I hate 3 year certifications

[Deleted User] · April 2014

I'm getting sick of the 3 year re-certify ordeal. I'm looking for more lifetime, but cheap certifications. Microsoft has been offering their MTA certifications at a cheap price. They are almost (if not better than CompTIA). Anyone else have suggestions for certifications that meet these criteria:

1. Cheap
2. Lifetime (no renewal date)
3. Reliable vendor

You are all awesome!!!!!

rowelld · April 2014

On the flip side of things I kind of see that as "I hate when technology changes."

pitviper · April 2014

Should be about the content and what interests you and or applies to where you want to go career wise. Simply collecting cheap certs won't do much (unless it's a hobby!).

QHalo · April 2014

I'd hate to see how you feel about ones that you need to renew every 2 years.

networker050184 · April 2014

Life time and cheap = not useful for your career. You get what you pay for as they say.

JDMurray · April 2014

What your purpose for getting certs? If it's for school then you need the certs that are part of your graduation requirements. If it's for getting a (better) job then you haveto get the certs that hiring managers are looking for. If it's for "nerd cred" then you have to get the certs that the "kewl kidz" are raving about.

pitviper and networker050184 are correct in that collecting random, inexpensive certs is not a formula for success.

GarudaMin · April 2014

First, define 'cheap'. People have different idea of 'cheap'. But I am guessing MS, Comptia certs are cheap, as well as Cisco beginner/specialist ones. Meanwhile CCNP and certs from SANS, ISC2, Ec-council are expensive? Some certs you just need to submit CPEs or ECEs or whatever they want to call it.

Here's my 2 cents: take the certs that are relevant to your career path and/or certs that you are interested in (as in the knowledge/technology behind the cert that you want to learn). You don't need to renew them if they are not relevant. Any certs, whether cheap/expensive or relevant/not-relevant, gives you more knowledge than you have. The only question is how you utilize that knowledge.

I personally take certs that are relevant for my career. For me, the primary reason for taking certs is the knowledge behind the certs. The secondary reason (but very close to primary reason) is the credential. There have been certs I have studied for but I did not follow through and take the exam. But they have knowledge I needed.

Cert Poor · April 2014

Just go for certs for pure intellectual stimulation and enjoyment. Then you'll know which ones to take and not. I agree with you that many IT certs are just a game for profit, and every vendor is wanting a piece of that pie. I suppose they want recurring revenue by making their certs expire. What I don't agree with is if the material for the cert hasn't changed that there's an arbitrary expiration period -- THAT is more transparent to me as a pure profit motive on a predictable cycle. For example, if the A+ or CCNA material doesn't change a lot in a time frame, don't expire them. If Windows Server 2012 is still the same Windows Server 2012 technology, don't make the new MCSE expire after 3 years. Make it just like the MCSE Server 2003 one -- it never expires but it simply retires when the technology does.

It's a game in many cases. But still, just go for what you truly want.

[Deleted User] · April 2014

REMOVED UNNECESSARY QUOTED REPLY FROM PREVIOUS POST

+1 for everyone for the insight!!! (+2 for Cert Poor) I am pursuing these certifications while in college on my own initiative as a way to validate my knowledge and to get a better paying job once I graduate ( 1 year from now). I have my MCTS 70-640 certification exam scheduled for the end of April and my CCENT exam for the end of the summer of 2014. I just want to get out of college and start my life!!!

gorebrush · April 2014

Don't bother with the CCIE then. £300 written, £1000 lab, countless hours spent, then £300 every two years recertifying.

Also, be patient young grasshopper. It'll take you a few years to really get up to speed and settle into a good career. Be wary of accumulating lots of certifications with no real world experience though - potentially you could be mistaken for a "paper XXXX" (insert qualification here)

JDMurray · April 2014

Cert Poor wrote: »

What I don't agree with is if the material for the cert hasn't changed that there's an arbitrary expiration period -- THAT is more transparent to me as a pure profit motive on a predictable cycle.

The expiration period isn't arbitrary. Three years has been the de facto expiration period for over 20 years. For a certification to meet the ANSI/ISO/IEC 17024 standard, a cert must have an expiry period and be renewable using earned educational credits (CPE, CEU, CMU, etc.). This is why CompTIA's baseline certs are no longer lifetime. 17024 is an expensive standard to follow for any cert vendor, but now necessary if you want to sell your certs to the US government and in Europe.

There is some standardization behind certification if you look for it.

paul78 · April 2014

Even certifications need to be certified

I looked into the cost of ANSI certification last year. It's actually quite expensive to build a certification program to be ANSI compliant. I recall it was about 50K-100K to total expense.

Cert Poor · April 2014

JDMurray wrote: »

The expiration period isn't arbitrary. Three years has been the de facto expiration period for over 20 years. For a certification to meet the ANSI/ISO/IEC 17024 standard, a cert must have an expiry period and be renewable using earned educational credits (CPE, CEU, CMU, etc.). This is why CompTIA's baseline certs are no longer lifetime. 17024 is an expensive standard to follow for any cert vendor, but now necessary if you want to sell your certs to the US government and in Europe.

There is some standardization behind certification if you look for it.

I agree with the rationale for ANSI/ISO certification. Does the MCSE Server 2012's 3-year expiration have to do with ANSI/ISO or more for profit? Like I said, the MCSE 2003 and earlier MCSEs only retired when the operating system went EOL.

JDMurray · April 2014

As I wrote, "Three years has been the de facto expiration period [for IT certifications] for over 20 years."

Certifications are part of the Western educational system. They didn't just begin with Information technology in the early 1990's. Accounting and finance professionals, healthcare professionals, and pilots and aviation technicians, and all sorts of engineers have been certified for many, many decades. There is history and science behind the design and operation of certifications programs. Just because people don't know the history of the development of certifications that is no reason for them to say that the rules governing certifications are totally arbitrary.

Professional certification - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

gorebrush · April 2014

My Win2003 MCSE lasted for years!

RobertKaucher · April 2014

Cert Poor wrote: »

I agree with the rationale for ANSI/ISO certification. Does the MCSE Server 2012's 3-year expiration have to do with ANSI/ISO or more for profit? Like I said, the MCSE 2003 and earlier MCSEs only retired when the operating system went EOL.

There are two things operating here:

1. Microsoft has stated publicly via MS Learning that the change to have certifications expire was to conform to world-wide governmental standards. This was the same time and the same reason that they ditched the "Engineer" from their flagship cert because many governments have strict definitions regarding the term engineer.

2. This cycle is beneficial because most MS products are on a 3 year life cycle. Everyone forgets that Windows XP was a complete anomaly. Windows 3.1 (1992) => Windows 95 => Windows 98 => Windows 2000 Vista, 7, and 8 are on the same schedule and so is SQL Server and SharePoint. Expiration is important because it means you cannot sit on your MCITP Enterprise Admin until 2016.

Cert Poor · April 2014

Still makes more sense to make it a relative end-date then. Windows 7 has been out since like 2009/2010 but it just now making an enterprise dent and won't be end-of-lifed until like 2017. Enterprises are skipping 8 and who knows if 9 will be worth the upgrade if 7 is chuggin along fine.

I think other disciplines' certs like the CPA or the PE (Professional Engineer) are more flagship certs and last a lot, lot longer. IT -- truth be told -- has a lot of watered down certs, which dilutes the good ones with a sea of "meh" ones.

I agree with the general gist of retiring certs and with governmental and ISO standards, but IT has turned it into a huge business model and industry with certs, books, training classes, boot camps, CBT videos. So many billions of $$$.

JDMurray · April 2014

Cert Poor wrote: »

...but IT has turned it into a huge business model and industry with certs, books, training classes, boot camps, CBT videos. So many billions of $$$.

I don't know where you are getting billions from, but other than a few popular authors I don't see anyone getting mega-rich off authoring, teaching, or selling certification preparation materials. When you look in detail at a financially-successful certification vendors, like (ISC)2 and EC-Council, you will see their business income is derived from much more than just the books, teaching, and cert exam fees.

RobertKaucher · April 2014

The idea that MS makes any money at all on their certification program is just absurd. Things like MVA and Channel9 as well as MS learning likely are write offs for them. Any money they might make directly on certification exam fees could be completely lost in a rounding error on their books.

It's a strategic position that is akin to their technical evangelism in general. But they need a way to get people to adopt their new technologies and for companies to know they can find people who can implement and administer them. If it wasn't for issues like that, MS would ditch certification entirely. Letting a sys admin ride on his MCSE NT 4 for a decade does nothing for them at all. It does nothing for use, either. And I will be honest, I don't want to work at a company that is rolling out Win7 in 2015. I like to learn. I want to do new things. I want a new PC on my desk every 2 to 3 years. I want a company that sees my role as a strategic enabler, not as a cost center.

daviddws · April 2014

I never liked certifications that expire. Currently I have just two (Net+,Sec+) that I will need to maintain through CE. Unless a certification that expires is required for a position I would not bother. I guess the only exception would be the A+ for those looking to get into IT.

MAC_Addy · April 2014

I used to hate 3 year certifications. Now I love them. Why? Because technology changes all the time, and most 3 year certifications require you to be the best you can be.

sthomas · April 2014

Like others have said most life time certifications have little value, with that being said there are a few that come to mind that have some value. The CompTIA Linux+ and Server+ have some value. Also, the MCSA 2012 isn't lifetime but it does follow the life of the product so you would not need to renew every 3 years.

bobloblaw · April 2014

The certifications only stop when you hit management

I hate 3 year certifications

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