Comments on: I’m not that kind of smart https://clarkcreations.net/blog/im-not-that-kind-of-smart/ Life at the Osburn Hideaway Wed, 08 Oct 2014 15:51:47 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 By: Mala https://clarkcreations.net/blog/im-not-that-kind-of-smart/comment-page-1/#comment-13992 Wed, 08 Oct 2014 15:51:47 +0000 https://clarkcreations.net/blog/?p=1013#comment-13992 I am certified on 2008. Not had time to upgrade to 2012 (on sql, obviously). My reason is that certification gives me a goal to study towards..i can’t study in a loose way..i know people who read books and then go and try stuff and then more books or blogs and so on. I just don’t learn that way. I need a focus to work towards – like objectives, Q&A and so on. Certification gives me that. Plus, a lot of companies that are gold partners like certification and give you extra points when hiring. Those are my two reasons. I don’t judge anyone by certification (unless it is the mcm which no longer exists) and don’t expect it of anyone I work with or hire.

]]> By: Jay https://clarkcreations.net/blog/im-not-that-kind-of-smart/comment-page-1/#comment-13972 Tue, 07 Oct 2014 16:57:00 +0000 https://clarkcreations.net/blog/?p=1013#comment-13972 Even when I was CIO of a small Health Plan, I never put much stock in certs (especially Microsoft) as they really just an indication of how well you test. I had a guy working for me that had been in IT for about 6 months, read some brain dumps on line and was an MCSE in 3 months. When I was looking to move back to Austin I did a phone interview with a very promising company. After an hour, they said they wanted me but then asked how current my MCSE and MCDBA were. When I told them I didn’t have any certifications they thanked me for the call. I was bummed. Two more instances of being turned away due to lack of certification even with 25+ years of IT I decided it was time to certify. I too don’t test well in a closed book environment so I was really concerned. I spent the next 6 months studying and testing and end up with a whole string of letters available for my business card: MCP, MCSA, MCSE, MCDBA, MCSD, CHP, CHSP, CSCS and CISSP, proving if you put your mind to it, you can do it.

What did it gain me? 12 years later I have not gotten an interview because of the certs or a raise. In my mind, a waste of time and money. I only keep the CISSP and HIPAA related certs current as there is where my real passion lies.

The best advice I think I ever got in college came from a Statistics professor. First day of class he went over the syllabus. He let us know when we would have tests and that there would be a quiz at the end of each class. We all panicked, every class? He then told us all quizzes and test would be open book, open note because we will never be in the real world and hear “Go solve this problem and don’t use any resources” for our bosses. It’s more important to know what you need to do rather than how to do it since you can always look up how.

Bottom line, you already know how, certification may help get you in the door but it’ll only get you so far. The guy I was talking about above isn’t in IT any more and I’m in year 0x26. 🙂

]]>