Experience will always be king, but a cert can be the way to get your foot in the first door.

My diploma was mentioned once - my first job, after I had been there for 2.5 years it didn't seem relevant talking about considering since the diploma a whole host of new technologies had been released, and none of the techs in the diploma where used by the new org.

This debate ended ten years ago, certifications are not worth anything. They are for idiot programmers and idiot employers. Anytime I've seen a resume with a certificate, I've laughed and binned it.

Having trouble getting in the door? Then build something to show off, you are a developer right?

I'm taking strictly about vendor certs btw.

Here we go again, another old topic.

What about the current issues with IT.

Certificates arnt worth anything in Australia, sometimes Degrees arn't worth any thing either.

SD

Recycled industry propaganda!

This is an old topic, and the answers haven't changed much.

Best credentials

1. A portfolio of your work, demonstrating that you can walk the talk

2. Great references

3. Degree

4. Vendor certs

Certification can sometimes provide you with a useful study framework and method to guage your current competence. However, there are many MS quick cert books out there which are like glorified braindumps. They may enable you to pass the exams, but will only leave you with a superficial understanding.

The best books are almost never oriented specifically around certification.

What use certification when next pay check not certain? Of no matter when tech work battle for survival in GFC.

Certificates arnt worth anything in Australia, sometimes Degrees arn't worth any thing either.

Correct.

Many IT related faculites at Universities not longer exist due to lack of interest of school leavers enrolling.

The student body is very wise and they hear of the statistic that around 30% of graduates never enter the industry.

This comment was removed as it contained offensive content.

Actually In the USA they value degrees a lot more than in Australia.

When I was in the IT industry, at each interview, I was never asked for proof of possessing a degree.

Australian employers don't give a damm if you have a degree, as long as you can press a button and are non Australian you can get a job.

G

Ripped everyone off into the bargin.

Dozens of University faculties sprung out of the woodwork, based in the grounds of the trumped up, bogus skills-shortage hype and pompous industry propaganda and puffery.

Skill shortages in IT have never existed and never will.

All the positions that graduates were suppose to take up were occupied by pommie and irish backpackers who forgot to go back home after the Sydney 2000 Olympics.

Nothing against backpackers, they are merely on a working holiday, but they come and go, leaving the country with no ongoing intellectual capital. But they are cheap, so the accountants and imigration lawyers are happy.

All of this was happening despite the fact that and estimated 20,000 Australian IT professionals had lost their jobs.

<<<Broken trust is something that cannot be repaired!>>>

Its unbelievable that this site still lives in the past.

It assumes there is a boom in IT like the early 1990’s.

Its just not with the times any more, it’s a fact that IT in Australia is becoming a thing of the past. No company want to pay Australian rates any more.

I remember rates were over $120 per hour in the 1990’s now your lucky to get a quarter of that.

GG

This site only publishes Positive Topics.

The real owners don't want to admit there is a IT downturn.

Every thing is sweet mate...

Where all got jobs

SD

I agree with Paul. Employers are not that concerned about your certification, degrees or paper qualifications.

They are more concerned about your hands on skills, on the job expereience and your knowledge.

Those types of learning assets are gained independently of any formal credentialing process.

I have gotten certifications in my consulting career.

The main value of the certification or training process is that it has forced me to know my stuff.

Great thoughts, Paul.

Paul:

I enjoyed reading your article. I created an email subscription for your newsletter and subscribed to it, so when you post a new article, feedblitz will deliver it to my mail.

I think you should offer your readers the option to receive your posts by email automatically - there is a lot of value in your posts.

I could also do it for you, if you are short on time or staff.

Thanks for your great content.

^ It speaks for itself doesn't it?

Probably hasn't heard of RSS Feeds yet!

Vendor certs are worth a stack if you are -

- Working with the vendor. This is often a mandatory part of being in pre-sales, support or delivery. It will get you in the door. If you are contracting in to their Professional Services arm, then they'll be stoked that you put the effort in to learn their kit.

- Working for a reseller. This is especially true for small to medium Cisco resellers where the number of certified people have a direct relation to the buy price. An organisation will up your salary simply to keep you on their books and keep their margins healthy.

- Working for any company where the head of IT is a <insert vendor here> bigot. Netapp is the most obvious example here, but there are plenty of bosses out there who like to see the bits of paper.

- Working in a part of the industry where you have a useful skill that's unusual. Personally, I'm a Storage architect, but I have CCNP/CCDP. This impresses most storage people as they know that Storage- and IP- networks are converging, but wouldn't know an IP stack if they fell on it in the shower. Very few networking people know Storage beyond CIFS and NFS port numbers.

Don't try to sell it as "I have the paper, therefore I am the expert". Sell it as "I've worked through the curriculum and I've covered all the bases".

Most vendor exams are a week's work and an exam (once you've got the material), so its not like a huge investment.

ofcourse certificates help at times...those who say NO NO NO i guess dont have one and are happy to put one in the bin if they find one ! its helped me keep a job by switching to something i did not have experience doing but was certified...i was capable and the client gave me the job only coz i had the certificate and i was capable ! so its a bonus if you have one.