Value of certification

Horse: ROFLMAO.....

Now you went and ruined it...... You could have at least hidden your post..... Now I'm going to get 2,000 resumes 'cos now everyone thinks they can get at least a ten minute "chat".... ;)

I have always interviewed well. I have a very well written resume that has been reviewed and tweaked by many hiring managers and influential people I have met over the years. I always get the comment, "You need some formal training or certifications to get noticed. Your resume says you have done these many things but are not good enough to certify". I always took that with a grain of salt as I really do have a large skill set. It has afforded me many jobs. All of them below my realm of expertise because I do not have the paper to back it up.

I am getting flushed out of the market at this time by kids 10 years younger than me to DO have a "paper cert" and could not find there way around a patch cable with a diagram. How do you suggest expressing my qualifications as a proffesional without a certification stating that I have what it takes to achieve this piece of paper? A certification, in my case, would not be a paper cert. I do not just study to pass a test. I study to learn. The passing grade has always just been a fringe benefit.


Snow

Have you worked for well known organizations? For instance, on my resume you'll see plenty of work done at the Pentagon and with branches of the Dept. of Defense. Sometimes the place you have worked will carry a great deal of weight. Do you have anything like that?

I have worked for Raymond James, Price Waterhouse Coopers, IBM, Danka, and I am currently working for Janus Mutual Funds.

Snow

As a person who makes IT related decisions for my company, here is how I view certifications.

Certifications are good but they are not the silver bullet for employment. They may certify that you have at minimum a book level knowlege of that subject, and that is fine. But nothing makes up for work experience. A stong history of performance in your area of expertise is key to landing a job, certifications on top of that are a bonus, and a nice presentation of yourself is priceless.

Not all certs are created equal. Those that require verified work experience (CISSP/CISM) are very useful in some situations, for example... relocating. If I have a candidate from another country and they have such certs then I am likely to give them a chance if they lack such certs I am likely to pitch the application. Why? because it is too much of a pain for me to go verifying their education and experience, plains and simple.

I do not give any weight to certs based on tests alone, but I know some places do and others give pay bonuses. So the answer is... maybe. Just look at job listings and see if jobs you are interested in every mention certs.

catch

I have posted similar points on similar threads, but I'll throw in my 2 cents.

Experience and knowledge outweigh everything else in the long run.

Unfortunately you have to get in the door first. Some companies require a degree to even talk to you. Some job postings list CISSP or CCNA or MCSE as the case may be as a requirement. In those cases obviously you syhould have whatever it is the prospective employer is requiring.

In general I am in favor of getting a certification or two and an entry-level job basically straight out of high school and working your way up. While working and gaining experience you can hopefully get your employer to pay for or at least subsidize your education. At the very least you will have an income to pay for school while you pursue a degree instead of racking up $50,000+ in student loans.

By the time you hit the glass ceiling into middle or upper management where a degree starts to become more of a requirement you will have earned it- but you will also have 5 or 6 years of experience, a good income and no student loan debt.

Everyone goes round and round about this. I just think that when you spend 4 years going to college you come out with a piece of paper, hardly any practical knowledge applicable to the real world, a bunch of student loan debt and you are gunning for entry-level positions.

There are exceptions to every rule and everyone's situation is unique. This is just my $.02

You need the piece of paper these days to say I can do this stuff.

Quote:

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You need the piece of paper these days to say I can do this stuff.

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If you walked in to an interview with me and all you had was a piece of paper and you couldn't answer questions to demonstrate a high level of techincal unsderstanding, I'd direct you to the nearest bathroom and tell you how to use that piece of paper.

Or if I *really* didn't like you, I'd send you over to TigerShark for a follow-up interview. LOL. FEAR TigerShark, he is even more angry than I am. ;)

Again, certs are just one item that a well rounded IT professional must posses - period.

--TH13

Hey Horse...... That's hardly fair...... It's not anger..... It's.... er..... A highly developed sense of......er..... the value of my time...... Yeah.... that's it......Highly developed....... ;)