.
Certs are a good way for employers to see what you know on a unified scale in a field so broad as IT.
Experience
ahahahah
“You gotta see this porrrnnn site”
Got my BS in Comp Eng
MS in Comp Sci
Right now working on a job with good mixture of general IT admin (Windows and Linux) and Programming (VB6, .NET).
Definitely thinking of getting a cert. on programming (Java/.NET).
I learned a lot of concepts during BS and MS, however, in term of real world application, school’s lacking big time.
I learned a lot more real world stuffs in 3+ months on the job than 2 years in college doing MS. However, you are not going to learn those conceptual stuffs on the job. Nobody cares on how SQLServer works in the background or how it creates logical and physical plans and how it optimizes them. As long the company’s program is running and making money, that’s all they care.
School (degree) --> Conceptual, excellent for research (PhD).
Technical (certs) --> Hands on experience, excellent for real-world applications.
Good combination of both --> Big $$$
I just have the BS in CS right now with no certs. My current employer will pay for certs if I want to get them, so I probably will.
I met someone that was A+ certified and didn’t know how to install ram. Ever since then, I never had any respect for it.
A+ is a joke
Network+ is a joke
Security+ is :tif: because it is required for some govt jobs
I know a kid who had his CCNA but couldn’t console into a router.
People just need to be able to read and remember to pass some of those tests which is shitty.
I hate taking tests so I have trouble with them so I only take the ones I need for my job that they tell me to get to keep our business partner status and product authorizations.
A lot has to do with your personal attitude when you are taking a course too though. Passing a course is easy. Mastering a course is another story. No matter what, you have to actually put forth the effort to actually come out of any type of schooling/training with any valuable knowledge.
I am jealous you guys have time to take courses. we are so busy I have about 4 different platforms/devices I am picking up right now on my desk to setup and configure for customers. my company will pay for anything I need to attend or go to that will improve my skills but with all of the engineers going in 10 different directions, I cant even find time to get away.
I find time for both :lol:
Except I work like 80 hours a week…
Edit: fuck my life 
just get the cissp… trumps all 
I am trying to work that into February-March…
Ya I am hourly so I can get paid for hours on the weeks and at night doing work to get a cert but after working all day non stop on shit and dealing with customers, I just wanna go home and forget about work for the 10 hours I have to myself. Lol.
My latest projects that are in piles on my desk is a Juniper SSG520 firewall with a bunch of DSL, point to point T1 and fiber connected sites off of it in Rochester that will be the first part in replacing their whole data and voice network. I have two ScreenOS books on my desk that I have been reading and also playing with the Juniper NSMxpress device which is looking cooler and cooler.
The other is the Avaya distributed office setup and integrating that with our SIP server.