Fuck certification...

Will certification become a thing of the past? To those not in the tech fields let me explain, there are number of technical certifications that one can acquire that will allow them to work in a particular sector in the tech field. These programs are typically targeted towards fields related to IT (Internet Technology) divisions of companies such as networking fields or computer security.

A recent article in eWeek reports that the average pay for non certified IT-workers has actually trumped the average pay for certified workers, indicating some kind of shift in employer's attitudes in these certification programs and perhaps "they are finding other qualities of IT professionals more critical to their businesses going forward, and they are willing to pay more for those."

I actually don't have much experience with these certification programs. Though I'm in the tech field, my typical rolls in employment are in software development which are less influenced by certification programs than IT fields. I like it that way, it puts a focus on my natural talents and abilities rather than on having me worry about passing a certification exam every few years. Which is not only a time-effort-sink, but is also very expensive, as these exams are several hundreds of dollars a pop not including the price of study material. Putting too much emphasis on passing certification exams forces the worker to devote his or her energy to learning the exam when instead he or she could be using the time to develop critical skills that go beyond the scope of the rote learning that these exams require.

While certification is a good way to get kids in the door, to ensure that someone entering the field is competent enough to work, I believe that requiring people to recertify every few years is wasteful. Even at the pace which technology changes, the fact is if you are competent enough to pass a certification once, then you are probably competent enough to keep up with technology changes as you gain experience.