Robert Standefer

Over the past fifteen years that I’ve been in information technology, I’ve heard countless different opinions on the value of certifications, which certifications to get, the role of certifications in hiring and promotion decisions, the degree vs. certification argument, and whether certifications lead to vendor lock-in.
In my younger days (around the late 1990s), I really wanted my Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer certification. I couldn’t afford the classroom instruction, so I studied for the exams via books. I never got the MCSD because I never had the time to seriously devote to it: I was too busy actually writing code. Meanwhile, people I worked with were sent to “Visual Basic training” and walked out with their MCSD certifications, having never written a single line of code for a project.
As you can imagine, that left me quite disillusioned, so I never really put the time into certification after that. Eventually, my years of experience and my commitment to my employer eclipsed the value of certification. I never cared about Netware certs, or A+ certs, or Cisco certs, or Citrix certs, as I didn’t need any of them. I worked in the Microsoft world, after all.
But now I’m in a position where a different kind of certification is important. Rather than attest to my technical skill or my knowledge of a vendor’s product, these certifications indicate my deep understanding of a standard body of knowledge. Project Management Professional (based on the ANSI standard PMBOK), ITILv3 Foundation, and Certified Information Systems Security Professional (ANSI accredited) are just a few of the certifications that are becoming more prevalent across all IT domains. I’m even starting to see people outside of the PMO, such as software developers and technical writers, work on PMP certification. These certifications aren’t used to measure skill. They’re used to indicate a level of understanding about a generally accepted set of practices.
This represents to me a shift to valuing the importance of a broader view of IT and the concepts we employ, rather than just technical aptitude about a vendor’s products.