IT Certifications – One Piece of Validating of One’s Skill
The work economy is rapidly changing and companies are becoming increasingly discriminating as they select technology service providers to carry out projects. To keep up with the changing competitive landscape leading IT professionals are constantly looking to better position their unique capabilities and experience.
Over the past weeks, we’ve been getting feedback on the value of IT Certifications from IT professionals. Our discussions centered on four main topics:
How have IT certifications helped you in your career?
What’s the value of such certification?
How do certifications correlate with your skills and experiences?
How do you see your role as IT an certified professional evolving
In certain tracks within IT, having the right certification can determine whether you will be considered for a position or not. But people also noted that “Certifications can be a bit of a mixed bag.” Certification is just on one consideration when understanding someone’s skills.
But what is the definition of a skill? A skill, according to Wikipedia, is “the learned ability to carry out a task with pre-determined results often within a given amount of time, energy, or both.” Certification provides some evidence that a person has learned a skill.
The rigour associated with acquiring certifications varies. Some certifications merely require study and passing a test. Others require, instructor-led courses, proven experience in a specific field, and evidence of knowledge being applied. For many hiring executives and people looking to build teams, real experience counts a lot.
The debate over the value of certs is an ongoing one. CIO magazine produces a bi-annual report on those IT certifications that are poised for growth (per market value percentage change). The hottest IT Certifications listed include:
Citrix Certified Enterprise Engineer for Virtualization
CompTIA Security+
GIAC Certified Windows Security Administrator
Certified Computer Examiner
AWS Certified SysOps Administrator-Associate (Cloud)
EC-Council Certified Security Analyst
Mongo DB Certified DBA
Microsoft Certified Solution Developer: Applications Lifecycle Management
Cisco Certified Design Associate
Certified in the Governance of Enterprise IT
VMWare Certified Design Expert – Cloud
TOGAF 9 Certified
Certified Information Systems Auditor
Check Point Certified Security Administration
Cyber Security Forensic Analyst
VMWare Certified Design Expert 5 – Data Center
Lean Six Sigma
It is interesting that some of these are general industry certifications while others are vendor specific.
The March 2015 CompTIA study HR Perceptions of IT Training and Certification, revealed that two-thirds of HR executives surveyed said IT certifications are very valuable and 94 percent expect the importance of IT certifications to grow over the next two years. Here are some insights:
65 percent of employers use IT certifications to differentiate between equally qualified candidates
72 percent of employers use IT certifications as a requirement for certain job roles
60 percent of organizations often use IT certifications to confirm a candidate’s subject matter knowledge or expertise
66 percent of employers consider IT certifications to be very valuable — a dramatic increase from the 30 percent in 2011
When it comes to hiring, certain roles require certifications for the candidate to be considered. For the group of experienced, certified IT professionals we spoke with, certifications are sometimes necessary but it is past work experience that really matters. There is the perception that HR managers who lack technical skills rely on certification as a filter to screen out candidates. Line-of-business technical managers look for opportunities to find a match between the person and their actual capabilities. The tech manager asks, “this person has relevant work experience; she has her CNA (certified network administrator); she has ‘bridging’ skills. We should talk to her.” The HR manager thinks, “she only has her CNA, not her CNE… she’s not good enough.”
Our poll of senior managers shows that they will not hire based on certifications alone. Certifications are a nice to have. “It is the proven work that matters.” They also acknowledge that there are instances where certain certifications were required to satisfy third parties like the end customers or delivery partners. “End customers have asked for evidence of certifications to consider using our firm.” One manager states that certifications do not give an indication of actual skill level. “A person may have the certification, but when asked to apply the skills, they are at a loss. In addition, certifications do not indicate how well the person will fit within the team.”
When I look at our own company profile and the skills we’ve entered into TeamFit, I noticed that none of our team has entered certifications. Perhaps, this because we are not in the professional services consulting space. I suspect to find more certifications when I look at the skills claimed by systems integration firms. I know for a fact that a number of people at TeamFit hold certifications. At TeamFit our culture is very much experience driven, we do not pay much attention to certifications. We do spend a lot of time working to help each other meet our aspirations. As we think about how we categorize our skills, I wonder whether people will want to call out certifications as a separate category when they position and represent themselves. See Steven Forth's previous post on how he divided skills into technical, business, soft and meta skills.
It seems that geography matters. Consultants who have experience in the US have stated that, “if you have the experience and most of the knowledge, you can bridge those skills sets and that is what they want.” One seasoned technology consultant pointed out that in the US they are churning people out to get their certifications and this in itself can devalue the certification. The message is clear: you have to blend certifications with experience.
The group of IT certified consultants had very strong opinions regarding vendor certifications. From a credential perspective, vender certifications give a degree of confidence for buyers of that particular vender solution. Customers who are vetting SIs, system integrators, ask for proof of certification because they feel that if the SI is validated through certification of its staff they should have a higher degree of expertise of that technology.
IT professionals are investing in certifications. “Although I have the work experience already, I am self-motivated to invest in getting the certifications because it will help validate my experience. I need something in my back pocket to get certain types of projects where certifications are valued: government and large industry.” Another consultant said that, “I am motivated to go after these certifications because it gives me confidence when representing my skills in front of my customers. I want to show to my customers that I know what I am doing.”
I am interested to hear your view on certifications. Do certifications come to mind when representing your work experience and skills? E-mail me.
