IT Certification: The Perks And Pitfalls

[ArticleBot]

This is a dedicated thread for discussing the SitePoint article 'IT Certification: The Perks And Pitfalls'

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Nice article. The only part I would quasi-disagree with you on is the fact that in this job market more and more employers are requiring certain certifications before they'll even look at your resume. Some even say that you shouldn't even apply so for people who are in job specialties where this is becoming more and more common it's not a matter of if they should get the certification but how.

I am not sure what it is you are actually quasi-disagreeing with? I agree completely with what you are saying, just not sure what it is you have taken to mean I believe otherwise??

In essenece, what I wanted to convey with this article was that a person should stop for a minute, do a bit of investigating, make a few calls and so on - and then jump into the whole certification thing.

As for the 'how' to get certified - I guess thats another thing entirely. There's a whole other article in that one!

reagrds,
Andy.

There have been lots of questions asking about stuff like this on the forums. The artilce provideds great reading and answers for anyone starting out.

Really intersting stuff - I am just about to go for my first certification and this stuff was a real eye-opener.

Any chance of an article on how best to approach the actual preparation for an exam?? (I'm flying solo on this one - no money for a course!)

Cyd.

In these united states certification is the ticket. i have worked in IT for th epast 18 years and am cross-platform knowledgable and it took me 2 years to actually get an interview because of my lack of certification. It may be different in australia where they have IT unions.

I am one of those people whose certifications don't really match my abilities. I hold several Apple Macintosh certificates and some employers see that and assume that I am not capable of troubleshooting Windows. In fact, the network I previously supported had various operating systems, but my certificates do not prove it.

Pure bunk. It's the school you can't graduate from. The continuing IT education burden exceeds that for doctors, it facilitates ageism and holds wages down by pitting labor against labor. It values memorization over aptitude and devalues experience. In the end, your 20 years experience coupled with last month's certs equals less than the cheaper kid with one or two years and this month's certs. The bottom line is IT as a carreer is sustainable for most people for about 15 years. By the time you figure this out, you're toast, and all you have to show for it is tendonitis, IBS and thick glasses. Sadly, unionization is the only salvation for IT workers, but they're too busy eating their own dogfood to understand they're working against their own self interest. Vendor sponsored certs are profit centers for vendors, discrimination facilitators for for employers and abject expolitation of labor.

No certs, no degree, (years of college though) worked as customer service to start and clawed my way up with self teaching. Been a programmer for over 5 years now, and I've had steady contract work the whole time. Been considering the MCAD cert, and an MBA for security.

I have a 4 Year degree and 2 MCP's A+ and Network+. The best I could do after 6 months of searching was a low paying Help Desk Job. This was because of a lack of previous experiance, that goes farther then I would have throught

[Newviewit]

With the pace of change today certs and degrees are outdated by the time students get out the door. I would rather hire a self taught coder over a degree holder any day