Following is a curated list of resources that reflect current thinking on a topic of interest to IT leaders. You can assist this effort by contributing insight from your own real-world experiences, and are invited to suggest changes or additions here.
Current Thinking Includes:
The available certifications for IT-related careers range from extremely technical domains to management-focused specialities, from the firmly established (PMP) to new certifications in emerging disciplines such as cloud security. This post deals with the topic of IT certifications in general. The majority view regarding IT certification seems to be that certs continue to have value, and in a crowded job market, may help candidates stand out among their peers, particularly within the HR resume triage process. Certifications are also viewed by many as a sign of continuing investment by an employee in their own career, and an acknowledgement that the majority of IT disciplines are ever-changing.
While it is possible to find anecdotal assertions of a performance advantage for certified employees versus their non-certified peers, there are fewer quantifiable studies that show this to be the case. In the example below (Project Management), it may be that a certification is viewed primarily as an “insurance policy” by many managers, perhaps a valuable one in a discipline where multiple studies have reported a 70% or higher project failure rate. Lastly, some hold the opinion that certification remains valuable in a maturing industry, and should be the first step toward formal licensure of IT professionals, to match other industries such as accountants, etc.