Jesse Trucks <[email protected]> writes: > So, automatically discounting someone because they have a > certification isn't always the best approach. If you don't really > understand the quality and difficulty of the certification listed, you > may be missing out on someone with above average skills.
I'm not saying that I'd discount them, just that (assuming it wasn't one of the extremely few certificates I have researched myself and have a positive opinion of,) a certificate wouldn't contribute positively to my first impression. Sort of like a 'soft' degree from a community college.[1] There is a slight negative response there, sortof "if that is the best you have going for you..." or "why did you think you needed to do that?" Yeah, I know some certs are harder than others; I personally own several of the 'cisco press' ccie books (though I have no intention of taking the test) and they are pretty good reference material, which does speak well for that certification. But I've met a lot of people with certs that were, ah, um, not very useful. I hear people speaking positively of the RHCE certs, but my experience with people who had RHCEs was that they were people who would have a hard time say, creating an initrd that would work on a box with a different raid card. Now, I'm sure that there are many skilled people who have RHCE on their resume, and I'd not pass over someone otherwise good because of the RHCE, but you have associated yourself with other people that, ah, I wouldn't pay very much for. And the more obscure certificates, wow. I mean, I have made some poor hiring decisions in my day, and a disproportionate number of those have had obscure certifications. granted, some of that is observer bias. I pay below market, and if certificates do in fact raise your market value, I was only seeing the dregs of the certified pool. However, I see similar correlations when interviewing for clients who pay market rates. so yeah, my prejudice against certificates I do not know well is a prejudice like any other; I'm lumping the certifiee (heh) in with others who put the same letters after their name. It's only a surface first-impression kind of thing, and probably shouldn't carry actual negative weight. [1] I really shouldn't be making fun of community college. I have no education at all. And yeah, I know several really bright people who went to community college; but it's a distinction shared by large numbers of mediocre people. _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
