Recommendation for IT Certificate.

[dfrecore]

My husband got an AWS cert that actually covers 36cr (semester) at Purdue Univ Global.  He got a job offer from Amazon soon after getting his cert.

It depends on what school you go to as to how many credits you can get for things.

Also, does it have to be a cert, or can it be actual courses?  Because you could take some UL college courses in Cloud or whatever, and kill 2 birds with 1 stone.

That is interesting. I chat with Purdue rep and they don't offer AWS cert.  Only Bachelor of Science in Cloud Computing and Solutions witch is 180 credits and Postbaccalaureate Certificate.  I don't have yet my BSBA to do it.  It can be a course or certificate.  In the end, they want a paper with my name on it, degree or cert.

https://www.purdueglobal.edu/degree-prog...echnology/

I didn't say he got the cert through them, I just said that he got it, and if he goes to PUG, it comes in to cover 36cr (sem) - which equals 54cr (quarter).  They're a quarter-based school, but we generally talk about semester-based credits here, so I converted it for ease of discussion.

PUG has some Cloud courses, which is why I suggested it.  They could go towards their Cloud degree, but they can also be used towards other degrees.

---

@dfrecore its its interesting.  Did he land the job only based on the certification?

No, he has 20+ years of experience.  But he got the cert and then literally 2 days later someone called him.  It could have been a coincidence...

Sorry, I misunderstood you.  Can you say where he got AWS cert?

Ummm...from AWS...not sure what you're asking?  Are you asking how he studied?  If so, he paid for some program online he's used before (something with the name "king" in it I think).

[Cofffeee]

It could be this one - network kings
https://www.nwkings.com

[dfrecore]

It's this: https://www.test-king.com/

[Cofffeee]

Was he happy with this provider?

[dfrecore]

Was he happy with this provider?

I guess so.  It's the one he uses, and I think he's passed all of the certs he's ever taken, so...

[Cofffeee]

OK thanks a lot. Good to have

[Thorne]

It's this: https://www.test-king.com/

Uh... that's a braindump http://www.CertGuard.com/Search.asp?Site=test-king.com
Been around for awhile, but was reviled in my college's Cisco program because they are used to cheat on the exams. A lot of people that used it agreed on two things:
1. It prepared them for the exams perfectly, to the point where some of them didn't miss a single question
2. It had a lot of background information so they actually did learn most of the stuff they quizzed on, even if the quiz could have just been memorized by rote

[innen_oda]

they are used to cheat on the exams.

At the risk of being pedantic, is this actually cheating? It might be missing the spirit of an exam, but using this resource would be, I think, in line with the rule of an exam.

One could argue from an employer perspective that these brain-dumps are awful in that you end up with a technically qualified but practically useless employee. Or from a ethical perspective that these suck and potentially diminish the value of education and certifications.

One could also posit, however, that it is the certifications themselves that are cheating employers and employees, because it's not testing true ability, but rather memorisation talents. When a rote-memorisation test is required for employment in an industry, it can leave out those who are intelligent problem-solvers, and include instead those who lack critical-thinking but can talk the talk.
And then for those who have been in an industry a while but suddenly need to have the right bit of paper to continue their livelihood, a brain-dump study resource like this might offer the avenue to continue to have employment, without having to devote hours of study to relearning the theory and take overpriced 'bootcamp' courses for a practical application they already know how to perform.

If a college's Cisco programme is grumpy about brain-dumps, the real anger should be towards certifications and outfits that are so lazy in their testing that mere memorisation is sufficient to pass.

[dfrecore]

It's this: https://www.test-king.com/

Uh... that's a braindump http://www.CertGuard.com/Search.asp?Site=test-king.com
Been around for awhile, but was reviled in my college's Cisco program because they are used to cheat on the exams. A lot of people that used it agreed on two things:
1. It prepared them for the exams perfectly, to the point where some of them didn't miss a single question
2. It had a lot of background information so they actually did learn most of the stuff they quizzed on, even if the quiz could have just been memorized by rote

He has 20+ years of experience in the industry, and so I don't think he cares - he just needs to pass the exams.

Now, our son has expressed an interest in learning some IT stuff, and obviously my husband is not telling him to do this.  He would have him learn material from scratch from a good source (no idea which one, that's his deal not mine).  He knows that someone learning from the beginning has different needs than someone who already knows tons of stuff.

[Zardoz]

they are used to cheat on the exams.

[...[

One could also posit, however, that it is the certifications themselves that are cheating employers and employees, because it's not testing true ability, but rather memorisation talents. When a rote-memorisation test is required for employment in an industry, it can leave out those who are intelligent problem-solvers, and include instead those who lack critical-thinking but can talk the talk. 

[...]

Many IT certification exams do require intelligent problem-solving, but your point still stands. They are mainly testing for test-taking ability, which is mostly rote memorization and general problem solving (logic, critical thinking, and fluid intelligence). 
Very rarely do they test for the sort of actual, in-depth domain knowledge that you would only be able to gain through years of actual experience. 

Even certification exams that are considered very difficult do not test for this. 

To wit- I remember several years ago, the company I was working for at the time put me through a 1 week training course to prep for SAP MM consultant certification. Then I had two more weeks to cram for the exam after work hours. It was several thousand pages worth of material, and I had barely any experience working with SAP. 

Long story short: I passed the test. But what does that really mean? They certainly can't have been testing for experience or practical domain knowledge, because I didn't have any. And that test wasn't considered easy- I was told after having passed the test that there was a job retraining scheme for university graduates who were paid to receive 1 year of full-time training and preparation for this test, and less than 50% of the participants passed. That really blew my mind.

So they were basically just testing for IQ and the ability/motivation to study hard. Mostly the latter, I would say.