Certifications v/s Experience

There is no question that being certified in something, is a good thing. The badge that says ?you are capable? at dealing with a specific technology or performing a certain task. Some of these are rather large and I don't mean to downplay them at all. However, it's been my experience that certification can sometimes be used as a cruch. The money making schemes of those issuing the certification or in some cases, a corporate marketing ploy to advance product recognition.
My understanding isthat certification programs manifested as a result of vague CS degrees from Universities and the rapid emergence of new technologies, protocols, and methodologies. To be certified meant that you could ?handle? the technology, but so does proven experience. Think of the web developer; graphics, special relationship, scripting, human factors, and a bit of networking thrown into the soup. These people would need to spend most of their earnings on certification, in order to ?prove? that they canbuild a multi-tiered web structure. In actuality, most of them merely build a bigger mouse trap, I mean website.
But I digress. If you are going to work with a specific technology, say Solaris, and that?s going to be the main part of your world, then you should get certification, not for prove that you understand what you?re doing, put to make certain that you know what you know. If on the other hand, you?re going to be certified in something like a methodology ? then it?s more of a culture(corporate and other) concept and you could more effectively ?show? your working knowledge of it.
Ah, I think that?s what I think; certification in a point of technology or an aspect is a good thing, experience shows that you understand how the wave of technology is flowing.
Personally, most of the certifications that I see are in the hands of people that don?t really show me that they can handle it.
-an opinion

Certification to someone like myself was absolutely essential. Coming to the IT industry at the tender age of 38 as the computer "expert" in our company scared the s**t out of me for a while. As our desktops were exclusively W95, then MCP in this area has been tremendous.

This is the Yes.

The No applies to a friend who has been working with MS solutions since 1986. He doesn't need the certification either to prove his ability to prospective employers or to prove to himself that he knows what he knows.

The hype created by Certification is what any good organisation should do. It is called marketing and they are trying to learn from Microsoft, probably the best marketing organisation in history. After all, it is only with the advent of W2K that they appear to have a stable OS - although secrity is still an issue. Prior to this there were better products around, yet the marketing of their competition was clearly very poor.

Good luck to the certification companies, but Iguess the final question should be left to the individual. Will I be taking more certifications? Yes, but only with products that I REALLY need to learn about - and fast!

I'd say that the process of gaining a certification can help you learn a lot, even if you have been in the field for a few years.

For example, I've been playing around with PCs for more than fifteen years and knew a fair amount about them. When I took a vocational tech course that resulted in A+ certification, I learned a lot more. I'd guess that I knew 60 to 70 percent of the essentials well enough to be comfortable with them. But I needed the course to get the certification.

The samecourse got me to the point where I was able to pass the Network+ exam. That was an area where I vaguely knew a lot of the terms, again from having been around networks for twenty odd years.

In both cases I had experience with the certification topic but I lacked adequate knowledge. Getting the certifications helped equalize things.

People who are certified demand more money.
Some certified Network Engineers don't even know how to install applications. I mean simple applications installation.

In my experience, bit as a techie and as a manager there is plenty to be said either way.
As a techie I would study to become proficient in the fields of expertise needed to the company I work for, and to ensure I remain marketable. After all the market is the measure of my salary. If that includes achieving certain certificates then so be it. But it is more important to me to remain able to cope with current technology changes, and apply them appropriately when asked. It is also - be warned -good to know where I am not expert and be able to admit it and search out where I can get the expertise. This adds as much value, often, as knowing the answer.

As a manager I expect my technical people to know what they need to to do the job efficiently. If they don't know I do not want to be mucked around wasting time and resources when a simple admission would save all the time and hassle. I want results, not wally's. Certification proves the person is able to sustain studying for a periodof time, and repeat the results of the study. It does not prove knowledge. Working over a period of time, and being able to show some form of reference slightly outweighs certification (70/30). Certification and experience incerases the persons worth every time. But I will expect commesurate competence.

This applies to any field of endevour, not just IT. Marketing machines have promoted effectively to IT people the value of on-going training, but the price is steeper thant the gain, especially in some popular areas.

Both certifications and experience are ways for hiring managers to thin out the applicants. The same applies for degrees of all levels.

What is important is how the applicant works out. For this, I suggest a peer review in addition to management review. Often times peers recognize strengths or weaknesses that management misses.

Is there justification for linking pay to certifications or experience? In some instances. For example, being able to claim certifications for everyone on staff can provide a distinctive business value when selling an IT service. However, it adds no value to the IT department of say a retail chain. The value comes with performance.

I submit that beyond thinning out the applicants, certification and experience add no inherent value. How individuals tackle challanges and interact with others is where the real value occurs. Pay for the performance.