By Terry Erdle, CompTIA
It’s hard to believe it wasn’t
so long ago that IT was considered a competitive advantage for individuals and
businesses. Like the wizards of the medieval era, IT was its own separate
entity that mostly sat apart from the rest of world; as did the people in
charge of it.
Today IT is integrated into the
fabric of everything we do. IT flies our planes, broadcasts our football games,
delivers water and electricity to our homes and records and edits our music.
There’s no telling what IT will do in 10, 100 or 1,000 years. The only thing
that’s certain is that, barring a total catastrophe that returns us to the
Stone Age, all of these innovations will require hundreds of thousands of
people who understand how technology works to keep them operating smoothly and
at peak efficiency.
Because of this total reliance
on technology, the career opportunity in IT is staggering. According to job
search site Indeed.com, more than 450,000 technology jobs were available in August
2011. Of course, as with anything else, some IT jobs are better than others in
terms of salary, security, the work itself and the potential for career
advancement. And, those are the jobs for which you will face the toughest
competition. How do you give yourself the best chance of landing one of those
top-level IT positions? There are a number of factors, but one that you can
influence most easily is being certified in the technology related to that
position.
It’s a known fact that employers
depend on certifications to make hiring decisions. According to a 2011 CompTIA
research report, 64 percent of IT hiring managers rate certifications as having
extremely high or high value in validating the skills and expertise of job
candidates. In addition, eight in ten HR professionals surveyed believe IT
certifications will grow in usefulness and importance over the next two years.
Why are employers relying on certifications
when hiring IT pros? According to the CompTIA study, certified IT workers have
a greater ability to understand new or complex technologies; are more
productive and bring more insightful problem solving to the workplace.
A certification makes an
individual more marketable. Unless the prospective employer is familiar with
the school the job candidate attended or the organizations the candidate worked
for previously, he or she has no independent means of knowing how rigorous the
program or experience is. When a job candidate comes to an employer with
recognized and accepted professional certifications, it gives the employer more
to go on. For workers new to the employment market without a great deal of past
experience, the combination of an academic degree and an industry-recognized
certification puts the worker in a stronger position when looking for a job.
Certification also has an impact
on salary once you have the job. That same CompTIA study found that IT
professionals gain an average nine percent salary increase immediately after
receiving certification, and 29 percent over the long term versus peers who are
not certified.
While to this point we have
discussed certification as if it was a single entity, in fact there are a great
many certification options IT workers can pursue. There are general IT
certifications that range from basic to advanced; certifications for specific
technology areas such as security, cloud computing, and networking; and
certifications for technologies from individual vendors. Which you choose
depends on your career goals, your experience level, the needs of your
organization and other factors.
Within the technology- or
vendor-specific certifications there are often multiple levels as well. As you
advance in your career you’ll likely find it more advantageous to acquire
increasingly advanced certifications in one area rather than accumulating them
across multiple areas.
Yet the wide variety of
certifications available also makes it easier to change your career focus if
you choose. For example, if you have been working with IP telephony for the
past few years but determine you have a better future in the organization if
you learn healthcare IT, you can easily obtain the training and certification
to reboot your career path.
If you’ve never pursued
certification before, a good place to start is with a foundation-level program
such as CompTIA A+ that covers the fundamentals of PCs, networks, peripherals,
operating sets, security and environmental issues. Developed in collaboration
with major IT organizations, CompTIA A assesses the foundation-level skills for
which the IT industry is looking.
From there you can pursue a
technology-specific certification in your area of interest. Most major
technology and software producers offer certifications to ensure different
levels of expertise in their products. Training for these certifications is
available from a variety of sources –from the vendors themselves; academic
institutions, commercial training providers or through self study.
Certification is not limited to
individuals; entire organizations can get certified. Many organizations
(including CompTIA) as well as vendors offer channel training and credentials
that allow solution providers to learn best practices and prove that they
follow these techniques. Having these certifications provides a distinctive
advantage in the selling process, demonstrating to prospects and customers that
your company is dedicated to providing the highest levels of service and
expertise.
Whether you’re looking to
advance an individual career or an entire organization, certification provides
a proven path to success. It may not always be easy, but setting aside time and
budget for certification will definitely pay off in the long run.
Terry Erdle is Executive Vice President,
Skills Certification, at the Computing Technology Industry Association, leading
the organization’s global certification programs, including product development
and delivery, partnership relationships and cooperation with education and
training communities.
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