The jury’s out on whether or not you should rush out and get the next certification. Do they really help your career and provide something that can help you land your next assignment or are they a waste of time and money? We’ve compiled a pros and cons list to help you make an informed decision as to how to spend your time and money for the greatest payoff.
Three Reasons Certifications Help
- They prove your willingness to keep learning. Certifications require extra classes, reading, and study. Investing time in these items shows your commitment to mastering the skills. You aren’t satisfied in your career and want to continue learning to help your career and future employers.
- They show your knowledge from an objective certification body. The certification body puts everyone against a standardized test to show minimum qualifications have been met.
- Sometimes, the company lists the certification as one of its requirements for employment. This helps ensure that all members of a team are functioning at the same base level. Any certifications and experience that you bring beyond that are icing on the cake.
Three Reasons against Certifications
- Certifications are only as good as the Certification Body. If the test is not a valid statistical tool, then pass or fail, it doesn’t tell you much about what someone knows or doesn’t. This creates a gap where some certifications are more sought after than others because they are easier or harder to obtain.
- Technology moves too quickly. By the time a CB gets around to issuing a valid instrument to measure subject matter knowledge, the subject matter has often changed. This is one of the greatest challenges of certifications.
- They are very expensive. It’s pretty easy to spend thousands of dollars just to get that piece of paper. Often certifications are staged so that you pay one fee for the base certification and then you’ll have to pay another for the next stage up, and so on.
Whether or not to pursue a certification really depends on the job sector of IT you are pursuing and on the certification itself. If you’re debating about a particular certification, we can help you look more closely. Contact Consultant Specialists for more about what we offer and openings we may have. Our team of recruiters knows which companies are looking for certifications and which certifications can help and be worthwhile to your job search.