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Greg Neilson
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Great Expectations |
| What's certification really worth these days? |
| by Greg Neilson |
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6/12/2002 -- As you might have seen from my previous columns, I'm a big believer in the value of certification. I have some myself and I'm continually encouraging my staff to keep moving on their planned certifications. However, due to the many negative comments about certification I've seen posted here and elsewhere recently, I've begun to wonder whether many people have too many expectations about its value.
A certification is a great asset. But just as the shiny new convertible depreciates the minute you drive it away, so too does your certification. Within two to four years of earning a cert, either the vendor will explicitly make it obsolete or the underlying technology has changed so much that you'll need to recertifiy to demonstrate your knowledge. Therefore, you need to be clear that once you do embark on a certification path, it won't hold its value forever and you'll need to regularly update it.
I still get e-mails from people asking about career opportunities in IT once they complete a certification program. Unfortunately these folks seem to have unrealistic expectations about the ease of entering IT, let alone the types of roles that they are qualified to perform once their certification is completed. There is no short cut to IT riches, and I'm not sure that there ever was. I don't know if it was ever true that certification alone is the ticket to earning $60-70K+, but it sure isn't the case anymore! The only way I can explain this is that, in the past, some of the really early adopters of certification had nothing but their own experience and the product manuals (if they were lucky!) to use to prepare for exams. Then, when usage of these products started booming, those folks who had extensive experience were in huge demand. In many cases they had completed the certification, but this was simply a demonstration of their theoretical knowledge -- it was their extensive practical knowledge that employers were excited about. From a distance, perhaps others got the mistaken impression that it was the certification alone that was their source of value to employers and customers, but I would have hoped that these days this myth was largely dispelled. In my work at CertCities.com's sister magazine, Microsoft Certified Professional Magazine, I know that the editorial staff have tried very hard over the last few years to pass on the message in their annual salary survey results that experience is a very important factor in the salary levels reported. However, I suspect that in many cases people are too busy looking at the dollar numbers in the tables to read any of the accompanying text!
The last area of confusion is to those who appear to confuse a certification with a career. Someone who now wants to work as a DBA on say Oracle, DB2 or SQL Server needs to know that there is so much more to these roles than just the requirements of these certification programs alone. It's one thing to know all of the wonderful commands and their switches, but it's another altogether to know what you should use in a given situation. Education and certification can assist in giving us the latest theoretical knowledge, but there's no substitute for years in the field. In this case, building a career as a DBA is not the same as completing a certification in a database product.
The same is particularly true of the developer arena. Most programming exams focus on language and class library implementation/API details, yet experience in the the art of good analysis, design and testing is probably more important in a successful career as a developer than just the code itself. In other words, just because you get an MCSD, it doesn't mean you're qualified to be an application developer.
Completing a certification can be a valuable asset in your career, but it alone won't and can't take you very far. (For anyone that thinks I'm just down on certification, I also believe that the same is true of a degree -- you really need the practical experience in combination with the theoretical knowledge to be valuable to an employer.) What do you think is reasonable to expect from a certification these days? Let me know by posting your comments below. 
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Greg Neilson, MCSE+Internet, MCNE, PCLP, is a Contributing Editor for Microsoft Certified Professional Magazine and a manager at a large IT services firm in Australia. He's the author of Lotus Domino Administration in a Nutshell (O'Reilly and Associates, ISBN 1-56592-717-6). You can reach him at Attn: Greg.
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There are 86  user Comments for “Great Expectations”
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Page 3 of 9
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| 6/20/02: Alex says: |
I have just graduated with my good ol' BS in Computer Science, Magna Cum Laude, from a very good school. I've also got work experience as an IT intern and with a couple of web programming and networking-related jobs while I was a student...and I still can't land a job! I've been seriously considering pursuing CIW certification or even just MCP, b/c I don't know what else to do. Any thoughts? |
| 6/20/02: KPG says: |
I have over 2 yrs of college, and over 7 years experience in IT. I came up through the ranks, by temping in a Help Desk/PC rollout position. In my most recent employment, I built an NT/Exchange network from scratch as well as some migration. Now I'm unemployed and recently obtained the MCSA. Despite my experience in networking particularly in Windows, employers are looking people that have a 100% fit in a job description or close to it. It has basically been implied that the Win2K education doesn't matter unless you have the hands-on experience in a corporate environment, discounting my experience in an NT environment. I done formal instructor-lead classes, CBTs, self-study (books), and a home-lab all to better enhance my exposure and learning experience to 2000 technologies. Unfortunately my experience in a "real" environment was limited before myself and half of my department got canned. Unfortunately today's economy is a "buyer's market" for employers and they can choose to be picky becuase of the amount of available candidates. It's hard just to get interviews. Employers seem to be interested in, "What have you done lately in the latest technology?" and not, "What have you learned lately?" I find this hard to believe that there are an influx of Windows 2000 MCSEs who have done migrations to Win2K and Exchange 2K in the 2-years time that these products have been out when most companies tend to wait for product maturity before implementing the new 2000 technologies. Also with the countries economic situation the way that it is, many companies may have but migration projects on hold, leaving even fewer people with "real world" Win2k migration experience. What is up with these companies? don't they realize the type of candidates that are out there? Any thoughts? |
| 6/20/02: Bob says: |
I am a paper MCSE. I didn't used to be. I have good NT skills and experience, but when Win2K was released I did not want to loose my certification (pre rule change logic) and so I re-certified. To date I still have not worked professionally with Win2K. The MCSE has been invaluable to me howerver in landing jobs. I do not have a degree in CS so it is my only shingle. |
| 6/20/02: Michael says: |
I graduated from a community college program in telecommunications over 10 years ago. I worked for a large computer company ( DEC ) for 5 years in the logistics dept. I intended to become a service technician within the company but my supervisor would not let me out of logistics because I became to valuable to his organization. ( the reason that I eventually quit ). During the years at DEC I had a college education ( on a hardware level ) and worked as a logistics administrator ( parts person ) I learned the software and networking by being an enthusiast and a local computer technician. I did it all myself at home and became quite good at it. When I quit DEC to become a librarian ( mostly to design and implement the library's computer network and database system ), it freed up enough time to take some courses to get some papers to get myself a job in IT, which is where I really wanted to be. Eventually I ended up with an A+ certification and an MCSE that Microsoft wanted to make obsolete exactly one week after I had finished writing my last exam. When I landed a job at the local school board as a service technician, I was ridiculed about having certifications because of the " paper certification " thing. I have since proven myself as a technician (with little direct experience in the field) that helps the uncertified techs with years experience get past some of the more difficult problems and configurations. Now I once again feel stuck in a job that gives few challenges and opportunities for advancement. I am currently working on a Cisco CCNA in hopes it will open a few doors for me. I guess the point that I am trying to make with all of this is that opportunities to move forward in this business don't come easy and if you are good at what you do that can sometimes hold you back as well. However if you love the field, you will move forward based on your experience. Right now I can only claim three years experience working as a technician. I actually have about 12 years experience of being a serious enthusiast and student of IT. What does one do? I suggest only getting into this business if you truly like the work because it can be tough to get an opportunity at the best of times and the certifications may be the only way we "unexperienced" techs can get a chance. |
| 6/20/02: Scott says: |
Right now the market has completely dried up and many people are disillusioned because they can't find decent paying jobs even though their credentials are stellar. Personally I hold the WinNT 4.0 MCSE, CCNP, CCDA and CCNA. I intend to continue pushing forward to get a CCDP ( one more test ), a Checkpoint cert and perhaps an MCP 2000. The key is to not assume your entitled to a big fat salary and senior network engineering job simply because you've attained a few certifications. Everything is cyclic and the economy and market will turn around but for now IT professionals may have to take their lumps. I recently talked to a recruiter who has a CCIE candidate that has been out of work for 9 months. He was pulling in $120,000 at his last job and do you know what he's looking for now as a minimum salary? ( try $60,000 ). I personally pulled in $90,000 last year and would be quite happy for 70+. More importantly it's certification plus experience that get you to the next level. If your just starting out take job that's a few thousand less if you can keep your hands on bleeding edge technology and work with senior techs willing to mentor. If you truly have the right stuff the money will come around eventually. Now is simply not the time to be greedy. Simple supply and demand folks.... |
| 6/20/02: David says: |
The cert. realisticly does not get you a job. In my case comming out of another field I got my cert. to prove some knowledge and to start a "paper trail" on my resume. No it did not get employers beating down my door, but when it came to like expereince it gave me a muc needed boost. |
| 6/20/02: Narc says: |
I am a MCSA working on my MCSE. I have over 20 years of experience with Novell, NT, Microsoft, A/S 400, Lotus Notes, etc,.etc., etc.... I can't get a job!!! I beleive that the certifications do and will help to land a job because employers are only looking to hire people who are certified. If you look at ANY add posted, all require at least one Cert, either A+, MCSE, CCNA or the like. I do think, however, that one of your respondees makes a very good assesment in that many companies want one person to have 5 or 6 different certifications and ontop of that, pay 35K. I think that the time will come when the salaries will rise again and the opportunities will be vast. And yes, certification will add value to your career as well as add to your self esteem and confidence. |
| 6/20/02: stanley says: |
I am a mcp and now doing my BS in Computer Science. There are some people in my class who also MS certified. Over some observation, i find that the so called "first class honour" holder are all only as good as the title "first class". What they know is only the academic paper that the school taugh. They do not possessed any proffesional ability like those who do some serious certification program. One of my friend quit the degree program half way because he feel that certified people like him should not mix together with those degree student who are only "little kid" to him. He find that degree holder student are good for nothing, maybe because he is a MCSA and MCSD holder in his early 23 years old. So he said that he gonna to look job just with his MCSA and MCSD cert to show those degree student the power of MCSD cert. Surprisingly, he did get a job with quite well paid. So what i want to say is that no matter how bad the reputation of certs to you people, it still has its own value which degree program does not have. At least the certified people know the stuff that he get certified on, better than degree student. It is proven. My statement above apply only to people who did serious work without the help from transcanders or other aid tool that help him to get certified. |
| 6/20/02: Former Paper MCSE says: |
When I looked for work in the past, I found that most positions "require" at least 3 years experience in the same job as that for which there is an opening. I was able to get around this by finding a small tech services company that was wanting to qualify as a Microsoft Certified Solution Provider (now Microsoft Certified Partner). They therefore were willing to hire me even though I had no network administration experience and needed to be taught some basic on-site troubleshooting techniques (I knew how to troubleshoot over the phone already). Another major factor in getting jobs is the vast realm of people skills. The initials after your name may get you the interview, but there is a fine line between confidence and arrogance. Communication and writing skills also play a great part in getting and keeping a job. If you consistently speak and write well, in addition to having good technical skills, you will much more likely succeed. Starting your own business may be a good idea but running a business is much harder than working as a tech. Best bet for starting in IT? Be underpaid for a few years after getting your certs, preferably in an environment where you deal with multiple companies' networks. Finally, Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett did have experience playing basketball when they were picked up by the NBA, just at a different level. |
| 6/21/02: MCT says: |
I agree you need both experience and certification. I have taught many experienced IT people. They learn things during the class that sometimes give them solutions to problems they have had in the past. The unemployment rate is bad in all fields. The numbers I have seen show that unemployment is lower in the IT industry than in many other industries. I think when the economy bounces back, the demand for IT professionals will be stronger than ever. Certification doesn't mean you will walk into a high paying job. But it may get you into the entry level position that allows you to get experience and prove your ability. That will give you an advantage when the economy does get better. |
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