Older article, but I really like it.

Technical Certification - Tech Certification

Computer Certification
Cert-holders Need Soft Skills
Wednesday October 14, 2009
Are certifications outdated? That's the conclusion from an analyst who studies the industry. An article on the tech job search site Dice.com quotes David Foote as saying the following:

"We've reached a point in our evolutionary rung that has outdistanced the value of certifications," says David Foote, chief executive and chief research officer for Foote Partners. "It is not that technology is not important, but other skills - especially in customer-facing jobs - are more important."
Although I disagree with the thrust of that quote -- in fact, there are several other folks quoted in the story who affirm the value of certifications -- Foote does make a valuable point. Soft skills, like communication, are becoming increasingly important.

Knowing how to write clear, concise emails, for example, can go a long way toward helping your career. Talking to non-tech-savvy folks in a way that doesn't make them feel stupid is another way. Sending out plenty of warning -- at least two emails -- before making a major computer system change that will affect the way your end-users go about doing their jobs is another.

Do you get my point here? Knowing the technology is only half the battle. You have to remember the other people in your organization, and make things as easy for them as possible with good communication. You might be surprised -- it could be those skills, not your wizardy with Group Policy -- that gets you that promotion and raise.

Thoughts?

Communication written verbal > Certs?

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Comments

stuh84

It's too general. Someone working on a purely technical/infrastructure/architect kind of role will get more out of being certified (and more importantly the knowledge that comes with it) than being better with their communication skills. Obviously having decent communication/verbal skills will always be required (someone who makes huge changes but never tells anyone or goes about it the wrong way isn't going to get on well).

As far as being a great communicator over having more knowledge? Na, I don't buy it for a second, my job isn't to tell people what I'm doing and have a vague idea of what i'm doing, its to know exactly what I'm doing and to let people know I'm doing it.

N2IT

stuh84 wrote: »

It's too general. Someone working on a purely technical/infrastructure/architect kind of role will get more out of being certified (and more importantly the knowledge that comes with it) than being better with their communication skills. Obviously having decent communication/verbal skills will always be required (someone who makes huge changes but never tells anyone or goes about it the wrong way isn't going to get on well).

As far as being a great communicator over having more knowledge? Na, I don't buy it for a second, my job isn't to tell people what I'm doing and have a vague idea of what i'm doing, its to know exactly what I'm doing and to let people know I'm doing it.

I think the author makes a really good point at the end.

The last sentence, about your soft skills getting you promoted over your technical skills is spot on. I've seen this in action on numerous occassions.

stuh84

Again, communication skills are important, but I don't see someone with the CCIE cert and knowledge getting turned down for the Network Architect job because the CCENT level candidate can write emails better and talk to people better.

I can see this being the case for people on a similar knowledge level, the guy with better communications skills winning out, or in an environment where communication skills are more important, but not in the roles which require them kind of certs and knowledge. Many of these do exist.

NOC-Ninja

is he saying people skills are important? People should be easy, you need to be humble and put your shoes on the people that doesnt understand the technology and explain it to them.

I wasnt hired because of my people skills.I was hired because i passed the interview with flying colors and I have certifications.

Try applying on Monster.com or dice.com without a certification(s) and see how HR will throw away your resume to the trash or a software wont hit the keywords of CCNA or CCNP or etc on your resume.

Turgon

N2IT wrote: »

Technical Certification - Tech Certification

Computer Certification
Cert-holders Need Soft Skills
Wednesday October 14, 2009
Are certifications outdated? That's the conclusion from an analyst who studies the industry. An article on the tech job search site Dice.com quotes David Foote as saying the following:

"We've reached a point in our evolutionary rung that has outdistanced the value of certifications," says David Foote, chief executive and chief research officer for Foote Partners. "It is not that technology is not important, but other skills - especially in customer-facing jobs - are more important."
Although I disagree with the thrust of that quote -- in fact, there are several other folks quoted in the story who affirm the value of certifications -- Foote does make a valuable point. Soft skills, like communication, are becoming increasingly important.

Knowing how to write clear, concise emails, for example, can go a long way toward helping your career. Talking to non-tech-savvy folks in a way that doesn't make them feel stupid is another way. Sending out plenty of warning -- at least two emails -- before making a major computer system change that will affect the way your end-users go about doing their jobs is another.

Do you get my point here? Knowing the technology is only half the battle. You have to remember the other people in your organization, and make things as easy for them as possible with good communication. You might be surprised -- it could be those skills, not your wizardy with Group Policy -- that gets you that promotion and raise.

Thoughts?

Communication written verbal > Certs?

There will always be room for some technical people who cant be bothered with all that aggravation. But if you want to get on you have to get with the soft skills programme. Im a Network Architect myself and I have to work with a whole range of different people. The better I can react to how I really need to engage with someone on a personal and communication level the easier my day is. The results then follow.

About 1995 - 2002 IT professionals got away with murder to be honest on the people person stakes. To be fair we were under a lot of pressure to get stuff in and there wasn't always a lot of help for us. A couple of things happened. As the technology got mobilised and the budgets, so did the interest in what we were doing. A lot of people followed the money trail and worked their way into the industry by taking part in and taking care of things that techies were not too interested in, pre sales, management, procurement, standards, auditing, security and strategy. At the same time there was what I can only call something of a backlash against the perception of IT people in general. We were seen as geeky, nerdy and somewhat detached from the real business. I think the way a lot of people in IT handled themselves in that period didnt help either. The arrogance was very widely felt by people who worked for the same company but did not work in IT. Add this to the fear of senior executives who were already sceptical about the people they did not understand who were charged with bringing in technology seen as critical to the business and its not surprising we now have layers of management that can make the whole thing much more palatable for C level executives.

Historically, before the MS NT/LAN/WAN boom, IT was largely driven by the needs of the organisation through quite rigid business and systems analysis. If you look at any IT textbooks in the 80's and early 90's this is very evident and it was certainly what I was taught in University when I studied BIT in 1989. But the internet/fibre/.com dash blew that to smitherines. It was still happening in the mainframe environments (which were over shadowed by the MS push), and the process environments. We ended up with a disconnect there which has been gradually redressed by formal process, standards, customer service, service management and what have you. For techs, getting a seat at the top table now requires commercial acumen and and ability to communicate at all levels.

N2IT

Turgon wrote: »

There will always be room for some technical people who cant be bothered with all that aggravation. But if you want to get on you have to get with the soft skills programme. Im a Network Architect myself and I have to work with a whole range of different people. The better I can react to how I really need to engage with someone on a personal and communication level the easier my day is. The results then follow.

About 1995 - 2002 IT professionals got away with murder to be honest on the people person stakes. To be fair we were under a lot of pressure to get stuff in and there wasn't always a lot of help for us. A couple of things happened. As the technology got mobilised and the budgets, so did the interest in what we were doing. A lot of people followed the money trail and worked their way into the industry by taking part in and taking care of things that techies were not too interested in, pre sales, management, procurement, standards, auditing, security and strategy. At the same time there was what I can only call something of a backlash against the perception of IT people in general. We were seen as geeky, nerdy and somewhat detached from the real business. I think the way a lot of people in IT handled themselves in that period didnt help either. The arrogance was very widely felt by people who worked for the same company but did not work in IT. Add this to the fear of senior executives who were already sceptical about the people they did not understand who were charged with bringing in technology seen as critical to the business and its not surprising we now have layers of management that can make the whole thing much more palatable for C level executives.

Historically, before the MS NT/LAN/WAN boom, IT was largely driven by the needs of the organisation through quite rigid business and systems analysis. If you look at any IT textbooks in the 80's and early 90's this is very evident and it was certainly what I was taught in University when I studied BIT in 1989. But the internet/fibre/.com dash blew that to smitherines. It was still happening in the mainframe environments (which were over shadowed by the MS push), and the process environments. We ended up with a disconnect there which has been gradually redressed by formal process, standards, customer service, service management and what have you. For techs, getting a seat at the top table now requires commercial acumen and and ability to communicate at all levels.

I can't speak from experience from "those days", but it makes a lot of sense.

I can think of 10 examples in the last year where people where promoted on communication and softskills. You hear a lot of disgruntled IT technicians, saying they can't believe John Doe was promoted. He was only hear for 3 months. No certs, not much experience, but had the ability to communicate his interest in moving up and the overall ability communicate. I would like to add however, in order to work at the company I work for you have to have a bachelors degree.

There are technician who never even thought of going into the managers office and telling them, (in a very gentle way), that they would like position X if it ever came up. They also show an incredible amount of patience and their listening skills are off the charts.

*** I am not saying certifications don't help, they do, but nothing trumps great communication skills and charisma.

Just my opinion.