Discussion on:

Watch out: Certification fees are on the rise

In my experience with certifications, they don't mean much if you're not looking for a new job. The people I know with certifications in my region have been getting less % raises than I do. I passed VB Desktop, but my experience with it is all youdo is regurgitate what you learn to a computer asking you questions, which are mostly vague. In my area of the country, experience is far more valuable than certifications. If you've got the CA$H to pay for a boot camp or other training, (and now you've got more CA$H for the certification tests), then you just simply "BUY" your certification. I passed on the first try, but I've know several people in the MCSE track to have to take some test 4 times to pass one. It's just memorization. Oncethey pass, they are of no more use when problems come up, than before they passed. All it means is that they memorized some books. Also, many training facilities are touting certification as better than a 4-year degree. Any company that hires someone with a certification over someone with a degree is fooling themselves. Colleges usually turn out well-rounded people -- not just people who can memorize. Raising costs of certifications 25% in 4 years is higher than the rate of inflation, and we're currently in a recession, so that tells you that something's wrong with the pricing.

Between this reply and Paul Baldwins dispariging remarks about MCSE certification in his column today, I question the value of certification EXPENSE as well. I am a believer in certification, certainly over the ability to take 5 years to complete a4-year degree, know which bars on campus will serve minors, who has the best weed, and whatever virtue there may be in advanced studies in political correctness.

Give me someone who has demonstrated a working knowledge of where to look in the book on a real-world system any day.

It is true that experience is very important. But so is training. Yes, a person with a certification without experience is a person who still has the basics. However, a person with experience and a certification is worth their weight in gold. Plus they show that they still have the drive to learn and expand their knowledge.

I, personally, have over 5 years experience and I find that I have a deeper understanding about a product that I cover as part of studying for a certification. It is certainly one way of keeping your skills up to date once you have experience.

I wrote MCSE NT 4.0 exams in India on 1998 when the price was 800 Rs(Approx 25-30$ as of 1998)each paper. Now the price is 2250 which is approx equals 50$. So totally to complete the MCSE 2000, you have to shell out 17,000 Rs,. Whereas to get CCNA 7000Rs or Sun Solaris Admin Certification 15000(2 papers) which is cheaper than MCSE. So this pricing will surely reduce the no of MCSE's from India whereas CCNA and Sun Certification nos will increase. I feel by this stand, Microsoft is promoting SunCertification.... Microsoft: Hope you will read this.....

I think Microsoft and CompTIA would be wise to institute a rollback in exam price to those of us who are already certified in their previous certification programs. Otherwise, our thinking may become somewhat jaded and we may just jump to another certification program. That may not sound important but if a certified network manager moves to Linux or Novell certification, you may just see his or her network converted to Linux or Novell in a very short time. We don't just jump to anpother certification program, we jump to another operating system. If memory serves me correctly, this was part of what happened with the mass exodus from Novell servers to Microsoft servers. Microsoft was very smart back then. They knew Novell was making certification difficult, Microsoft made it easy, voila!

CompTIA-certified individuals can join as IT Professionals. When you do, your next CompTIA exam is discounted by 25%.

Concerning changing OSs or other software, two comments:

First, why would this bother CompTIA, a vendor-neutral organization?

Second, concerning M$ making certification easy, IMO they made it too easy. After all, anybody can get an MCSE without ever touching a server...

Here is a quote from the initial discussion statement "I think Microsoft and CompTIA would be wise to institute a rollback...." It says, "MICROSOFT AND COMPTIA". If you weren't so quick to criticize, you would be well aware that Microsoft manufactures and sells, among other things, OPERATING SYSTEMS! My point was that Microsoft was smart enough to know that those people who invested time and money in their certification would be their best sales tool. Easy certification sold systems. It had nothing to do with those of you who are so much smarter than everybody else in the IT industry, and probably every other industry as well.

Microsoft reminds me of the greedy little kid with candy. The more he gets the more he wants. They already change 5 times what a college course costs for a 3 day MS course. Now on top of that they want 25% more... Would these folks that say - no problem say the same thing if Gasoline went up 25% - or milk - or Cable TV - or Internet service - No they would be screaming from the highest mountain...

But because - Greedy Billy Gates - says it - OH 25% isn't that much .. we will give the Billionaire a few more pennies ... to satisfy his greed..

MS - MoeMoney MoeMoney MoeMoney - There will be no stopping that Greedy Monster - The 1,500 lb grilla with MS stamped on its head will just keep doing what he wants...

You have just hit the nail on the head. Certification is a money making machine for Microsoft, hence they are CONSTANTLY retiring certs and rolling new ones out. I like the new philosophy of allowing the cert to stand once it has been retired, but feel that I won't be getting too many(1-2) Microsoft certs myself. I do work in a Microsoft shop, but will be going the way of Cisco, Novell, and CompTIA, as I think that they are better standing certification programs.