On Fri, Feb 14, 2003 at 11:04:33AM -0500, Mike M wrote: > Certification is for PHBs only. Right? Is there any evidence other than > marketing blather that certification is a worthwhile endeavor?
Depends on the certification. Some carry significantly more weight than others. And you should also remember that PHBs often set your pay and budget, so appeasing them now and again isn't a bad idea. In the end, a certification mainly shows that you were able to demonstrate some knowledge in a specific field once, it doesn't really say anything about the future. I would put the average certification above a CS degree, but it seems like the average fresh CS graduate these days isn't even qualified to use a computer, let alone run or program one. For MCSE, yes, your statement is true. Most of the people I've known and worked with who really knew NT well did not have an MCSE. The same goes for A+ PC hardware certification. Novell certification is just a joke now because there were too many classes that just taught the tests. At the complete opposite end of the spectrum are the Cisco certifications. Some of their higher-level certifications are very difficult and very expensive to get, so if you have one it really will set you apart from other people in networking. Sun, IBM, and HP certifications are meaningful, but not as difficult as Cisco's are. Linux certifications (which is what you're probably most interested in, since you're asking on this list) are still so new that they're not well-known, the only one that seems to be widely known is RHCE because Red Hat never misses an opportunity to mention it. How much a Linux certification will help you really depends on where you're working (or wanting to work). -- Michael Heironimus -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
