I love being technical, and at least for the foreseeable future, I would
like to stay that way. Is it worth the time and money to get a technical
certification?
Yes it is and this is why.
I receive at least one question a week relating to this specific topic.
Knowing that this was an important topic to write about, I serendipitously was
introduced to Tom Woodring, the co-founder of Boss CBT, and thought it was time
to bring this question to the forefront.
I asked Tom his thoughts on the importance of studying and receiving a
certification in your area of expertise. Tom said that the right certification
can provide value in many ways, including the following:
1. Most obvious is that the certification itself is a strong credential that
helps illustrate your knowledge in a specific technology.
2. By their nature, certifications are generally designed in a way that provide
a wide variety of topics. When using a technology in the workplace, you tend to
always use the same set of configuration options, commands, and procedures. The
reason for this is twofold. First, it’s what you know, so why mess with
success. Second, your technical environment tends to drive you toward specific
types of product usages and automations. As a result, it becomes very hard to
develop an expertise in all features/options within the technology.
3. Certification preparation can provide the motivation needed to set aside the
time and energy needed to truly study a topic.
4. If you are currently knowledgeable in the topic, studying for a
certification can raise your conceptual understanding of the technology.
5. The organization through which you received your certification training is
generally an ongoing source of information, networking, and career development.
6. Many certifications require a specified amount of continuing education to
maintain your certification. This ongoing educational requirement provides
additional motivation to keep current on your industry.
7. The best certification training provides not only the “what” and the “how”,
but also the “why”. This “why” helps provide insights into the rationale behind
the creation of seemingly unneeded or less obvious product features.
8. After completing your certification, your training/study materials can be a
great technical reference and job-aid to assist you in your daily work.
9. Very often certification training includes the use of hands-on and/or
simulated instruction. This ability to play with the technology in a non-production
environment allows you to try new things and experiment with the technologies
without the worry of causing harm to your production environment.
In addition, describing the many benefits of pursuing a technical
certification, Tom went on to say that the sooner you take the certification
the better. The reason was four fold:
• The sooner you have the knowledge, the sooner you can use it in the work
place.
• The sooner you have your certification, the sooner you can make money because
of it.
• As the technologies get more complex over time, there is the potential that
the certification exams will also get more complex.
• Having an understanding of the technology’s technical foundation provides a
great basis for a deeper understanding of that technology as it gets more
complex. (This last item is further described below)
Tom gave a specific example of this last bullet point using Cisco routers,
one of the areas where his company provides certification training. He said
that the data communication industry is increasingly employing both device and
network virtualization to provide innovative solutions. With each instance of
abstraction, the difficulty in understanding/comprehension increases
significantly. Without a solid skill set of networking fundamentals, one faces
an even steeper uphill battle of staying current in the future.
In closing, having spent many years in IT management as a hiring manager of
both consultants and permanent employees, is when looking through piles of
resumes trying to find candidates to interview, all other things being equal
(years of experience, job history, etc.), I, and many other managers, tended to
give more weight to the people who had strong credentials/certifications in the
needed technology. I did this for two primary reasons. First, because having
the certification gave me some level of comfort that they knew the technology.
Second, and quite frankly more important than the first, was that they cared
enough about their profession and future career growth that they were willing
to spend the time, money, and effort to maximize their professional knowledge,
skill, and marketability.
Tom Woodring and his company Boss CBT can be
found at www.bosscbt.tv.
His company specializes in Cisco Certification Training for Network
Administrators
source
