Are you validated by a Certification?

Many professions require you to pass some sort of a qualification or certification test to enter your chosen field – whether it be the Bar exam, or exams to earn your Masters or PhD. So why is there such contention in the IT community concerning certifications?  Again, there will be those will proclaim loudly that a certification exam is not needed nor required in IT Community

I believe that having a certification does validate a person’s skill set on a specific product (though some pundits might claim it only validates one’s ability to take a test). If you have been in the IT field long enough you will recognize that years of experience does trump taking a certification test in many cases.  Every company has that one person who knows how a particular product works – I mean REALLY works but this person does not have any certifications.  Yeah, the new guy does have his MCITP but does he know the product as well as the first person or can just take a test?

The HR department looks at certification as a means to rank potential hires (or at least weed the number of applications) and possessing (or not possessing!) can make a difference.  Having a certificate can assist them in their efforts, at least partially, when hiring new people.

Now let us take a quick look at those professions where a certification or entrance exam is required. Think of the legal profession, CPA, Medical, and in the Academic community – you have to a certain level of degree to teach Undergraduates. These professions require you have passed certain tests before you are allowed to work in those fields. Many certification vendors require that those teaching their products hold a certain certification level.  As an MCT, I have certification requirements that must be met before I am allowed to teach Microsoft Official Curriculum – that is just a function of both my certification and conditions dictated by Microsoft.

In some cases you are required to have a certification to enter a field, in other situations you are not.  Does the certification make the IT person – no, but it does help!

The Certification Battle Rages Onwards

The case of the Lecture only Instructor

What Certification(s) are you going to earn next year?

• Microsoft
• Microsoft
• Microsoft Certification