Noncertified IT pros earn more than those with certified skills, report shows

Tom Schenk  |   Oct 16, 2007  3:34 PM (GMT)

I wonder if this is a reflection of the fact that there are so many people who are certified, but have no real world experience. These paper tigers are doing a disservice to the IT industry. The thing that I think needs to happen is that more certifications require hands on testing like the RHCE does. Only when certifications mean that a person has demonstrated the skills in which they were certified, will certifications really be meaningful.

I know that when I interview a candidate for a position, that I ignore certifications and focus on real life experience. And that offers made to a candidate are based on his demonstrable skills and not on the alphabet soup appended to his name on the resume.

The only reason I am going to be certified is that I need to be able to get past the people who screen resumes in human resources, who are just looking for the certifications and don’t bother to see that I have the experience. Getting past the HR barrier then allows me to emphasize my skills with the technical interviewers, who know that experience trumps certification every time.

John  |   Oct 17, 2007  4:03 AM (GMT)

One can be technically efficient in e.g. C# programming (Microsoft C# certified) and unable to make an acceptable design (I know someone like that, and its coding is REALLY unbearable)

Dennis  |   Oct 17, 2007  9:13 AM (GMT)

I refuse to get certified, even when my employer encourages/pays for it. I know there are some companies that list certs as a prerequisite and those are the companies I don’t want to work for because that requirement speaks volumes about their culture. Those companies self-select themselves out of the pool of available employers and that is a good thing, IMO. If my experience isn’t enough for them, I’ll work for a company where it is enough.

Eric  |   Oct 17, 2007  12:11 PM (GMT)

I disagree with the idea that certifications mean nothing. I would assume people who say this do not understand the benefit of training. To me a certification is the result, or validation of a skill. Their are quite a few paper people who lack real world experience, but the most experienced people I have run across in IT are always certified. Certifications also give you the flexibility to understand more then your environment. Most people are not exposed to more then what they work on everyday. Certification training exposes a wide range of topics and starts the process of learning beyond the day to day job. Lastly, it is like anything else you get as much as you put into it. I am paid more because I have certification, so at least in my case it was well worth it.

Eduard Turcan  |   Oct 17, 2007  3:09 PM (GMT)

Certificates are good not because they are an ultimate indication of someone’s professional skills. Certainly there are people that take certification exams only by “brute-forcing” the book. But there are true professionals as well, which take courses and pass exams for reasons other than having a new abbreviation on the resume or business card.
Just because there are discussions around the value of certifications, it means people’s opinions differ. And then if you are indeed a professional, and everybody around you is certified and you are not, what do people think about you? If they do not know you in person they will start to question some of your good qualities that are required to get a certification. You might say “I don’t care what others think…”, but I am sure that many do care.
So, my point is that there are many good reasons in taking courses and get certified, and we should not treat certifications only as knowledge & experience evaluation criteria.

Charlie Manson  |   Oct 18, 2007  3:15 PM (GMT)

Certifications! the reality is its a moot point
a huge amount of companies give very little training to their employees and even when they do lets say employee X takes a course for How to rub yourself raw
by the time they have completed that certification it usually is not a certification that means squat
why? Revisions 1.1 2.2 3.3 hiring managers want to
know what you have done what version you have worked on. One can continue to believe that a certification tells the true story and I myself have many however, reality they have never ever helped me get a job and, ummm.. lets see Im on about my 30th IT position including contracts and full time. A good degree a B.S. at minimum that shows a continued ability to research is far more important. Knowing how to find an answer is the key! (Research)thats what its all about not memorizing where my 100th public hair is %S/lice/crabs/g or cat “you” > /dev/null

Its pointless and gives a person a false sense of security and also create an alure off arrogance that is full of memorization vs Practical experience

I have laughed many times over the years yes did I get a MCSE at one point.. Yep sure did its amzing that all the MCSE’s I know “Must Consult Someone Else”

Godspeed