Certifications on Resume

[Fred]

We interviewed a guy who had a full menu of certifications on his resume.  Everything from A+, the entire Cisco line through CCNP level, a bunch of MCSE or whatever they're called now, probably 20+ certifications listed on his resume.

It made sense since he came from a consulting background, but all of us who interviewed the guy agreed that this was a red flag.  This guy in particular was damn strong technically, so he ended up doing very well in the interviews, but having that many certs listed definitely hurt him rather than helped him. 

So, just a bit of advice if you're one of these people with a smorgasbord of certs, you may consider pruning them down and focus on the job you're applying for.

[ChestHair]

What type of a job is hindered by the whole can of alphabet soup?

I work with quite a few somewhat talented consultants and it seems like most of them are too busy to jump on extra certs unless absolutely needed to get a contract.

[wintermute000]

I can relate to that. Its not a problem if there's a clear theme/focus, but when they claim to be a master of everything, its highly suspect, unless your track record backs it up.

In an old job we once received a resume for someone with CCNP, MCSE, VCP, RHCE, Checkpoint and the Citrix one without anywhere near that kind of employment record. Pretty obvious dumper, boss binned it immediately (also we only really gave a sh-t about network stuff as it was a network position lol, esp back in the day before you had to do any virt/SDN/NFV).

re: Consultants, that's strange as usually they have the full alphabet soup, it improves employability. CCIE adds a couple of hundred bucks a day for example. At my VAR/MSP they certainly push the certifications on you pretty hard, even the useless ones (has anyone ever asked you if you were Riverbed (tm) certified.....) though again some of our best old-timers have zero or very little

[deanwebb]

Certs on the resume should fit the role. Now that I'm in the security realm, I don't feel a need to mention my R&S cert.
If it's pertinent, I can always mention a cert I left off the resume, like my Certified Technical Trainer. I'm not in a training role, but if a training opportunity pops up, I can point to that and my 16 years as a high school teacher. I use both, because adult education is not the same as education of younger folks.

[SimonV]

I usually include everything I achieved up until now, plus what I'm currently working on as Work in Progress. I hope it shows to employers the path I've taken to get where I am now and that I'm continuing to expand my knowledge