MCP Magazine Poll Shows Disconcerting News for Certification
An interesting poll from MCP Magazine announced yesterday shows some disconcerting news for those considering certification. The question asked was "What's the primary impact certification has had on your career thus far?"
For those that answered, the highest percentage actually reponded with...
"I felt little or no impact" -- 29.4%
Disconcerting indeed. After all the work one puts into the certification process, to get nothing out of it can be regrettably anti-climactic. Personally though, I've found that many people expect certification to be a panacea, "If I get certified, then by golly they'll give me something!"
Where the real problem lies with certification, in my opinion, is not framing it correctly with your employer before you ever start down the path. When consdering getting a certification, two things need to be worked out with your employer before you ever start:
- Does the employer feel that the certification is important? If not, then is there a certification that they do feel is important. For this conversation, make sure to relate the certification in terms of return back to the employer. If all they see out of you getting certiifed is a "flight risk" for a better job, they're not going to incentivize you to obtain it. Work with them to develop an understanding that they'll get the benefits associated with obtaining the cert.- What will they do to assist and/or reward you with obtaining it. Once they understand the benefit to their company by taking part in your certification goals, then (and only then) will they agree to assist. This conversation must also happen before you ever start any certification preparation.
Interestingly enough, the second-highest response at 27.7% was, "It helped me learn the technology." That's your "golden in" with your employer. The response of, "I got an increase in pay" was only 11.8%
Have you had a certification and employer nightmare? Let us know. Did you get it resolved? Drop a comment below.
See the full poll at:
http://mcpmag.com/polls/PollResults.asp?PollsID=328
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Comments
If you expect an increase in pay after getting certified, you misunderstood certification.
Certification is a very, very simple thing: It shows what you already know on paper.
This can be important in the following situations:
* Points in partner programs
* Demonstrate competency before customers
You can't work better just because you're certified. You don't know more because you're certified. You're not worth much more because you're certified.
If you want to get more pay, you'll need to show that you're better. Your managers should be able to judge this better than any multiple choice, electronic exam.
If you're working good and hard, you'll get rewarded. There's no reward for passing tests.
Posted by: Lukas Beeler | August 24, 2007 2:37 PM