IT certification has become general trend these days. Many recent college graduates who are not placed in any company or working professionals looking for hike in their salary, feels the certification as the major milestone for their career growth. But the question is “Does being certified really assures an enhancement to your career?”. And this question is so obvious as lots of IT professionals are running after those certifications.
For working professionals, the need to get certified in a technology that is requirement of their organization is of most need. As per David Foote, chief analyst of Foote Partners LLC, employers even offer to pay a bonus above the base salary for working professionals who have certifications in on-demand technology areas such as security [1].
But for a fresh college graduate or inexperienced person the scenario is actually different. At this stage these certifications may or may not compel an employer to hire a fresh graduate merely based on a piece of certification paper. Some employers tends to check actual knowledge of candidate beyond the certificate test standards, whereas some may actually look for additional working experience in the related technology beside the certifications. Either way the main motive is to measure the knowledge depth of a candidate.
As a newbie one cannot expect that after having certified in so an so trending technology he is going to get a job or will get a salary higher than regular. Certification are just a tool to judge that the person has some knowledge about “what” and “how” of the technology he/she is certified in [3]. It does not guarantee that the person will be able to handle weird technical situation or can find an answer for “why this went wrong”. This “why” and “when” is actually gained with experience. Although peculiarity like childhood genius also exists but it’s percentage is very less.
In today’s market, the importance and benefits of certifications are extolled too much by both industries and academics alike. But the actual facts and truth are not highlighted. As result the business of certifying IT professionals continues to flourish. It seems that these certification bodies just want to make money. One of the answer on Stakexachange.com has gotten the highest vote in favor of the above view [2]. From industries perspective these certification may work as marketing tool to remain at the top in the market. This may be true, at least for organizations competing at edge.
To wrap up the matter, If a candidate can demonstrate how to setup a project architecture, development road map and at the most how to design the idea with the code, then a certification is just merely a piece of paper. Also there is a trend to hire and pay big for tech pros with certification in latest technologies which has higher demand and less supply at its first arrival. Even for this employers are ready to take the burden of training and examination fees. In such a case, certifications may be a bonus to one’s career and one should go for it.
References
[1] https://insights.dice.com/2018/07/09/top-paying-technology-certifications-ecih-ccna-cloud/
[2] https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/44/are-certifications-worth-it
[3] Wiershem, David; Zhang, Guoying; and Johnston, Charles R. (2010) “Information Technology Certification Value: An Initial Response from Employers,” Journal of International Technology and Information Management: Vol. 19 : Iss. 4 , Article 6.
