Certification
In a conversation with a couple of former colleagues the other day, the topic of certification came up. We had a range of views – from “is there really any point?” to “they open up opportunities you’d never hear about otherwise”.
Over the years I’ve moved from a slightly snobbish “certifications are nice enough, but don’t mean much” to thinking they can be a useful aid to learning and recruitment – though I still treat their presence on a CV with a large pinch of salt.
From the point of view of the person trying to get certified, there are roughly three starting points, with corresponding reasons for making the effort.
- You have been working with the technology for years, know it all backwards, and getting a certification will formalise your expertise for realitively little effort.
- You are reasonably familiar with the technology, but are aware of gaps – perhaps functionality that your organisation doesn’t need, or has customised. Studying for a certificate will ensure you get even coverage across these areas.
- You want to learn a technology which you hardly know at all, and the certification programme will give you both a structure for your learning, and a goal to motivate you.
When I’ve worked for certificates in the past, it has mostly been from the first two positions, but I’ve been considering going for some as an aid to learning new stuff in the near future. Following my chat a few days ago, I think I definitely shall.
Some of the arguments around certification are:
Do vendors have the right attitude?
Vendors are only in it for themselves / they only do it to make money.
Companies seeking a revenue stream? No shock there. But they do have other considerations…
A vendor may wish to encourage more people to take its exams, and hence lead them into using its products; so it will encourage quantity over quality – i.e. make the exams easier.
Maybe, sometimes. It really depends on the vendor and the exam – for example, Microsoft exams have had a variable reputation over the years. However, there is an issue of reputation for the vendor, and some strong opposite pressures to ensure the certification is respected.
A vendor wants to have its products displayed in the best possible light, so has an incentive to make their exams properly testing. A customer who buys a product and hires a certified administrator to install it, would have good grounds to complain if things fail. And I think a well-respected certification process reflects a certain kudos onto the vendor as a whole.
Is it a good way to learn?
A study course based around certification will just “cram” towards an exam – it will bias the teaching material towards the topics that will be examined, and may skip important areas that are not tested; it will spend time practising sample questions rather than practising real use; it will teach usage patterns that match what the vendor would prefer, rather than what is most common or best practice in the real world; and it will focus on short-term memorisation of details rather than a longer-lasting understanding.
It’s really a case of caveat emptor – if you pay someone to cram you for an exam as quickly as possible, they will do just that. If you want more than cramming, you may need a longer course, or more self-study and preparation time outside the classroom. Practice afterwards is essential (as with any technology training) if you want to retain what you’ve learnt.
Exams are just a test of rote memorisation, not real skill with the product. And you can buy the answers off the internet.
Possibly true – but the better certifications these days are not just multiple-choice tests, but require you to work through hands-on scenarios, etc. Yes, there are websites selling answers, but it should become fairly obvious in a technical interview if someone has no real knowledge.
I’m an employer, should I care about certificates?
No one really good cares about certificates anyway, so anyone who claims experience based on one is probably just a weak candidate who has just done the crammer course.
This is mostly just snobbery. Of course, many excellent specialists do not have a matching certification, so you should not rule someone out who appears to have the right skills but no certificate. There are also those who have crammed for a test, and then forgotten it all equally quickly afterwards. The qualifications claimed should be read in conjunction with other experience on the CV – distrust someone who claims to be an expert but has no real hands-on experience; but applaud the enterprise of someone who says “I wanted to expand my skills, and took the exam to prove what I had learnt”.
Probably the reliance you put on qualifications will also depend on the position you’re recruiting for. If you want to hire a consultant for a very short project, and don’t want to spend ages on interviews and evaluating skills, then looking for a particular certificate may be a good filter to save time. If you want the best possible candidate for a long-term role, then you’d be overlooking a large portion of the best talent by insisting on a certification.
Some employers encourage their workers to gain qualifications as a part of their normal training and development programme – and why not?
I’m a worker, should I care about certificates?
If you have good skills in useful technologies, you will always be able to find a role somewhere without showing paper qualifications. But by having them, you do open up other possibilities where a certification is specified as essential. Whether the time and effort involved are worth it will depend on your skills, whether you need an extra edge to stand out in a crowded market etc.
If you are a specialist in a less common area, employers will probably evaluate all the candidates; for a more common skillset, they may specify a qualification, simply to reduce the pool of people to consider. If HR or non-technical management are important in their recruitment process, they are more likely to exclude candidates based on simple criteria, or use a points-based system which favours certifications. Employment agencies too are easily pleased by a simple keyword that flags up a CV in a search.
In particular, for a consultant or short-term contractor, gaining qualifications shows a commitment to their area of expertise and may help win a contract.