SGT CCIE

When naming this article, I thought of calling it “The IT Skills Triangle”, but that’s not very accurate. Why? Because three key areas to success in IT exist (a triangle), but within each area, there is more depth than a triangle as drawn on paper. This depth makes the pyramid more fitting to represent this concept.

When looking to hire, hiring managers look at the entire package. They don’t just look at a certification- they look at a certification and a degree (or lack thereof) to go with it. They also consider your appearance, interview skills, references, etc..to make the final decision on how you stack up against other candidates. We’re going to call the view that employers have of you, the “IT Skills Pyramid” from now on. Within this pyramid, there are three key areas to cover (the points), and the core.

• For point 1 on the pyramid, we’ll call it Education/Training. This is a degree (or lack of one), vendor training, etc. Essentially, it is something you did that furthered your knowledge of a subject, and it is generally verifiable.
• Point 2, we’ll call Certification. Big surprise..it means certifications. You either have them (you should), or you don’t.
• Point 3, is experience. This is down and dirty hands-on experience with whatever it is you specialize in (server admin, linux guy, network guy, etc)

I know, at this point, you’re thinking “right, I get it, you want to be balanced between education, certifications, and experience to be successful.” Well..it depends. Read on.

So we have our points defined, but a pyramid also has a large section in the middle, which we’ll call the core of your package. The core is your interview skills, your appearance, your ability to search out jobs, your ability to network, your attitude, the way you speak, your understanding of the field you’re in, etc. You can change ANYTHING within the pyramid. That being said, It takes time to go to school (and money), it takes time to get certified (and money), and it takes time to get experience. Well, the core is free. You have no excuse to NOT to have a strong core.

So now that we’ve defined each area, let me get down to the meat and potatoes of this article. You can have an oddly shaped triangle and be successful. What I mean is, you can have a TON of experience, and be lacking in education/certifications, and do really great. Or, if you have a PhD, and you probably don’t need a CCNA. Alternately, a CCIE probably can get away without a bachelors. The general idea is, you can be really strong in one area, moderately strong in two areas, or average in all of them (with a stronger core to differentiate yourself). Of course, there’s exceptions here, but this seems to be the trend for successful people. Ideally, we all want to be well-rounded.

You SHOULD strive to be strong in all areas. Since we’re not machines, you often have to focus on one thing (or few) at a time. If you’re not sure where to start, analyze your IT Skill pyramid, and see where you can grow. For reference, you might try looking at sites such as LinkedIn, job search sites, etc- to see what employers are looking for (their definition of a “complete” pyramid), and try to match that.

Let’s see an example. I am a hiring manager, looking for a network administrator. Here are my candidates.

Name: John
Education: Associates degree in network administration
Certifications: CCNA, MCSA
Experience: 1 year network administration experience

Name: Tony
Education: No degree
Certifications: None
Experience: 5 years network administration experience

Name: Sheila
Education: No degree
Certifications: CCNA, CCDA, CCNA: Wireless, CCNA: Security, CCNP: Security
Experience: No formal experience

Assuming their core is equal (it’s not..everybody is different)- who would you hire? Well, there’s two scenarios here for what the needs of the company are:

Scenario #1: You just lost your only network admin, and you need someone to fill their spot and maintain the network.

Scenario #2: You have a small team of network admins, and you’d like to add one to help ease the workload.

Scenario 1- I would choose Tony. Tony has the experience, and will get it done (more than likely).

Scenario 2- This is the scenario most companies are probably in. I would choose Sheila, because she has a wide variety of knowledge (gained through her certs), and she can always gain experience. Unless I’m looking for her to move up to a senior position, I don’t really care about the degree as much. John would be a good choice too- infact, I would say the job would go to either Sheila or John in real life, based on their interview and other core qualities.