Ranking IT Certifications On Common Criteria
crypticgeek
Member Posts: 66 ■■■□□□□□□□
I was purchasing my copy of the VMware VCAP5-DCA Official Cert Guide from the Pearson IT Certification website the other day and I noticed something (other than the fact that their website is terribly designed). They have a blog post about ranking IT certifications. The author takes almost 100 certifications and makes his best attempt at creating a common set of criteria in order to compare them based on a number of factors (difficulty, time, cost, income potential, etc). He even includes an excel sheet and goes into detail about how he calculated each factor so if you want you can come up with numbers of your own and re-rank things, but I feel like he did a fairly good job with the numbers not withstanding some things that are subjective.
It's an interesting idea. What do you guys think? In my opinion it doesn't really capture one important thing. Reputation. An MCSE ranks as number 16 which to my mind is simply silly, especially against certifications that require a lab component. If I fix his numbers for MCSE (12 months prep? Please.) it drops down to number 52, which is probably more where it belongs.
Still, subjectivity aside, I think the idea of a ranking system is an interesting one. Maybe we should throw this up on google docs and massage it a bit.
His top 10:
It's an interesting idea. What do you guys think? In my opinion it doesn't really capture one important thing. Reputation. An MCSE ranks as number 16 which to my mind is simply silly, especially against certifications that require a lab component. If I fix his numbers for MCSE (12 months prep? Please.) it drops down to number 52, which is probably more where it belongs.
Still, subjectivity aside, I think the idea of a ranking system is an interesting one. Maybe we should throw this up on google docs and massage it a bit.
His top 10:
- Cisco Certified Architect (CCAr)
- Red Hat Certified Architect (RHCA)
- Cisco Certified Internet Expert (CCIE)
- Check Point Certified Master Architect (CCMA)
- GIAC Security Expert (GSE)
- Cisco Certified Design Expert (CCDE)
- Oracle Database 12c Administrator Certified Professional
- VMware Certified Design Expert 5 - Data Center Virtualization (VCDX5-DCV)
- Certified Wireless Network Expert (CWNE)
- Master Accredited Solutions Expert (ASE)
- LPIC-1
- Security+
- Novell/SUSE Certified Linux Administrator (CLA)
- Citrix Certified Associate - Networking (CCA-N)
- Brocade Accredited Internetworking Specialist (BAIS)
- Healthcare IT Technician
- Cisco Certified Technician (CCT)
- Desktop Support Technician (DST)
- Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS)
- Cloud Essentials
Comments
The mind is the limit. As long as the mind can envision the fact that you can do something, you can do it, as long as you really believe 100 percent. - Arnold Schwarzenegger
If you are into Microsoft then look at the pyramid: Microsoft
If you are into VMware then look at the certification map: VMware
If you are into Linux then I dunno... grow a beard!
I have yet to see a certification map that I actually found useful to me... at a very basic level the higher up the map/pyramid you go the better pay there is - That's as good as it gets for aiming for certifications... again, others may disagree.
The mind is the limit. As long as the mind can envision the fact that you can do something, you can do it, as long as you really believe 100 percent. - Arnold Schwarzenegger
I'm not really surprised by this list and if you look at the exam style of the top and bottom exams, it should make sense to you.
Blog: www.network-node.com
The mind is the limit. As long as the mind can envision the fact that you can do something, you can do it, as long as you really believe 100 percent. - Arnold Schwarzenegger