21
Dec
2009
The Relevance of Certifications
For many years I was an IT Pro with basically no proof of my skills. I was a Microsoft Certified Professional in both Windows XP and Windows 2000 Server and nothing else. I, like many of my colleagues, viewed certifications as worthless. A piece of paper that shows the ability to read a book and answer some multiple choice questions in an exam room.
What really put me, and I’ll assume others, off certifications was the ease at which they could be obtained. Though the years I’ve met a lot of people who claim to be an MCSE or equivalent that can’t perform even the most simple of tasks. Engineers (a term I’ll use very loosely here) who know the text book but have no real world knowledge or skills to back them. Many may not know but I am a member of the State Emergency Service and one point our Rescue Officer harps on is our ability to take the text book and apply the knowledge, not replicate the knowledge. He wants us to use the text book for reference but not as a Bible and to be able to adapt techniques we’ve learned and apply them to different situations. Again the same is true for Certifications, if we all simply followed the guides there would be a lot of Active Directory forests called Contoso, Fabrikam, Tailspintoys or Litwareinc.
One thing that always caught my eye though was the number of presenters at Tech.Ed and alike that had a multitude of certifications. Often times spanning multiple products and technologies.
In order to get the motivated to do some more exams I had becoming an MCSE 2003 and MCITP : Enterprise Administrator added as meet and stretch targets in my annual career goals by my manager in 2008. 6 months into the year I began exams and finished the year with both certifications. At the time there was less then 7000 MCITP:EA’s globally. Since that time I have participated in two beta exams each a PRO series exam for Windows 7 and Exchange 2010, I’m still pending the result of the Exchange exam.
What did this process teach me?? It showed me personally the value of certifications. I don’t believe that the certifications demonstrate my knowledge in any area, what they do demonstrate is my willingness to study (although I didn’t read a single book for my last 11 exams) and more importantly my interest in new and emerging technologies. Becoming certified in a new technology soon after launch shows potential employers that I take my career seriously and that I stay ahead of the curve. It is one thing to talk about reading tech news or watching webcasts, attending events etc.. in an interview, but being able to demonstrate this with a recent certification just helps that little bit more to hammer home the point.
Microsoft particularly have now raised the bar of certifications with the introduction of the Microsoft Certified Architect and Microsoft Certified Masters programs. Candidates who have successfully completed the requirements of these two programs are the best in their fields.
Moving forward I will continue to certify in new technologies because I believe that it demonstrates my willingness to study and interest in technology. It also keeps employers happy as certifications = points towards higher Partnership levels with Microsoft.