Can Certification Make a Difference?
By Esther Shein
Does industry certification for IT workers still matter? It depends on whom you ask. But most industry experts will tell you that technology skills are just one piece of what employers look for in their workforce.
"Of course certifications matter, but do they matter in the scheme of everything employers are looking for in IT workers? Less than they used to,'' says David Foote, CEO and chief research officer of Foote Partners, an IT workforce and compensation research consultancy in New Caanan, Conn.
Before the Internet, IT was in the business of increasing productivity by automating tasks and allowing companies to do things more cheaply and faster. But that has changed as business has increasingly moved to the Web. Technology is "right up against the customer," says Foote, "and Web systems are used to conduct business." That means technology has actually become the product in a lot of companies.
"So when employers look at who to put in those jobs," says Foote, "they think of tech skills, but also how well an applicant knows the customer, his industry experience and maybe even solution experience." For example, a health care company may be willing to train someone on Oracle database if that person has had five to seven years working in the industry.
"If they find that person but they're not certified, they say 'Who cares?' It's not necessary that they have certification,'' Foote observes. The importance of certification -- and paying a premium for it -- has diminished over the years because employers are interested in other things in workers, he maintains.
"It's more than just pure technology; it's about the industry experience in addition to technical skills and who is experienced in the type of customers they're selling to," Foote says, "because you're delivering a lot of business over the internet and never talking to people." (article continues)
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