Re: Certifications?

[Kenneth H Werner <KHWerner@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Certifications is self confirmation that one's skill level is at the 
minimum, it is a badge the holder knows they wear and few others care 
they have. A certification doesn't identify one skills at the 90 
percentile level. A certification is binary saying one is or isn't at 
the minimum established level for a skill. Passing and keeping current a 
certification certifies self rating to one that they are able to 
professionally contribute. With few exceptions a certification will NOT 
aid in one getting a job interview. With few exceptions a certification 
will NOT get one higher pay. A certification will privately give one 
self pride when looking at self in the mirror. Three frequent exceptions 
to the job interview and pay are the CISSP, CISA and ITIL since they are 
often a requirement. For many their brain started to decay the day they 
graduated from college with no plans to keep current.  Although  a 
certification will not get an IT professional a job, a job related 
certification does give a small advantage toward being placed on the 
short stack of resumes because it says the holder is a professional and 
serious about their career since they took the time to be certified. 
There are things as good as a certification. Each semester teaching 
credit awarded RPG at an accredited community college is generally 
better than being RPG certified.

Naturally, professional certifications (CISSP, CISM, CISA, ITIL, CPP, 
CIPP, CFE, PMP) are of value.

Any senior System i professional should be interested in the RPG and one 
of the system administration certification offered by IBM. A difficulty 
passing my suggest looking for a new vocation. or serious studies. Other 
offerings by IBM broad enough to be of interest to System i 
professionals include one of the OnDemand offerings, DB2 offerings and 
one of the WebSphere offerings..

Certifications are down played by those too lazy to take the exam and 
those that fear knowing that they don't have the minimum.


David Gibbs wrote:
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> An interesting thread was started on Slashdot about IT Certifications
> (http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/10/06/0337209).
>
> I'm curious as to how valuable certifications are in the System i market.
>
> david
>