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How long are certifications good for??

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by boohbear

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I just wanted to know how often the certifications have to be taken. How long are the CIW certs good for?
Thanks,
Theresa

7 replies

by pctech

I can not speak as to the CIW certifications, only to the MS certifications. Microsoft use to expire certifications at the end of their product life span. Microsoft finally conceeded to business demands that certifications remain in effect until they are no longer needed by the business society. This is by far a more logical approach to the end of a certification. A certification should "live" for as long as it is needed. This should not imply that Microsoft will continue testing for certififcations on products that they no longer support. This only applies to the fact that certifications will be allowed to die a natural death and not an arbitrary one. "In the real world", this will always be the case and Microsoft finally conceeded to that point.

by boohbear

I'm sorry I wasn't more clear on what I was asking. I am currently taking classes to get my assoc. in Info. Technology and I chose CIW as my concentration. After I take the exam to become certified as CIW, will I be certified forever as CIW or do I have to get recertified after "X" number of years?
Thanks,
Theresa

by jimhm

That would proably depend on which one of the 7 CIW Masters you are going for. Going from just using common sense - the certifcations since they are Vendor nut - would be valid forever. But to say that a CIW in Database design and development would be good forever - you would be a fool.

Databases and many of the other CIW products change on a yearly basis - Web Design changes - Web Media Changes. You have to maintain your skill base and education base. You just can't say I got my Cert or I got my AS-BS-MS and thats all there is. You have to continue and maintain your education.

More so in the ever changing field of Web - All the CIW is going to show is that you know yesterdays stuff and maybe a little of todays stuff - later on next year or the year after - it will show you know 2004 stuff in 2007...

So - Doesn't matter how long the Cert is good for - Keep your education maintained ... Thats the main problem with Certifications -

by becker-2004

with certs. you have to keep upgrading as either the product gets out of date or the technology changes & matures. even with CompTIA, they release 2nd version or newer editions to their lifetime certs.

a WinNT MCSE is pretty useless today. as is the very 1st generation A+ certs which covered EISA and Win95 OS's.

don't count on not having to update or upgrade your CIW.

by cg it

certifications, such as the MCSE/MCSA [either NT or W2K or even the new W2003] equate to having a bacholars degree. All that tell prospective employers that you have sucessfully completed the fundamental courses of study for a given field. Don't forget that W2003 is not entirely a new O/S and has it's basis on W2K server and W2K server has its basis on Windows NT. Yes Active Directory was new to W2K Server and a HUGE change. But the basis of W2K server and a prerequisite for a MCSE/MCSA for W2K was a working knowledge of Windows NT.

Just as the medical field has gone from a general practitioner to specialzied fields, so has the computer industry. To be able to enter a specialized field of study one needed a firm understanding the the basic concepts. That's the certification [or in fields other than IT a bacholars degree].

How about a Bacholars degree in computer science? Does that mean a person with a bacholars degree in CS mean they know Windows Based networking? I think not. Yet there are companies who hire college grads with those degree to be network admins [with the resulting oops damnit when those hired screw up the network].

by becker-2004

Nothing Beats a BA!

but.. unfortunatly, the IT field is over crowded. it's become an employers market. because of that, employers can command/demand/expect a high level/specialized certification such as MCSE from candidates to fill their lowest/newest entry level positons.

expect to dish out a lot of money for a cert. just to get your foot in the door.

by gothicscott

Becker has it right!

Tell Microsoft to stick their bogus certifications where the sun doesn't shine.

All of my certs aren't helping me right now that's for sure!

But I feel assured and happy that I helped finance Mr. Bill's 100 million dollar techie mansion in Redmond.

Later folks ..

_Scott

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