Certificate verse Certification

Darril

Has anyone else noticed that CompTIA seems to have dropped the Certificate title for some of the exams? For example, the Strata IT Fundamentals, CompTIA Green IT, and some others used to be referred to as a certificate. In contrast, other titles such as A+, Network+, and Security+ have been called certifications.

The distinction was never clear except that the "Certificate" titles generally had less questions.

Now, all of these seem to be called certifications but separated as Mastery, Professional, Speciality, and Basic: CompTIA Certifications

cmitchell_00

I haven't noticed it yet but, I see how Comptia has made some changes. Thanks for the update.

Ivanjam

Looks like CompTIA wants to create a hierarchy of certifications similar to Cisco and Microsoft.

ptilsen

I've always considered any form of professional or education certificate to be fairly worthless. It's less than certification in the professional world and less than a degree in the educational world.

Comptia grossly exaggerates the relative career level of it's certifications, in my experience. Most of the "Basic" and "Specialty" certifications ought to just not exist. All of the "Professional" certifications should be "Basic", and CASP should be the only "Professional".

Don't get me wrong; I think a lot of the entry-level Comptia certs have value, both in the market and in their material. But they aren't "professional" certifications by any scale I've seen. If Comptia wants to offer serious "professional" vendor-neutral certifications, they have to step up their game. They could have storage and virtualization certs at a professional level, another networking cert, maybe even another hardware cert. As it stands, they've got too many entry-level certs. It doesn't make sense to me to get anything outside of the triad and Linux+, and even those get unnecessary for most people pursuing industry vendor certs or higher-level certs from other vendors (e.g. ISC(2)).

charlemagne

Darril wrote: »

Has anyone else noticed that CompTIA seems to have dropped the Certificate title for some of the exams? For example, the Strata IT Fundamentals, CompTIA Green IT, and some others used to be referred to as a certificate. In contrast, other titles such as A+, Network+, and Security+ have been called certifications.

The distinction was never clear except that the "Certificate" titles generally had less questions.

Now, all of these seem to be called certifications but separated as Mastery, Professional, Speciality, and Basic: CompTIA Certifications

I like this questions as it is very important, in my opinion, to recognize if passing a particular exam leads to certification or rather a "certificate." As most know here, there is a difference. I am taking the CompTia Green IT (FC0-GR1) in two days and I was under the impression it was a "certificate" but when I looked at the following it is now a full "certification" per the CompTIA website. It states: "The CompTIA Green IT certification ensures knowledge and skills necessary to implement environmentally sound techniques within an organization's IT infrastructure. The certification enhances existing IT credentials to incorporate emerging technologies that shape the global green IT industry." (quoted from : CompTIA Green IT).
The reason(s) for my taking this exam are irrelevant but I'm also seeing conflicting use of the terms "certification" and "certificate" in official CompTIA study material (up to date as of today). I understand it to be a certification and it used to be called a "certificate." Can anyone please verify this that have taken it recently? Just wonder.

charlemagne

Passed the FC0-GR1 CompTia Green IT certification exam today! It is a certification. Ironically, my study guide arrived today after I passed the exam! My opinion about this exam: Don't underestimate it. I took it only because it fits in with my career goals. Anyway, one less test I have to worry about in order to meet my goals. Time to rest.

Darril

Congrats on the pass. Good luck with your next adventure.