Go Get Certified! – IT Certification Links

Posted on May 8th, 2009 by Lisa Szpunar

testroomLast week I posted about my favorite IT Learning websites. This week I have some web resources for when you are ready to take your learning one step further to certifications. Here are my fave certification sites for your perusal:

Certification Sites to Visit Now and Again

Certification Magazine
A favorite of mine: Certification Magazine. This is the web version of a real live paper magazine! You can even view the articles in a super neat graphical environment that makes you feel like you are flipping though the magazine. They have great articles each month about technical training and IT certification.

Here is a must read article from this month’s issue - The Perfect Hand: Can You Be Too Qualified? Warning: this website currently looks a little strange if viewed with IE8 but using Firefox works fine.

informIT’s Certification Reference Guide
Do some clicking around on this Certification Reference Guide.  Here you will find a wealth of information about Microsoft and other vendor’s certifications. Author Tim Warner tries to demystify certification names and prerequisites.

I learned something from this guide just today! Did you know that you can apply some CompTIA credentials to certain Microsoft certifications? I didn’t. Here is the proof.

I Just Can’t Get Enough of:
No you aren’t experiencing Dejavu. IT learning and IT certification go hand in hand so many of the links I mentioned last week are still goodies for certification info. Here they are again:

Train Signal
We at Train Signal have put together a lot of articles and info sheets on one of our very favorite topics: certifications! Shameless plug? You be the judge.

  • Certification 101 - Train Signal’s tips on where to start, test taking, the benefits of certification, and more. This page also links out to some vendor specific pages outlining their certification structures.
  • Train Signal Training - A plethora of articles on certification topics. Isn’t the word plethora fun?
  • Windows Server HQ - You found this article. Want more?

Certification Info Websites
There are many websites out there that offer information,  practice material, and shopping forums. You really need to be careful because some of these sites are braindump proprietors. I found a neat little article at About.com that can help you spot a braindump website before you accidently jeopardize your morals and reputation. Here are two that seem to check out.

  • CramSession – A suspect title but it actually has good reviews. You need to create an account but then everything is free.
  • MC MCSE – Another free site with study guides, practice questions, and more.

Certification Articles

Here are some individual certification articles to give you some perspective when choosing what cert paths to tackle.

The 10 Best IT Certifications
This article by Larry Dignam is a few months old but the comments from his readers offer an amazing insight into what real people are experiencing out in the IT world. I suggest both reading the articles and going through the comments.

Top 15 Highest Paying Certifications in the Technology Industry
There are some certs listed here that I have never even heard of! Either way this juicy gossip is a must read.

What are some of your favorite IT certification sites?

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