Certifications
Along with
experience and academic qualifications – product certification is essential for
systems engineers AND software engineers. I have worked a lot with Microsoft,
Citrix and VMware in their partner programs over the last ten years for my
company, for both individual staff requirements and partner status.
Throughout my
career I have had to do certifications for Pc, server and especially Citrix
products, as well as mentor younger staff and colleagues and point them down
the right certification track for their career development. In the last ten
years for example, I have myself completed thirty seven certifications. Some
have expired, and some are very recent. I would not be in my current job,
earning a good salary if I had not kept my certifications up to date.
The
disadvantages of certification are few. You will need to spend time, usually
your own personal time studying and developing, following training guides in
order to pass any exams. You may not always get on a training course. Passing
the exams also requires a certain amount of determination and calmness, along
with exam technique.
A training
course, if you need one is usually not free – and exams cost between £80 and £120
in the UK.
Another
disadvantage is that certifications expire, so it is important to keep up to
date. To do this, you should target 2-3 exams per year as a minimum. That way,
you will be refreshing exams every year.
The advantages
are plenty. For one, you will gain more in depth knowledge of the products and
maybe one or two products you don’t use if you are following a “track” system
like Microsoft’s where you must complete 5-6 exams to become a Microsoft
Certified Professional Developer , MCPD.
A typical
“track” may take you down the MCPD :“Design and Development of Web Applications in .NET Framework”
for example.
Most partner
companies will also provide study guides, access on online training and videos
and special partner programs with a specialist contact who can assist you, and
your team with certifications in their “tracks”. You may even get exam
vouchers. There are many good exam preparation books availably, study guides
and “brain dumps”.
Microsoft,
Adobe and others are constantly updating products, and often require
certification in order for your company to sell the new products or retain your
status. This may mean that a team of developers may need to have 10-15
certifications as a minimum just for the company to be a Gold Partner. In a few
years, this may change and a new product release will force an update to the
certifications.
In my company,
this applies to our engineers in Microsoft, VMware,Citrix,Cisco and EMC
products – and impacts our partner status. We only do a little development,
mainly for Sharepoint but the same principles apply for a few of out staff.
When applying
for jobs, a person with certifications will almost certainly be in with a
better chance of employment than a person without. Your current employer should
also recognize your studying and reward you financially. Indeed, your whole
career path should be based on experience, project success, work
competence - and your certifications.
When I
interview for staff – I also think the
person with more certifications is more interested in their career, in IT and
in developing themselves than someone who hasn’t bothered. If you are really
“into” IT – you will be keen to get certified in products you are working with.
Product
certification is essential for the employer also.
Partner status
with Microsoft come in different levels –Core,Silver,Gold etc. These are partly
based on sales, but also on the number of certified engineers or developers you
have. This in turn can impact your companies’ discount purchasing and reselling
in the supply chain. You may also be given sales leads, and involvement in new
product releases ahead of non-certified companies.
Partners also
get free partner licenses. This not only saves your company money, but gives
them access to nearly all the partners’ products for free, as well as getting
beta releases and access to software “api”’ that non-partners won’t get access
to.
Partner status
is an important status symbol. Potential customers will compare company certifications
and individual CV’s to award contracts. Certifications for staff could make the
difference between your company winning the business – or closing down!
Oracle also
provides certification for Java, as do Adobe for Flash development - there are many others.
I don’t see too
many areas where certification is not possible. You can be certified in
developing, Prince II, Ethical Hacking, security, HP hardware, EMC storage,
VMware, Citrix, ISO Auditing – the list is almost endless.
The one area
you can’t be certified in is your own communications skills, personal interaction,
and ability to talk to customers and present your solutions. This really comes
with experience and practice – so get some colleagues together and practice on
them. It may not often be required of developers, but helps a lot.
Certification
is not a replacement for great experience, but in my opinion is essential for
IT staff, engineers and developers alike - if they want to progress their
career, keep skills up to date and be regarded as subject matter experts in
their field or specialist area. Having both, means you know the products in
depth.
In terms of
actually doing exams, these are typically done in exam centers or monitored rooms
in training companies by industry approved organisations. Pearson-View and Sylvan Prometric are
two such companies, and will have an office or training partner in most
countries and big cities.
References:
Citrix Education [Online] Available from http://training.citrix.com/
Oracle University, [Online] Available from : http://education.oracle.com/pls/web_prod-plq-dad/db_pages.getpage?page_id=516
Microsoft Partner Advantages [Online] available from https://mspartner.microsoft.com/en/uk/Pages/Membership/core-benefits.aspx
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