Are IT Certifications Valuable?

For as long as I've worked in IT, people have discussed (sometimes argued about) the value of certification. The discussion usually revolves around whether IT certifications such as those offered by CompTIA, Microsoft, Cisco, and others are valuable or just meaningless pieces of paper.

I've been an advocate of certifications since I first became aware of them. Their value appears when you take the preparation process seriously, not in memorizing questions and answers from brain dumps and practice tests. I've built labs using decommissioned gear and virtualization software to experiment and practice configurations when preparing for tests such as the CCNA. That way, I was able to experience issues similar to the real world. It helped in both test prep and the real world! I've held multiple tech certifications including MCP, MCSE, MCT, CCNA, CCNA Security, Linux+, and IPv6 Silver Engineer. Each test forced me to expand my knowledge. Each test made me a better IT person, even beyond the specific test topic.

We all know of people who are good test-takers and who get certifications without actually having the knowledge. That's not what I'm advocating. This is about using the certification process as a framework for learning. It's about providing structure for studying as you gain a deeper understanding of the technologies you and your team support.

Certainly, employers must rely on more than just certification in making hiring decisions. In addition to a certification, consider a tech screening process, a tech interview, and references.

Certifications are valuable, both to individuals and companies such as MSPs/TSPs. In this week's blog, I make the case for certifications.