On Fri, Oct 07, 2011 at 01:38:45PM -0400, Brian Mathis wrote: > Argument 1: > Anyone with a certification sucks because they have no experience and > only know how to take tests. > > Argument 2: > Anyone without a certification is good because they had to learn > things on their own and they learned the hard way. > > Argument 3: > Taking a certification is a good start to help you learn some basics, > but you still need to have experience.
You forgot: Argument 4: Certifications are a good idea in theory, but in reality they are often implemented so poorly as to be worthless. Some certifications measure a basic level of competence, while others are nearly worthless memorization. I mean, the idea is that certifications are not degrees; the idea isn't to teach you things, but to measure what you know, and prove that to an employer (who is perhaps not savvy enough to tell if you are competent on their own.) Certification is a really great idea, but it's really difficult to do well, and being as certifications are essentially for the benefit of less-savvy companies, there is something of a market for lemons. -- Luke S. Crawford http://prgmr.com/xen/ - Hosting for the technically adept http://nostarch.com/xen.htm - We don't assume you are stupid. _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] https://lists.lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
