I hold several - 19 or so. None of which I got by choice. My degree is from an online university, and their curriculum uses certificates heavily. One of them I was asked to be certified by my employer.
Here’s my take:
Certs can help get you a job in IT, but aren’t very useful in development.
The only thing the CIW has updated in their certification materials is the copyright date. The certs specifically mentioned Adobe flash as the gold standard, html tables for layout, and Netscape Navigator. Shudder.
I should note my university removed the CIW completely from their curriculum since I left.
The A+ family of certs can help get a entry level position in support or helpdesk, but don’t hold any weight in Dev.
What certs do show is your ability to follow through, as they are self paced study.
Despite all my rage, I am employed because of those certs. When I had about 12 of them, I applied for a job in tech support with the stated goal in the interview to become a developer. My certs and my moxie landed that job, was promoted a year after that, and in September will celebrate my third year as a dev.
And because I did them, when the business needed someone certified by a business partner, I was selected because studying for cert exams was my jam in college, so they do open opportunities.
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I hold several - 19 or so. None of which I got by choice. My degree is from an online university, and their curriculum uses certificates heavily. One of them I was asked to be certified by my employer.
Here’s my take:
Certs can help get you a job in IT, but aren’t very useful in development.
The only thing the CIW has updated in their certification materials is the copyright date. The certs specifically mentioned Adobe flash as the gold standard, html tables for layout, and Netscape Navigator. Shudder.
I should note my university removed the CIW completely from their curriculum since I left.
The A+ family of certs can help get a entry level position in support or helpdesk, but don’t hold any weight in Dev.
What certs do show is your ability to follow through, as they are self paced study.
Despite all my rage, I am employed because of those certs. When I had about 12 of them, I applied for a job in tech support with the stated goal in the interview to become a developer. My certs and my moxie landed that job, was promoted a year after that, and in September will celebrate my third year as a dev.
And because I did them, when the business needed someone certified by a business partner, I was selected because studying for cert exams was my jam in college, so they do open opportunities.