Why is everyone so focused certifications?

I know I'm going to get flamed, but I have to ask anyway. Why is everyone so focused on getting certifications? Every certification I have or am working on is a job requirement, that's it for me. I can study and learn without spending money on specific programs and buying paper. The only certification that I have studied specifically for was the CISSP because it covers so much it touched on areas that I haven't worked. I work and study topics, then get certified because my company requires some sort of proof that I know what I say I know.

I see a LOT of people coming on here and asking for advice on certifications, what to get, what the cert is for, what they need to know for it, etc. People are focused on the certifications and not learning the material. The whole point in my opinion is to certify that a person knows the subject, not that they can pass a test. I understand first hand that some need them for compliance with jobs, especially gov jobs where they don't actually need to know what the cert covers, but most seem like they have no idea what they want. What happened to the times when people studied and worked in their field before trying to prove they were experts of X topic?

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Comments

Edificer

I understand. It's all sunshine and rainbows when you study in the beginning but to keep that up is a whole different thing.

philz1982

Balantine wrote: »

To be perfectly fair I don't think IT is a very good long-term career for me.

I did it, I was awesome at it, and now I want to do something that is actually useful to other people. For example, medicine.

HL7, RTLS, EMR, ADT, S3, Imaging, Decision Support Systems......

GoodBishop

Meh, let me ask a question...

What are you (OP) doing to stay relevant?

Certifications are one way, classes, training, self study another. But what I've found in IT is that there are people who update their skills, and people who don't... and it's the people who don't update their skillset that don't get the bigger projects/jobs/money.

Heck, even I (as certfiably crazy as I am) am thinking about doing a boot camp for CCNA, because darn it, I need to brush up on my routing and networking. Do I do routing and networking in my current job? Heck no. Should I know it overall? Of course.

GoodBishop

And you know, when high school students get taught the CCNA in their classes... damn. I should be better than a high schooler for networking...

xD Lucas

As everyone else has already stated, it's proof that the candidate can be taught. I, personally, have never been in IT. That said, I want to get into IT. I can't even get an interview without having at least an A+ certification. Not to mention, it's difficult to cram for an exam when you truly have no idea what you may see on the exam. For example, the A+. Meyers has a 1500 page book, and out of that, there are only about 90 questions asked on the actual exam. You need to learn the material to pass an exam that can cover anything in the book.

TheReceiver

I was working retail for about 3.5 years and was fast tracking my career there making about 65k/year, at age 22 I was pretty humble. Though my ex stole money orders and my brother stole product and that sacked me pretty quick, and they worked it to where I had to pay the state back for benefits received since I was let go.

Then also my school ITT Tech had put me in as a drop out student instead of taking a leave of absence. So not only was I out of a job, I couldnt even go back to school and still left with 10k of loans to pay back. It was probably the lowest point in my life to that point.

After about a 3 month hiatus on life in general contemplating my next move that would quickly put me into a position that would allow me to grow, I decided to re-pursue my passion in computers, tinkering in general.

I could not afford to go to school, as I didnt even have money for the gas to take me anywhere to begin with. I used books from my brother-in-law who had completed his ITT Tech Associates in IT as well as various practice exams and online material that I could find on the cheap. Sometimes you get lucky and find material for a penny on amazon.

The one thing I hate about College is that you have to work according to their timeline, certifications are self study. You work as fast and as much as you are able. In 2013, I completed the A+, Net+, Windows 7, Config, 70-640 and MTA: OS, Security, Networking, Server Admin Fundamentals. Basically eating cheap bread rolls and a large bottle of vitamins to keep me satiated and nourished. It got me a position less than a mile away from my house, and I was able to pick up my life in general and meet my current fiance.

Now as it happens, I need a Bachelors degree. WGU accepts many Certifications as transferable credits so my certification break is officially over as I plan to have graduated by October. So in 23 days I will have obtained 5 certifications and bump my transferable credits to about 61 and get my bachelors 5 months later so I can finally join my fiance in S. Korea. So far I have gained Security+ and CIW: JavaScript Specialist.

I plan to take Database specialist, Web development specialist, and Project+ if I have enough time to do so. I see them as benchmarks, synthetic tests to see your potential but doesnt always translate perfectly into real world uses.

In short, for me. Certifications will allow me to be with my fiance, and later get married. Though I would likely be an isolated event.

beads

yzT wrote: »

Put yourself in the skin of someone involved in recruiting. You got two applications with similar profile, but only can interview one of them. Whom will you choose? The one who has certs or the one who doesn't have certs?

Good you do the interviewing based on that recommendation and get back with me in six months of the hire.

I'll interview people based on experience and implied abilities: to learn, to adapt well, to work alone and as a team member. Certs are nice but the last person I will bother interviewing (never) will be the person with no experience and a certification with no background but certified to do something/nothing at all.

- b/eads

kurosaki00

Because they request them on job applications/postings. That's it.

ansel1261

For me, If I do not feel I have a full understanding of a particular area, sometimes I just work on practical approaches to learning as much as I can. I try to get practical experience at work but mainly in my home lab but sometimes my home lab is not enough or missing required pieces. In those cases I find training. Regardless of if I am paying for training or my employer is paying, I always try to get the certification associated with the training. I feel that when I work towards certification that I get a better understanding of the concepts presented in the course.
Maintaining certs is a "Whole 'nother story".
Just my two cents.

ItsmHarun

Mostly peoples are focused on certification not learning the material. Multiple reasons people focus on certification. Update knowledge, increase skills etc.

scaredoftests

Because it was part of the requirements in getting the job. I had to get my MTA within a month of being hired, due to the doofus ahead of me who did not get his within his allotted 6 months. Talk about pressure. whew.

UncleB

beads wrote: »

I'll interview people based on experience and implied abilities: to learn, to adapt well, to work alone and as a team member. Certs are nice but the last person I will bother interviewing (never) will be the person with no experience and a certification with no background but certified to do something/nothing at all.

Then you will spend dozens if not hundreds of hours filtering out candidates who have claimed to be proficient in a technology when in fact all they did was follow a procedure already written for them where they created accounts or gave access in the system.

People consistently lie on CVs or at the very least inflate they claimed experience, so you get to know to use several shovelfuls of salt when believing what they claim. With certifications you can check them on the candidate register and you know they have the capability to learn. So long as they have reasonable experience with references then similar candidates will be be clearly separated by having certs.

I agree that someone with no experience is a non-starter , but most adverts will specify a min of x years experience in this or a similar field, so you can filter out the paper tigers easily. Beyond this you need to have a more pragmatic approach and I believe weighing experience hugely over certs + some experience is foolhardy and shortsighted.

If you think about it you spend most of your first few weeks in a new job learning how the processes work, how the systems are set up and the other technologies that interface with your core systems. You need someone who can learn and absorb the info and having someone with a long background doing the same thing in one environment could well have problems adapting to the way the new company does it, especially when so many systems are implemented by the long serving staff who chose a new technology on their managers instructions, learn the minimum to do it and are too busy to do more than slap it in with the defaults.

The best staff I have hired are from the certification endowed camp and those who do the job and can't be bothered learning enough to do the certs are the lazier end of the spectrum who do just enough to get by. That is just my view of course based on 20+ companies and may not reflect your extensive experience.

thanks
Iain

renacido

Certs to me are SEO for your resume/CV. They help you get discovered by recruiters, and they help you get interviews.

I think overall certs are good for our profession. I think they have a net effect of incentivizing us to study common bodies of knowledge, learn best practices, etc., and I believe we as a community are better and more professional for it.

They also most likely reduce the number of people hired for positions they're not remotely qualified for, so they're good for us and for employers.

Some here seem to believe that a cert is a voucher good for one high paying job. It is not.

EagerDinosaur

In my case it's because most of the time my day job involves development in out-dated technologies such as .NET v1.1 Winforms, Java v1.4 and Access 97

.

I want to get a job elsewhere using modern technologies, and studying in my own time for up-to-date certifications will help me do that. Studying for certifications helps to ensure that I understand all the material, not just the bits I choose to use in my outside-work projects.

tbgree00

I value certs so highly because I didn't get a degree in technology. I had a chip on my shoulders about my lack of experience and really worked hard to get those certs. Once I learned that people could **** the tests it did remove some of the value but I know that I didn't and it's easy to tell someone who dumped their way into a job.

So I have the experience and have met my job requirements but am still certifying well beyond those requirements. Part of it is my ego: I know I came about my tests honestly and that it's too hard for many people do do that. The other part is my next job will appreciate the extra effort and hopefully respect it.

ItsmHarun

Everyone expect to professional growth, learn new something & improve status. [h=2][/h]

jeremywatts2005

I have nothing against anyone wanting to get a cert. For me and others like me at some point in your career the ROI on the cert becomes less and less. For me certs pretty much do not move my salary forward nor will they open a door I could not already get open. I hold two regionally accredited masters degrees one in InfoSec Management and the other in a highly technical hands on degree in Digital Forensic Science. It is the law of diminishing return. I am angling for people management jobs and not necessarily in Information Security. I have skills in a ton of different fields and could work IT Services, InfoSec, Digital Forensics, PM and a whole host of other areas. I am multiskilled because I started in 1998 when that is how we were taught. So for me certs are nice and I will probably try for one or two more but that is pretty much it. Not totally sold the CISSP and PMP will help me much. I am almost 40 and I have been working in technology in some capacity since 1998 so that is like 18 yrs.

ThomasITguy

certifcations are necessary for growth and knowledge. A certification teaches you what you would not normally learn on the job or in school. And the more certs you get, the higher your knowledge is... Now certs do not prove you know everything about something, but they prove that you took the time to learn about things and further your learning.

jeremywatts2005

@Thomas IT Guy if the certs contain information that you do not find in work or school then why get them. That would mean you would never use the information anywhere. Your statement "Now certs do not prove you know everything about something, but they prove that you took the time to learn about things and further your learning. " This is also what education is for and it shows you were dedicated in your field to study it and heavily study multiple aspects of it. Myself I have multiple degrees, diplomas and certificates in a wide variety of technology. I also at one time was heavily certified in my proprietary systems that are no longer in use. I believe it is the continuous learning process.