I'm studyng for my first Solarwinds NPM certification but I just want to know from all that already are certified if this push your Solarwinds carreer to the Next level.
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SolarWinds provides training tools to aid users in leveraging SolarWinds products and preparing for SolarWinds Certified Professional® examinations. Training programs and materials provided by third parties are not reviewed, monitored, or endorsed by SolarWinds and we cannot ensure their accuracy.
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Sara
SCP Program Manager
It is always a good thing to add and showcase your knowledge. The certification has opened doors and assisted me in getting my last two jobs.
Thanks for your response! totally agree with you, the first thing is pushing me to do this is the challenge to test my knowledge and find ways to improve my skills to help the organization I work for.
It was a requirement for the last couple job specs my place sent out
While it wasn't a requirement at my current workplace, back in the day in professional services, I could tell that customers were feeling a lot more comfortable working with when they knew I was SCP certified.
I guess the answer should be the same as we tell our kids when they study for a test in school ; it's the knowledge you gain by studying for the test that is the ultimate goal. If that test boosts your career depends on what you do with it. If you search for a job that requires this knowledge it's a good proof. If you work in professional services then the customers might demand it. If you manage a NPM inhouse, it can feel better knowing you do have the knowledge to do your job. So might your manager feel.
I have personally taken MANY SCP'S over the years. For me it's worth it. For several of above reasons.
This really confirm that this is the move I must do
I could not find a better way to say it!
thanks @Seashore for take your time to response
A good number of DOD SolarWinds support positions now require SCP certification. Just like any other IT industry certification, it will separate you from those who don't have it, and that can only be a good thing. It did help me get my current position.
Yes that is one motivator point to do the exam, this is a market competition all those better prepare will go to the olimpycs thanks for your comments!
Good Luck with your exam preparation. Let me know if I can help...
I agree with Mr. Shore here, 100%, it's the knowledge you gain and what you do with it that matter. You could take and pass every SCP exam there is, but it's probably not going to impress the pizza delivery guy. These exams are a great way for you to gauge where you're at with where you might want to be heading towards. In my experience, management always likes it when their employees have something like this so the departments can brag about it and use it to justify budgets/training/etc.
When it's all said and done, I vote yes. These exams are easily worth the time to invest if you're already on this path or just starting to walk it.
I got a udemy preparation test, some old flash cards I found and a list of questions from chatgpt, but if you have something else can share will be great I want to go to the exam with all tools I can find. I really apreciate your offer
I don't know if it was being SolarWinds Certified or just listing the SolarWinds experience, but it did help me get a couple of contract positions in the past. I hope it helps you too. It is worth pursuing to have it on your resume.
Thanks for Sharing your experience @adam.beedell
Thanks for sharing this with me @fakeusername definitely I'm moving in the rigth direction
thanks for sharing your comments I really apreciate your words @wluther
I have taken an SCP - mostly because I got a free one as a perk of being an MVP.
But let me share my thoughts around SCPs and a little bit about me and exams in general....
Was it worth me getting the SCP that I do have [NPM by the by]?
I'd have to say no. I am not an exam person. What do I mean by this? Simply put I have never been good at exams. I can learn facts, knowledge and information that if you asked me face to face about I could answer. Put me in an exam and ask me the same question then my brain seizes. This gives me an inordinate amount of pressure and stress, especially when it comes to having or even wanting to gain certifications
As mentioned above, the proctoring process did not allay this fear and the fact that I actually passed my NPM SCP remains a minor miracle. Does the process and proctoring lead me to want to do another exam then no. 1000% no. The proctor company have weird policies and they either ignore any attempt to discuss or aggressively rude about it and tell you they "are only doing what Solarwinds put in place". For my exam, I ended up setting up a little table in the middle of my sitting room to prove nothing was nearby regards materials to "cheat from". Their policies stated no food or drink but when questioned if I could have water I eventually got an answer that I would have to ask Solarwinds. When I reached out to the certification address I got no response and then on the day I was told "you can't wear your watch (analogue) but would I like to get a bottle of water"... I get they need to check you aren't cheating, but I wonder how many of us have the luxury of clear space for dedicating to do an exam.Final thought....I have taken other online exams that are nowhere near as stringent as this and the proctors were far more chilled.Let me also stress as a final point... this was purely my experience and it has put me off doing a second exam or even wanting to renew my current one when we get there.HTH?
If you haven't already come across Yaz Becker's course on Udemy here's the link. It helped me get a good understanding of the product. Alternatively there's the Solarwinds Academy to help you study. I however not taken the exams yet and I am undecided if I want to.https://www.udemy.com/course/solarwinds-npm-ncm/?couponCode=LETSLEARNNOWPP
Unfortunately @stuartd , your experience is not unique. You and I should talk...
Yes I agree certs are important, even if you don't end up using them it proves to your employer/future employer that you have the ability to learn. If you don't end up using Solarwinds in future there are other competing products that have the same principals for monitoring. I come from a strong background of using N-Central for 5 years (another Solarwinds product that was rebranded to NAble N-Central) but more RMM focused but the principals for monitoring the parts of servers/workstations/routers/switches use the same technologies, SMNP, WMI etc etc. which has helped a lot when it comes to working with Solarwinds HCO.
Oh man, been honest I did not expect all this kind of reactions on my question I feel so greatfull I did it, I feel so identify with must of the words you just commented, the way my brain work is mimic steps once I do steps I never forget, doing this test is going to challenge my brain to the next level. thanks for sharing with me your experience belive me I took note of all you wrote. thanks!!
totally!
thank you so much for share this!! add it to my udemy profile!
Certifications never hurt. We had to interview many people to fill our last couple of open positions. Certifications would have made a difference in the hiring.
Noted Sara
chiming in late as someone who has been certified more than once, and the first time I let it lapse:They are worth doing, but it's also confirmation you know what you know.
Just backing up @SaraClark on this and giving my technical two cents worth. I have personally seen some other sources out there that claim to be study guides for our exams. While some *might* be effective tools, since we haven't seen or reviewed any of them, they should be taken with a grain of salt. The biggest issue I see is outdated content. Buyer beware, as the old saying goes
thanks for your comments, I'm only taking official training documents. wish me luck
Thanks for this great comment!!
Hi @SaraClark and @cheryl1 Don't want to step on any toes because I have massive respect for SW staff on this forum. However, just some constructive criticism, the Virtual Classroom platform seems to lack structure and order, so my question is do you start with the very top video and make your way down in the list? Example below (couldn't fit all of it in one screenshot). The order seems quite random to me. Also there is a 2022.2 version video (very first in the screenshot) and a 2024.2 version further down the list, do you skip the 2022.2 or are both relevant?
As a Manager of a SolarWinds Team it would be something that I would look for on a person's CV, however that can't replace the experience a person have with the products. That being said though I am looking to get my team up to having at least SCP in NPM moving forward.
I don't have a Solarwinds cert but I do have 10+ years experience. With that I set up a client's Solarwinds solution over the last year with everything monitored, some alerts and reports and some dashboards. The next stage was a lot more alerts, reports and dashboards but they decided to employ someone to do it instead. He allegedly has a cert but ended up breaking Solarwinds so badly that I'm not sure I can fix it. Sometimes a piece of paper is just a piece of paper and not proof of abiility. I am looking at SAM and NCM certs though as someone else is paying
That is what I put you can't replace experience There is another reason why I am looking to get my team up to SCP as it is linked with being a partner with SolarWinds as well, but that is all linked with a plan later on
Given the lack of a renewal across the modules (when you recertify) I think asking people to stay current on their NPM cert is basically all you should reasonably be able to expect unless you want people to be taking cert tests all the time.
I can tell you, having participated in the design of several exams, we do our best to make them as applicable as possible. In other words, less of rote memorization and more of how do you *USE* the skills in real world. We try to make them as close to a practical exam as possible without the ability currently to have practical exams. Having been an admin myself, the last thing we want our certifications to be, is just a "piece of paper" we want our certified professionals to be able to go out and implement our products, configure them and depending on the test, be able to scale to an environment correctly as well as do basic troubleshooting.
I hope that is helpful
I happy to announce that i pass the exam!!!! wohooo I'm new SolarWinds Certified Professional!!!
Congrats!
thanks bro!!!
Thank you sir!!
Thanks bro!