When Enough is Enough ̵= 1; Balancing Certification with Experience
On CertTutor Live we often have people ask questions regarding a whole host of certifications they are planning on pursuing. Tho= ugh not always, usually these types of questions come from people just starting out, who often have a misguided view of what certification can and can̵= 7;t do for one’s career. Certification is undoubtedly important to an IT professional, after all a simple look at job ads will tell you that. Howeve= r, as Morris pointed out a couple of weeks ago, gone are the days where certification alone is enough to secure a good job. So, how do you cope with the need for certification yet finding a job market that doesn’t see as much value in certification as it did previously? Fortunately, there’s a very logical answer to this dilemma … maintaining a proper balance between certification and experience.
One of the big “red flag” items for a hiri= ng manager is when they are faced with an applicant who has a level of certification that exceeds their experience. For example, someone who holds= an MCSE and CCNA yet has marginal if any practical job experience. While having the motivation to complete such a course of study is admirable, companies h= ave been burned so many times by “certified professionals” that didn’t have the practical skills necessary to do a job, that they’ve become weary of over-certified/under-experienced IT professionals. With that in mind, here’s a rough breakdown of the most popular certifications and what experience level bands they typically fall into.
Entry Level Certifications (0-1 years experience)