The Value of IT Certifications

Technical certifications don't beat experience

The original concept of a certification was an official acknowledgement that the individual was a master in that field. I remember when I certified as a Microsoft Certified System Engineer – being a MCSE was the Holy Grail, I thought. Of course, there no longer is a MCSE certification. Around the same time, I earned my masters degree. A technical colleague congratulated me, saying getting a masters degree is for a lifetime, but a technical certification was not. I was surprised, as at that time I thought my earning potential was immediately enhanced more by the Microsoft certification.

Whether certifications make a difference has been long debated. There has always been what is called “paper certifications” – people passing exams by taking practice exams, reading books, cramming, yet without the hands-on knowledge. These paper certifications cheapened the value of what others worked so hard to obtain. I remember a coworker bragging that he had passed the Microsoft IIS MCP exam and had never even looked at IIS! (Personally, if that was me, I would have kept it to myself.)

Microsoft and others have worked to make it harder to obtain paper certifications – they have added simulations, tested on scenarios, and created questions related to understanding the underlying architecture.

However, salary surveys as reported recently at http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/102711-paychecks-certifications-25... state that the value of IT certifications has been on the decline for the past four years, while the increase in pay with non-certified IT skills has risen faster than for those with IT certifications. Not only do employers prefer experience over certification, but they also are seeking skills in areas that do not have certifications at this time. In fact, corporate IT departments are favoring business skills over technical skills when considering future employees. They want people who understand the business, the customer, who can talk to people. The rationale is you can teach technical skills, but it’s harder to teach business savvy.

Maybe my colleague was correct after all about my masters degree.

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For another perspective, read about the results of a survey on certifications conducted by Network World and SolarWinds at http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/111411-it-certifications-lead-to-higher-pay-252852.html.

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